Clinical Hypnosis Textbook – a Guide for Practical Interventions

The word ‘hypnosis’ is derived from the Greek god of sleep, Hypnos, who was the father of Morpheus, the god of dreams. For most people the word ‘hypnosis’ carries some sort of fascination and possibly a slight feeling of unease. A hypnotist can cause significant changes in a person’s behaviour by the simple uttering of words. Hypnosis involves a modified condition of a person’s consciousness, which can be caused by various techniques and which is typical for certain people’s susceptibility to react to suggestions by changes of their cognition and perception, memory, motivation and the feeling of self-control.

Ursula James is honorary lecturer at the St George’s Medical School in London and visiting teaching fellow at the Oxford Medical School. She is also vice-president of the British Society of Clinical Hypnosis. Her book contains nearly everything there is to know about clinical hypnosis, although she calls it ‘merely an overview’ –what hypnosis and what self-hypnosis are, what the benefits for patients with different conditions are, how a hypnosis session is structured and what it entails, what the common questions are that hypnosis patients often ask, hypnotic events, the application and contra-indicators of hypnosis, what a hypnotherapeutic protocol looks like, what hypnosis can do for smoking cessation, phobias and performance anxiety, and a brief history, glossary of terms and useful contacts and websites for curious readers. The book is accompanied by a CD, which contains various hypnosis techniques.

There are many lay and professional books about hypnosis available but the advantage of this book is that it is very practical; it is a book for healthcare professionals such as medical students, therapists and GPs who would like to explore this field further.

An important additional point that is not mentioned in the book is that the hypnotherapist should always be a licensed or certified mental health professional who has obtained specialised, post-graduate training and certification in the use of clinical hypnosis within the context of counselling, psychotherapy or other medical specialty. All members of the British Society of Clinical Hypnosis, for instance, sign and adhere to a code of conduct.

This book provides in-depth information on clinical hypnosis that I would have had a hard time gathering otherwise.