Hypnosis as a Condition for Psychotherapy

Reports on an ongoing cybernetic study of theory, on how theory-centered psychotherapy turns practices of everyday life into the psychopathologies proposed by psychotherapy. Makes a case for psychotherapy using the ideas of each patient, employing hypnosis as a condition for the practice of psychotherapy. Discusses three of the problems arising out of this cybernetic study of theory: (1) the workings of theory in theory-centered psychotherapy, (2) surmounting theory-centered psychotherapy, and (3) conceptualizing hypnosis as a condition for psychotherapy. Presents Robert Lindner’s work as a case, showing how he was working to solve these problems through combining hypnosis and psychotherapy, and coupling both hypnosis and psychotherapy to cybernetics. His case of “the jet-propelled couch” provides the empirical material for studying how through utilizing the ideas of his patient he might have overcome theorycentered psychotherapy.