Hypnosis in the Realm of De-Sign

This book presents a new theoretical framework for the study of hypnosis based on an innovative epistemological approach called De-sign. This approach transcends the opposition subjectivity-objectivity and presents itself as a metaknowledge that integrates design and semiotics and proposes a phenomenological method of inquiry that helps overcome some of the traditional challenges to create theoretical models to explain hypnosis.

Both hypnosis and De-sign are critical practices against absolute notions of reality, especially regarding time, space, and otherness. Both of them consider the importance of epistemological notions such as imagination, feelings, and desire, that modern science commonly marginalizes. Hypnosis and De-sign implicate people in partnership, being critical to a dominant notion of control. Thus, the book presents in-depth discussions on major themes of hypnosis, bringing clinical practice closer to the reflections brought by De-sign.

Hypnosis in the Realm of De-Sign shows how to integrate semiotic systems, pragmatism, and De-sign principles to analyze actual hypnotherapeutic experiences. As with every De-sign situation, each patient requires a unique therapeutic strategy and approach that is individually appropriate for them. The author thereby encourages therapists to become de-signers, working with not for their subjects to create a context within which their subjects can awaken their therapeutic potential. By doing so, patients can then bring into focus that which could be, rather than focusing on that which is.