The use of a skill-based activity in therapeutic induction

This paper describes a hypnotherapeutic intervention for a brain damaged 36-year-old male who has suffered from asthma since infancy and seizure disorder from the age of eight. In early sessions it was discovered that conventional "passive-relaxation" induction techniques seemed to exacerbate certain disturbing somatic experiences, which he refers to as scary feelings. It was found that his performance of a previously learned skilled activity (the playing of the computer game Tetris) permitted the experience of a highly focused but relaxed state that was conducive to therapeutic interaction. This approach to induction bears similarity to "active-alert" procedures but may be more importantly related to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's principle of flow, in that it involves engagement in a subjectively meaningful, skill-based activity.