Velo-cardio-facial syndrome (VCFS), also known as DiGeorge syndrome or 22q11.21 deletion syndrome, has a prevalence in the United States of approximately 1:2,000. Patients affected by this syndrome have an elevated risk for psychosis in late adolescence, which ends up affecting 30 to 40 percent of young adults with VCFS. This post describes hypnotic metaphors that have helped treat psychosis in this patient population.

In addition to psychosis, psychiatric disorders are present in most individuals with VCFS (Fabbro et al., 2012) and include anxiety, mood disorders including depression, ADHD of the inattentive type, learning disabilities primarily involving non-verbal skills, oppositional defiant disorder, specific and social phobias, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Individuals diagnosed with VCFS commonly experience cognitive deficits, with an average full-scale IQ of 73.3, and face limitations in communicative abilities in about 70 percent of cases. They also have numerous associated medical disorders, as described by Shprintzen (2008).

Over the past decade, I have worked with 10 adults with VCFS (age range 18 to 39), including four adults who dealt with psychosis. Their hallucinations had been only partially controlled with the use of medications. To aid in their treatment, I taught them how to use hypnosis that included the use of metaphors to help them handle their difficulties in dealing with their hallucinations, including distinguishing them from reality.

In approaching these patients, it is worth keeping in mind that........

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