"The Dr. Tom Martin Memorial Lecture"

In this workshop David Wark will cover the background and several developing applications of alert hypnosis.  He designed this training for participants who are licensed health care providers, who have had at least a basic workshop in clinical hypnosis, and some practice using hypnosis in their practice.

What is alert hypnosis?

It is an alternative for the eyes closed or drowsy, cataleptic, quasiamnesic, client clinicians often see in their office. People in alert hypnosis are physically active, move and talk normally, feel in control, and may be hyper aware and oriented. Nevertheless, all the usual hypnotic phenomena are available: suggested changes in perception, behavior, and emotion, altered consciousness, time distortion, imagery, hypermnesia, etc. A professional, patient or client who has learned alert self-hypnosis can bring all that control to make changes in physiological response, school and professional learning and recall, athletic and artistic performance, job skills, or their interpersonal empathy and relations. Thus, they can more effectively generalize hypnotic suggestions from the clinic to applications in the outside world.

What will be covered in the workshop?

In the morning, David will briefly review research findings, the possible mechanisms underlying alert hypnosis and present a rapid alert induction. He will invite participants to experience the increase in focus and concentration while reading in alert hypnosis. Then, role-playing clinicians and client, they will talk and listen in alert hypnosis, and discuss their experience and reaction. Illustrative cases involve alert hypnosis for increasing self modulation of anxiety, academic achievement, interpersonal empathy, artistic performance, and alert hypnoanesthesia for surgery. In the afternoon, participants will pair up and do extensive and carefully guided exercises in effective techniques for inducing alert, eyes open self-hypnosis in clients, and treatment planning.

The workshop will mix didactic instruction with a preponderance of guided planning and practice exercises.

Objectives

Upon completing the session, each participant should be able to:

1. Enter alert self hypnosis through a lever induction and deepen at least one scale level
2. Induce alert hypnosis with a client through a lever induction and deepen at least on scale level
3. Demonstrate the use of alert hypnosis in role play as a treatment
4. Describe how alert hypnosis might be used as a new intervention in their practice

About Dr. Wark

Dr. Wark was born in Los Angeles, California, and earned his bachelor's degree in Psychology at Pomona College, class of 1956. He received a Ford Foundation Behavioral Science Fellowship at the University of Minnesota, where he completed his PhD in 1961. After two years in the United States Army Medical Service Corp he returned to the University of Minnesota and worked in the Student Counseling Service and the Department of Psychology, developing, validating and publishing strategies for attention, self control and efficient learning.  In 1980 he began training in hypnosis which he integrated into his practice. He is currently a leader in the use of alert eyes open and active hypnosis. Dr. Wark is a fellow of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, and of the Society of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis. He is a Diplomate and Past Secretary of the American Board of Psychological Hypnosis. He served as the President of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis for 2008-09. Dr. Wark is an Emeritus Professor of Psychology, and currently travels and teaches hypnosis to professionals in America, Europe and Asia. He maintains an active practice in clinical hypnosis in St. Paul, MN. He is married to Mary Ann Barrows Wark, a lawyer and educator. They have three children and five grandchildren.