Hypnosis experts to meet

Press, 19 August 1985, Page 4

Hypnosis experts to meet

Many of the southern hemisphere’s leading experts in hypnosis will gather in Christchurch this week.

Whirling discs and gold watches, however, are unlikely to be part of their baggage. Most of the experts will be doctors, psychologists, and psychiatrists — not entertainers.

They will come to Christchurch for the fifteenth annual congress of the Australian Society of Hypnosis, which will be held in the city from August tomorrow until August 25. The Minister of Health, Dr Bassett, will open the conference. The medical use of hypnosis is growing, according to

a conference organiser, Mr John Bushnell, who is the chairman of the New Zealand branch of the society. The society, which was formed in Australia in 1970, now has branches in Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland.

Mr Bushnell said that up to 100 exponents of hypnosis would attend the conference, the first of its type to be held in New Zealand. About half of those attending were psychologists, another half were doctors or psychiatrists, and there was a smattering of dentists, he said. The society is very selective about who can join. "Unless they have a le-

gitimate medical training we are not interested in them,” said Mr Bushnell, who is the senior clinical psychologist at Christchurch Hospital.

Those at the conference will listen to scientific papers and attend workshops.

The main aim would be to talk about the clinical use of hypnosis, said Mr Bushnell.

Among the guest speakers will be an Australian psychologist who has a special interest in the forensic use of hypnosis and a widely published expert from Stanford University in California, Associate Professor David Spiegal.