Tim Brunson DCH

Welcome to The International Hypnosis Research Institute Web site. Our intention is to support and promote the further worldwide integration of comprehensive evidence-based research and clinical hypnotherapy with mainstream mental health, medicine, and coaching. We do so by disseminating, supporting, and conducting research, providing professional level education, advocating increased level of practitioner competency, and supporting the viability and success of clinical practitioners. Although currently over 80% of our membership is comprised of mental health practitioners, we fully recognize the role, support, involvement, and needs of those in the medical and coaching fields. This site is not intended as a source of medical or psychological advice. Tim Brunson, PhD

Brain Change Therapy



A book review by Tim Brunson, PhD

You can permanently change your mental future merely by choosing to change your brain states. This is the core premise of Brain Change Therapy: Clinical Interventions for Self-Transformation by Carol Kershaw, EdD, and Bill Wade, EdD, co-directors of The Milton Erickson Institute of Houston. In this encyclopedic volume they synergize psychotherapy, Ericksonian Hypnosis, and biofeedback/neurofeedback as they explore a variety of aspects and dimensions regarding lasting transformation through intentional state change.

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Psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, and coaching



by Tim Brunson, PhD

There is an incorrect presumption by some that all hypnosis involves either stage-related entertainment or constitutes a practice of psychotherapy. This limited view is completely incorrect. Furthermore, such an extremely limited view of hypnosis represents a complete misunderstanding of its definition and application. Yes, although hypnosis can be used for entertainment purposes and during any psychotherapeutic endeavors, it is clearly much more than that as it permeates a much wider range of mental functioning and human communication. (The International Hypnosis Research Institute offers well thought out definitions on our website).

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Gayle Peterson, MSSW, LCSW, PhD



Gayle Peterson, MSSW, LCSW, PhD is an international expert specializing in prenatal and family development. She trains professionals in her prenatal counseling model and is the author of An Easier Childbirth, Birthing Normally and her latest book, Making Healthy Families. Her articles on family relationships appear in professional journals and she is an oft-quoted expert in popular magazines such as Woman's Day, Mothering, Fit Pregnancy and Parenting. She is a clinical member of The Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and a Diplomate with the National Association of Social Work. She also serves on the advisory board for Fit Pregnancy magazine.

Dr. Gayle Peterson has written a monthly family column for the San Francisco Bay Area's Parents Press and currently writes for the Sierra Foothills, Family Post. She is an expert on numerous parenting websites and she has also hosted a live Internet radio show, Ask Dr. Gayle, answering questions on family relationships and parenting. Dr. Peterson has appeared on numerous radio and television interviews, including The Today Show and on Canadian Broadcast as a family and communications expert in the documentary Baby's Best Chance. She is former clinical director of the Holistic Health Program at John F. Kennedy University and has served as adjunct faculty at the California Institute for Integral Studies in San Francisco.

A national public speaker on women's issues and family development, Dr.Gayle Peterson counsels individuals, couples and families in her private psychotherapy practice in the greater San Francisco Bay Area and in the Sierra foothills. She has won an honorable mention for her website from the Association of Marriage and Family Therapy for her benefit to families. Dr. Peterson is also available for phone and e-mail consultation.

Gayle also enjoys playing music, attending ballet classes and an active family life. She and her husband are parents of two adult children and proud grandparents to three lively boys, and a sparkly granddaughter!

Neuro-hypnotism: Prospects for hypnosis and neuroscience.



The neurophysiological substrates of hypnosis have been subject to speculation since the phenomenon got its name. Until recently, much of this research has been geared toward understanding hypnosis itself, including the biological bases of individual differences in hypnotizability, state-dependent changes in cortical activity occurring with the induction of hypnosis, and the neural correlates of response to particular hypnotic suggestions (especially the clinically useful hypnotic analgesia). More recently, hypnosis has begun to be employed as a method for manipulating subjects' mental states, both cognitive and affective, to provide information about the neural substrates of experience, thought, and action. This instrumental use of hypnosis is particularly well-suited for identifying the neural correlates of conscious and unconscious perception and memory, and of voluntary and involuntary action.

Cortex. 2012 Jun 5. Kihlstrom JF. University of California, Berkeley, United States.

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