Clinical Hypnosis: Changing Minds, Health, and Care

Tiger Webinars are an opportunity for RIT alumni to tap into the expertise and know-how that makes up the RIT community of alumni, faculty, and staff. View the Tiger Webinar playlist of past webinars here:    • Tiger Webinars   Beneath our troubled systems of health care delivery lies a more fundamental problem. Our current biomedical, diagnose-and-treat health care paradigm is cracking under the weight of increasing morbidities: obesity, substance abuse, mental health disorders, and more. The fault lines have grown during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, further baring the disparities and costs of our reactive posture when it comes to health threats. Meanwhile it is becoming clear that a more systemic, person-centered, “mind-body” approach to health and care can be a more effective, valid, and hopeful. This presentation will explore exciting research on placebo effects, psychoneuroimmunology, and other psychobiological phenomena that point to a new health care paradigm with clinical hypnosis and enhanced self-regulation at its core. Laurence Irwin Sugarman is Research Professor and Director of the Center for Applied Psychophysiology and Self-regulation in the College of Health Sciences and Technology at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT); a developmental and behavioral pediatrician at the Easter Seals Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Rochester, New York; and Clinical Professor in Pediatrics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Over three decades of pediatric practice Dr. Sugarman refined clinical biofeedback and hypnosis strategies that effectively increase resilience and coping skills for young people and families. At RIT, he has focused on evoking the abilities of young people with autism spectrum disorder and other chronic health problems, developing innovative health apps, and improving the pedagogy for professional development in psychobiological care.