Therapeutic aQompaniments: Walking together in hypnotherapy—and ethnography

Summary

This article uses 16 months of ethnographic fieldwork with Indonesian hypnotherapists to argue that the quality of therapeutic relationships, not just technique, determines good care. It introduces "aQompaniment"—adapted from liberation theology's "accompaniment"—as a rubric for evaluating whether therapist and client successfully "walk together" toward their goals. This approach avoids blanket judgments about self-hypnosis versus hetero-hypnosis and offers a framework for assessing care in diverse contexts, including ethnographic research itself.

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Abstract

Abstract Drawing on ethnographic data collected over 16 months of fieldwork with Indonesian hypnotherapists, this article investigates the suitability of different relationalities for providing therapeutic care. Clinical literature often advocates the merits of self‐hypnosis over hetero‐hypnosis, while anthropologists express skepticism regarding therapies that encourage individualized regimes of the self. Taking a less sweeping approach, this article develops the notion of “aQompaniment”—adapted from the liberation theology and activist concept of “accompaniment”—as a rubric under which to evaluate the provision of care and support. The rubric of aQompaniment encourages situated evaluations of whether hypnotherapeutic relations enable therapists and clients to successfully “walk together” toward their respective goals, encouraging nuanced judgments about what constitutes good care. Viewing psychotherapy as aQompaniment also affords new perspectives on the aQompaniment work that can be undertaken during ethnographic research.

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