I’m coming close to the end of my doctoral training, and will be taking my last course ever at the Adler School of Professional Psychology this summer. During the summer term I’ll also start my applications for internship in the Chicago area. I was recently offered an internship in North Carolina but it is important to me to stay with my family over the internship year, and so I’ll be looking for sites closer to home. If you would like to discuss a possible internship opportunity, please get in touch with me!

Dissertation Complete By August, 2010

I recently completed my first draft dissertation proposal, and expect to have it defended by mid-April of this year. My research will be the beginning of a process to empirically validate a set of clinical hypnosis training modules. To the best of my knowledge, this will be the first ever attempt to develop materials for clinical education that are proven to impart the information and clinical skills that they are intended to impart. My committee consists of: Stephen P. Kahn, Ph.D. (Chair), Edward J. Frischholz, Ph.D., ABPH, and Robert T. Baker III, Psy.D.

Advancing Clinical Hypnosis On The Web

You may be aware that I am the Webmaster and Listserv Coordinator for APA Division 30. I recently spoke at length with Stephen Lankton, the current editor of the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, about the possibilities for using the internet to better disseminate the information published in the Journal and to increase the scientific presence of clinical hypnosis. Toward that end, I may soon be joining the editorial board of the AJCH in order to help compile a topic-organized bibliography from the journal to enable dissemination of the research through prominent web sites like Wikipedia.

Advancing Clinical Hypnosis At The Adler School

This semester I have been working as a Research Assistant and Teaching Assistant for Dr. Steve Kahn, head of the Clinical Hypnosis program at the Adler School of Professional Psychology. Dr. Kahn, Scott Hoye, and I have formed an official student hypnosis organization, the Adler Clinical Hypnosis Association (ACHA). Through this organization we will be leading in-school presentations to increase enrollment in the hypnosis program as well as out-of-school discussions to enhance members’ knowledge and skill in the use of clinical hypnosis. I am presently serving a term as Vice President of ACHA.

We have also been in the process of developing new training sites for hypnosis students at Adler. Problems with the economy over the past decade have caused a shortage of training sites for all types of clinical students, and I am aware of only one practicum site in Chicago that currently offers students the explicit ability to build up their skill in utilizing hypnosis with their patients–and that site is having trouble maintaining funding. At the request of Dr. David Paul Smith, I have written up a brief editorial piece for the upcoming issue of SCEH’s FOCUS newsletter explaining why I believe that expanding the available training opportunities is the single most important thing the professional hypnosis societies can do to improve the future of clinical hypnosis.

Articles Posted Around The Web

I have recently posted a number of original articles on this web site and elsewhere around the web. Here are some that come to mind:

• A Review of Interventions for Reducing Mental Health Stigma – Mental health stigma has been identified as a major barrier to the delivery of appropriate mental health services, but few coherent attempts to reduce this barrier have been made. This analysis examines the interventions that have been tried, their results, and considers possibilities for more robust community interventions.
• Robert Cialdini’s 6 Principles of Influence: Video + Cheatsheet – Shows a recent video of Dr. Cialdini explaining some of the principles of influence. The most useful part of this post is the cheatsheet I put together based on his book Influence: Science And Practice. The post describes each of the “weapons” of social influence in brief for quick reference.
• An Egodynamic Model of Hypnosis – Presents a model for understanding hypnotic phenomena from an ego psychological perspective.
• Cannabis, Metabolic Syndrome, and Emotional Distress – Reviews evidence that cannabinoids play a critical role in the regulation of metabolism, and argues that chronic cannabis use may represent a form of self-medication for metabolic syndrome and the emotional distress that is associated with this condition.
• Hypnotizability May Be Unrelated To Dissociation & Cognitive Inhibition – A person’s apparently innate capacity to experience a particular level of hypnotic phenomena – referred to as “hypnotizability” – is an important concept in modern hypnosis research. This post reports on an article by Diennes et al published in the peer-reviewed journal Conciousness and Cognition.
• Early Recollections And The Lifestyle – Explains an Adlerian technique for assessing the private logic and internal motivations of therapy clients.
• Aging Brains Only Shrink When They’re Sick – Reports on a study published in the APA journal Neuropsychology that found that age-related loss of brain mass (And associated cognitive decline) may be a function of illness, rather than a natural part of the aging process as has been generally assumed.
• Adlerian Career Assessment & Counseling – Critically evaluates Adlerian frameworks for assessing individuals’ career paths, and for helping them to develop their careers and career identities.
• Transformational Leadership In Mental Health Administration – Examines the benefits of transformational leadership styles on organizational outcomes in mental health care.
• Re-Branding Psychology: Why Therapists Have Got It All Wrong & What We Can Do About It – Argues that psychotherapists and psychology groups such as the APA should be more aggressively marketing the proven positive benefits of psychotherapy.
• A 2009 Mental Health Parity Policy Analysis – In this policy analysis I review the history of mental health parity advocacy and the philosophy underlying this movement. I also critically examine the practical consequences of both the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 and its predecessor, the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996.

David Godot is a licensed psychotherapist currently working in private practice under the supervision of a clinical psychologist in downtown Chicago. He can be reached by phone at (312) 869-2323, or by email at davidgodot@chicagopsychology.org

Abstract

Clinical hypnotherapy has been soundly established as an effective treatment for the symptoms associated with cancer and its related therapies, including chronic and acute pain, nausea and vomiting, fatigue, insomnia, anxiety, and mood disturbances. Its use produces strong tendencies toward improvement of patients’ quality of life and of treatment cost. As the etiology and progression of various forms of cancer become better understood, the potential of hypnotherapy for increasing survival rates by improving medication response and even slowing or reversing the progression of the disease increases. Given the lack of risks to patients and the wide potential for benefit, additional research and clinical experimentation into this area are encouraged, and recommendations for this type of hypno-oncological exploration are discussed. An experimental hypnotherapy script which attempts to reverse the course of the disease while addressing multiple symptoms is included as Appendix I.
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