Rubin Battino's Masterclass 2024

I was born in 1931, have a Ph.D. in chemistry (spent most of my professional life as a professor of chemistry – retired from the university in 1995), received my master’s degree in mental health counselling in 1978, and am a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) in Ohio with a small private practice specializing in using hypnosis in single-session therapy.

I have published eleven books in the field of psychotherapy, written and published many articles in that field (see my website www.rubinbattino.com for details), done training and workshops here in USA and abroad, and consider myself a follower of Milton Erickson’s ideas.

Introduction to this Master Class and What You Can Learn

Over the years I have been working on various ways to elicit from clients information as to what it is or how to attain the changes they wish in their lives. Working primarily as a single-session therapist I know very little about my clients, so I have to ask them what will realistically bring about desired changes in their lives. The first two sessions will present effective ways to do this. I do not lecture, rather I present an idea like “Guided Imagery Therapy” (GIT) and then guide and lead the attendees to experience this. That is, experiencing an approach is more effective in teaching than just talking about it. (I also believe that most of what we do as therapists is to be guides.)

My expectation that effective therapy can be done in one session is told to all of my clients, and that expectation via the placebo effect is established by just telling clients that this is how I work. (Clients are also told that it is their choice to see me for additional sessions.) Another aspect of doing effective therapy is to be unpredictable. If all you know and use is one (or more) of the XYZ therapies (CBT, EMDR, DBT, etc), then you are limiting your effectiveness. Two useful things that I do with all of my clients is to start a session with Mary Goulding’s opening question, “What are you willing to change today?  Just let that rattle around in your mind during the session.” (I do not go back to that query.) The second thing is to give my clients a gift at the end of the session. I have a jar of smooth stones and I ask my client to pick one that they like and that it will help them to recall what has occurred during the session.

video calls and topics for 2024: