Hypnosis in Academia: Contemporary Challenges in Research, Healthcare and Education

This book analyzes the growing presence of hypnosis in academic settings around the world and its implications for research, healthcare and education. The increasing volume of scientific research on hypnosis and its clinical applications to treat health conditions such as pain, anxiety, trauma and depression has renewed the interest for this kind of practice in different disciplines, such as medicine, psychology, dentistry and nursing. As a result of this growing interest, there is an increasing number of spaces occupied by hypnosis in universities of different countries compared to what occurred in recent decades. Nevertheless, what this means, at various levels, is still far from being deciphered, due to the absence of more detailed research and surveys involving a larger number of institutions, students, faculty and research groups.

This volume intends to shed a new light into the discussions about the growing presence of hypnosis in academia by bringing together contributions of practitioners and researchers working with hypnosis in academic settings in ten countries from different parts of the world: Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, France, Hungary, Israel, Portugal, Russia and Switzerland. The discussions presented in these contributions revolve around four axes of analysis: the historical trajectory of hypnosis within academic institutions; the epistemological nature of hypnosis and its relationships with other fields of knowledge; the importance of scientific research for the current development of hypnosis and its clinical applications; and how teaching and training in hypnosis is organized in universities today, with its ethical and legal implications in different cultural contexts.

Hypnosis in Academia: Contemporary Challenges in Research, Healthcare and Education will be a great resource for both researchers and practitioners working with hypnosis, and a valuable source of information for human and social scientists in general interested in understanding how a once discredited practice regained respect from the academic community and is now a growing topic of interest for scholars and clinicians all around the world.

Maurício Neubern, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Psychology, University of Brasilia (UnB), Brazil. He coordinates the group Complexity, Hypnosis and Subjectivity (CHYS) linked to CNPq, a research agency of the Ministry of Science and Technology. His doctorate (2003, UnB) was on "Complexity and Clinical Psychology" and his post-doctorate (2015-2016), at the Centre Edgar Morin, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris, France, was on the project "Complexity, Hypnosis and Chronic Pain". He coordinates the Work Group of Psychology and Religion of the National Association of Research and Graduate Studies in Psychology (ANPEPP). His research interests, always linked to hypnosis, are hypnotherapy, complexity, semiotics, De-sign inquiry, epistemology and spirituality. His researches are commonly derived from his work as a hypnotherapist and trainer of therapists (Teaching Competence Certificate, Milton Erickson Foundation, USA and Milton Erickson Institute of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2007). He also founded the Milton Erickson Institute of Brasília, Brazil (2005).

Antoine Bioy, PhD, is a university full professor of clinical psychology and psychopathology (University of Paris 8); doctor of psychology and psychotherapist (CHU Bordeaux). He has been practicing hypnosis for more than 20 years (university hospital and private practice). He is a scientific expert for UNESCO and for the Agency for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (France), and is also an expert for several scientific societies. Antoine Bioy is one of the administrators of the University Committee of Integrative and Complementary Medicine (CUMIC), which gathers university professors who work in France for the development of complementary practices, as hypnosis. Finally, Antoine Bioy has directed the French Institute of Hypnosis, and now the Ipnosia center. Finally, he is the author or co-author of about twenty books on health care and also on hypnosis.