The cutting edge of rapidly expanding scientific evidence highlights that the more we learn about the biology of depression, the more important psychology and social life experiences become in understanding and treating it. Furthermore, the more we learn about the neuroscience of depression, especially neuroplasticity and neurogenesis, the more important well-designed experiential learning processes become in treatment. Dr. Yapko’s latest book, Mindfulness and Hypnosis: The Power of Suggestion to Transform Experience, as well as his recent books, Depression is Contagious and Hypnosis and Treating Depression, break new ground and challenge much of the conventional wisdom therapists typically hold about depression and its treatment. Providing experiential learning opportunities in therapy has been shown to improve both the rate and quality of recovery from depression.



In recent years, forms of meditation that have their origins in eastern Buddhist traditions that have collectively come to be called “mindfulness” have been applied to a variety of clinical problems, especially depression, where they have successfully demonstrated the therapeutic value of teaching people ways to direct and intensify their quality of focus. Clinical hypnosis has also paid a great deal of attention to the merits of focusing as well as to the ways unconscious resources can be accessed and mobilized in order to empower people. Neither mindfulness or hypnosis are therapies in their own right, of course, but their capacity for improving the quality of people’s lives has received substantial empirical support as a class of meaningful interventions, particularly when embedded in a substantive therapeutic framework.



This web conference describes principles of clinical hypnosis and mindfulness as they apply to a goal-oriented treatment process which emphasizes experiential learning. This is NOT a presentation about spiritual exploration or using standard (i.e. scripted) mindful meditations or hypnosis sessions for personal growth. The focus is entirely on clinical applications of key aspects of these overlapping approaches by deconstructing them, identifying their therapeutically relevant components, and constructing meaningful interventions by incorporating them in novel ways. Dr. Yapko’s perspective and course content is shaped by his expertise in suggestion, information processing, and therapeutic applications of dissociation and association in treatment.



Mindfulness and hypnosis have much to offer a person in therapy who is depressed and anxious and in need of a means to build a life-enhancing focus. During this presentation, mindful and hypnotic interventions aimed at easing different facets of personal and clinical difficulties will be considered and described in short case examples. A primary goal of the presentation is to encourage a greater awareness of and sensitivity to the personal and interpersonal dynamics that make such interventions meaningful to people.



This Web Conference is designed to help clinicians:




  1. Recognize the power of focus and the role of suggestion inherent in any type of experiential therapy;

  2. Identify core components of mindfulness and hypnosis to increase client responsiveness and enhance treatment efficacy;

  3. Identify specific cognitive patterns influencing treatment, especially expectancy responsiveness to experiential processes such as mindfulness and hypnosis;

  4. Identify the role of dissociation in experiential processes;

  5. List ways hypnosis and mindfulness can be used as a means of enhancing emotional self-regulation and self-efficacy.



If you have any questions about this Web Conference or would like more information, please contact us here.


How the Web Conference Works

In short, participants will be able to listen to the event by calling in to our teleconference center. Prior to the event, all participants will be sent an email with instructions on how to login to the teleconference center. This event will include lecture, interaction, and question and answer periods.


Continuing Education (CE) Information

1.5 CE credits will be provided by GoodTherapy.org for attending this web conference in its entirety.

GoodTherapy.org is also an Approved Education Provider by NAADAC, The Association for Addiction Professionals (provider #135463). Of the eight counselor skill groups ascribed to by NAADAC, this course is classified within counseling services.

GoodTherapy.org is an NBCC-Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEPTM) and may offer NBCC-approved clock hours for events that meet NBCC requirements.

GoodTherapy.org is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. GoodTherapy.org maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

GoodTherapy.org, SW CPE is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #0395.

Registration Information

Premium and Pro Membership with GoodTherapy includes access to this web conference at no additional cost, as well as other member benefits such as a profile listing in GoodTherapy's Therapist Directory. Not yet a member? Sign up for a Premium or Pro Membership, here.

Just want CE credits? Sign up for a monthly or annual CE Subscription with GoodTherapy to get unlimited access to our CE Program, including this event, other live CE web conferences, and hundreds of hours of homestudy courses.

Mental health professionals who are not members can attend this live web conference for $30.95 or access the homestudy recording for $15.50. Sign up here to purchase this CE course and earn a CE certificate.

Event Reviews from Members

Meet the Presenter

Michael D. Yapko, PhD

A marriage and family therapist and clinical psychologist residing in Fallbrook, CA (near San Diego), Michael D. Yapko is recognized internationally for his work in clinical hypnosis and outcome-focused psychotherapy, routinely teaching to professional audiences all over the world. Dr. Yapko has been invited to present his innovative ideas and methods throughout the United States and in 30 countries across six continents.

For more than three decades, Dr. Yapko has had a special interest in the intricacies of brief therapy, the clinical applications of hypnosis, and the treatment of major depression. He is the author of twelve books and editor of three others, as well as numerous articles and book chapters on the subjects of the brief therapy of depression and the use of clinical hypnosis in strategic psychotherapies.

Books written by Dr. Yapko include:

Dr. Yapko is a clinical member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, a member of the American Psychological Association and the International Society of Hypnosis, and a Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. He has received The Pierre Janet Award of Clinical Excellence as well as a lifetime achievement award from the International Society of Hypnosis. He is also a recipient of The Milton H. Erickson Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Psychotherapy and a twice recipient of The Milton H. Erickson Award of Scientific Excellence for Writing in Hypnosis from the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis.

Together with his wife, Diane, a pediatric speech-language pathologist, Dr. Yapko enjoys hiking in the Great Outdoors during free time.

To learn more about Dr. Yapko and his work, please visit his website.