Michele Ritterman: Therapeutic Pioneer

Michele Ritterman, Ph.D., pioneered the integration of hypnosis and family therapy, and has trained thousands of psychotherapists in her approach to working with couples and families. One of Milton Erickson ’s leading students, she originated the concept of the symptom as a trance state -- shared and separate-track trances -- in family and couple interactions, and also the development of therapeutic counterinductions. Michele also pioneered the concept of the symptom as a gift and therapy as a mutually dignifying process of cooperative exchanges between therapist and client.

Dr. Ritterman is a prolific author whose work has been translated into several languages. Also a dedicated activist, she has served as a spokeperson for Amnesty International and other human rights organizations, and her book, Hope Under Siege, with a foreword by Isabel Allende, considers the applications of psychotherapeutic principles in the larger context of political and social reality. In Dr. Ritterman’s words, “Reciprocity is the highest form of love. And love has everything to do with healing.”

Michele specializes in working with:

Couples, whether husband and wife, lovers, parent/adult child, or friends in a squabble.

Families of any sort, especially with adolescent issues.

Individual problems including the full gamut of challenges from insomnia, test anxiety, pain management, disabilities, travel phobias, prolongued grief, all forms of somatic problems, to social anxieties and post-traumatic stress.

She employs altered states of consciousness as part of a systematic hypnotherapeutic process.

She also consults with agencies and teaches classes at universities, and provide workshops and lectures around the world about her clinical methods.

Contact her to schedule an appointment at 510-845-1863.