Douglas Flemons, PhD is Professor Emeritus in the Couple and Family Therapy program at Nova Southeastern University, where, for over 30 years, he offered team-based live supervision and taught graduate courses on hypnosis and meditation, systems thinking, brief therapy, suicide, and sex therapy.
A Canadian-American psychotherapist living, working, and playing in Asheville, NC, Flemons is the author of two books on hypnosis (Of One Mind and, most recently, The Heart and Mind of Hypnotherapy); coeditor of three editions of Quickies: The Handbook of Brief Sex Therapy; and co-author of RelationalSuicide Assessment (all published by W. W. Norton).
He is currently writing a new book, Empathy: A Clinical Guide to Therapeutic Intimacy, to be published by APA in 2024. In 2021, the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis awarded Flemons the Milton H.Erickson Award for Scientific Excellence in Writing on Clinical Hypnosis for his article, “Toward a Relational Theory of Hypnosis.” Douglas has presented throughout North America and internationally on a variety of topics, and, since 1993, has offered an (almost) annual Florida-Board-approved 50-hour hypnosis workshop.
Workshop Summary:
The feral feel of mind-body problems tends to inspire antagonistic efforts to rein them in. Clients may initially seek you out because they’re hoping hypnosis will help them conquer their headaches, fainting, IBS, anxiety, depression, or panic attacks. However, hypnosis is best employed not to try to dominate or banish such problems, but, rather, to invite their resolution through the facilitation of effortless— non-volitional—shifts and alterations in clients’ orientation to and experience of their symptoms.
In this two-day workshop, we’ll tease out the intra- and interactive patterns of mind-body problems and delve into key hypnotic processes for therapeutically altering them. You will learn how to understand and undertake hypnosis as a vehicle not for control but for creative collaboration and extemporaneous invention and discovery. We’ll highlight intriguing connections between hypnosis and meditation, explore the logic and practice of Ericksonian utilization, and illuminate the therapeutic potential of lateral thinking and associational communication.
You will have ongoing opportunities to observe demonstrations, ask questions, try out new ideas and skills with experiential exercises, and receive constructive feedback.
MP3 audio – link to Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/s/o4wohbomn5rnhpr/Douglas%20Flemons%20and%20Chris%20Lobsinger.mp3?dl=0
Video (MP4) – link to Dropbox:
Relevant References
Flemons, D. (forthcoming). Unraveling depression: Hypnotherapeutic principles and practices. Invited article for a special issue of the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis.
Flemons, D. (in press). Mind, self, and hypnosis: A relational theory. In J. Linden, G. De Benedittis, L. I. Sugarman, & K. Varga (Eds.), International handbook of clinical hypnosis. Routledge.
Flemons, D. (2022). The heart and mind of hypnotherapy: Inviting connection, inventing change. W. W. Norton.
Ramos, C., & Flemons, D. (2022). Relational hypnotherapy for a phobia of blood and needles: A context-enriched conversation analysis. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 41(1) 52-70.
Flemons, D. (2020). Toward a relational theory of hypnosis. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 64(4), 344-363. DOI: 10.1080/00029157.2019.1666700
Flemons, D. (2019). Heating up to cool down: An encountering approach to Ericksonian hypnotherapy and brief therapy. In M. F. Hoyt & M. Bobele (Eds.), Creative therapy in challenging situations: Unusual interventions to help clients (pp. 70-79). Routledge.
Flemons, D., & Charlés, L. (2019). Transvision: Unknotting double binds in the fog of war. In L. Charlés & G. Samarasinghe (Eds.), Family systems and global humanitarian health: Approaches in the field (pp. 123-141). Springer.
Flemons, D., & Green, S. (2018). Therapeutic quickies: Brief relational therapy for sexual issues. In S. Green & D. Flemons (Eds.), Quickies: The handbook of brief sex therapy (3rd ed.) (pp. 9-45). W. W. Norton.
Flemons, D. (2017). Hypnosis. In J. Carlson & S. Dermer (Eds.), The SAGE encyclopedia of marriage, family, and couples counseling (pp. 819-822). SAGE.
Castro, J. (2016). Identity, agency, and therapeutic change. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 35(2), 38–53. https://doi.org/10.1521/jsyt.2016.35.2.38
Flemons, D. (2013). Using hypnosis to invite relaxation. In G. P. Koocher, J. C. Norcross, & B. A. Greene (Eds.), Psychologists’ desk reference (3rd ed.) (pp. 271-276). Oxford University Press.
Flemons, D. (2008, July/August). Hypnosis, indifferentiation, and therapeutic change. Family Therapy Magazine, 7(4), 14-23.
Flemons, D. (2007, May/June). Finding flow. Psychotherapy Networker, 31(3), 67-71.
Flemons, D. (2005). May the Pattern be with you. In F. Steier & J. Jorgenson (Eds.), Gregory Bateson: Essays for an ecology of ideas (pp. 91-101). Imprint Academic.
Flemons, D. (2002). Of one mind: The logic of hypnosis, the practice of therapy. W. W. Norton.
Members
Non-Members
Students