Michele Dee Klevens Ritterman (born November 18, 1946) is an American clinical psychologist and family therapist who published Using Hypnosis in Family Therapy,[1] the first book on the systematic integration of family therapy and hypnotherapy. After receiving her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Temple University, Ritterman is noted for her expertise regarding survivors of political torture and their families. Her work has been translated into Spanish, German, Italian and French.
One of Milton Erickson's students, Ritterman originated the concept of the symptom as a trance state that is actually suggested by various people and social structures. From this basic concept that Erickson himself admired, she framed therapy as the production of counter-inductions and hypnotic sequences that impact the symptom trance.
In recent years Ritterman has lectured nationally and internationally on using hypnosis in conjunction with family therapy and more particularly against socially violent governments and their abusive use of psychological methods and techniques. She also lectures on the survival techniques of families experiencing torture.
Ritterman lives in Berkeley, California and currently practices as an individual, couples and family therapist. She also consults with agencies and teaches classes at universities, holds workshops, and lectures about her clinical methods.
Family therapy and hypnosis
Ritterman has trained psychotherapists worldwide in her approach to working with couples and families. In family and couple interactions Ritterman believes there are shared and separate-track trances that can be treated through the development of therapeutic counter-inductions. She employs naturally occurring altered states of consciousness as part of a systematic hypnotherapeutic process. Her approach is based on observable actions and interactions on the part of her client(s).
Ritterman also originated the concept of the symptom as a gift and therapy as a mutually dignifying process of cooperative exchanges between therapist and client, in other words, a form of prestation. She calls this methodology a woman's spin on therapy, based on a non-hierarchical approach to every step of a systematic therapeutic sequence. Her latest book The Tao of a Woman [2] demonstrates how to move from the symptom trance to a healing stance.
Ritterman is a proponent of a humanist perspective in psychotherapy, where instead of the traditional analysis of patients as damaged, the individual is seen as a positive, unique and evolving person, a one-of-a-kind. Her book in progress From Trance to Stance advocates that the primary goal of psychology is to help create a human-friendly society that caters to the bio-rhythms and natural needs of the human organism.
Political activism
As a political activist Ritterman has served as a spokesperson for Amnesty International and other human rights organizations on the resilience and resourcefulness of families that endure and survive under terror. She has published numerous papers on the subject and founded or co-founded three organizations giving medical and social aid to people in developing countries who would not otherwise receive it because of their political status.
Her book Hope Under Siege: Terror and Family Support in Chile [3] with a foreword by Isabel Allende, considers the applications of psychotherapeutic principles in the larger context of political and social reality. In Ritterman's words “Reciprocity is the highest form of love. And love has everything to do with healing.” (The Tao of a Woman)
In the forward to Hope Under Siege Isabel Allende writes:
"Michele Ritterman has immersed herself in a complex and frightening reality, to discover its secrets and capture its deepest essence. Through the families of political prisoners, she tells us of an abused continent, of a time of horror, and of the incredible extent of human evil. But this book is not a retelling of death and pain. It is above all a testimony of hope. In this book, Michele Ritterman gives us a formidable lesson in life."[4]
Audiotape
Shared Couples Trances for the Hypnosis Network 2005
