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Global Health Econ Sustain

REVIEW ARTICLE
Utilization of hypnosis: Refiguring the practice of

multidisciplinary health care

Warwick D. Phipps*
Psychology and Psychotherapy Unit, Therapy Works Centre, Midrand, Gauteng, South Africa

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the full circle prohibition and repeal, in South
Africa, from 1997 to 2007, of the utilization of hypnosis by any person not in the
profession of psychology (i.e., psychotherapy), to identify the causes thereof to prevent
its deleterious reoccurrence globally, and to clarify the potential utilization of hypnosis
in multidisciplinary health care. It was found that the prohibition was necessarily
repealed because it was erroneous, including that it was: (i) Unenforceable – the
occurrence of hypnosis cannot be prevented because communication necessarily
invokes, often without awareness thereof, trance hypnosis, and/or waking hypnosis;
(ii) unnecessary – the prohibition of the utilization of hypnosis by other disciplines
is not a logical consequence of the prohibition of its psychotherapeutic utilization
by other disciplines because its utilization in any discipline is distinct from that in
any another; and (iii) preventing efficacious use – the demarcation of hypnosis as
Academic editor: belonging to psychology, and thus as single-disciplinary, prevents efficacy because
Mihajlo Jakovljevic M.D. Ph.D. MAE
this is contingent on knowledge about the mind, body, physical environment, and
*Corresponding author: interaction, which is necessarily of a multidisciplinary nature. It was also found that
Warwick D. Phipps
(warwick@therapyworkscentre. hypnosis can only be utilized (i.e., instead of being prevented because its occurrence is
com) inherent to communication), is content-free, and can effect profound learning. It was
concluded that the potential utilization of hypnosis in, and thus refiguration of, the
Citation: Phipps, W.D. (2024).
Utilization of hypnosis: Refiguring practice of multidisciplinary health care is limited only by every discipline’s awareness,
the practice of multidisciplinary training, and integrated utilization thereof in medicine, surgery, and/or communication
health care. Global Health Econ for mental and/or physical illness and/or disease. The paper concludes with illustrations
Sustain, 2(1): 1713.
https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.1713 of how hypnosis may be utilized in treatment and therapy disciplines, respectively.
Received: August 29, 2023
Accepted: October 30, 2023 Keywords: Health Professions Act; Hypnotherapy; Psychotherapy; Psychology;
Suggestion; Treatment
Published Online: December 20,
2023
Copyright: © 2023 Author(s).
This is an Open Access article 1. Introduction
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution Although there remains much controversy and even scepticism about the very existence
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, of hypnosis (Phipps, 2019b), one way of understanding it is that “Hypnosis is a state
provided the original work is of mind in which the critical faculty of the human is bypassed, and selective thinking
properly cited. established (Elman 1964/1984, p. 26). Put differently, hypnosis is a state of mind in which
Publisher’s Note: AccScience the person’s everyday or conventional judgment is suspended and wholehearted belief
Publishing remains neutral with established (Elman, 1964/1984). In effect, then, hypnosis is simply a state of learning
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional (i.e., the reinforcement of beliefs or knowledge and/or the acquisition of new ones) and
affiliations. herein lies its potential value.

Volume 2 Issue 1 (2024) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.1713