Interactional treatment of intractable hiccups

This article provides a comprehensive review of the literature regarding nonmedical approaches to the understanding and treatment of intractable hiccups. The author provides a rationale for an interactional view and presents a case in which post-surgical hiccups were successfully treated, using principles developed by the Mental Research Institute. Of particular interest is the manner in which the therapist managed a system that included the victim's wife, a physician, and other medical personnel who were all trying to eliminate the hiccups. Interventions were designed primarily to alter meanings attributed to the hiccups and, thus, to intervene in the system that was maintaining the problem. This article is presented as a response to Weakland's call for research and practice in family somatics.