This book is an instructional manual for physicians, nurses, workers, emergency medical technicians, dentists, counselors and hypnotherapists seeking to use the resources of the mind to control or eliminate pain and accelerate healing from disease and illness.

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The hypnotic state has long been recognized as a significant catalyst for psychotherapeutic change, yet few individuals have been as committed, as M. Erik Wright, to exploring and perfecting the clinical art of hypnotherapy. At the time of his death, Erik Wright had been assembling a volume that would convey the importance as well as the specific techniques of using hypnosis in a therapeutic context. This unfinished work was taken up by the author's wife, Beatrice A. Wright, a psychologist well acquainted with the field of hypnosis, who compiled and organized the wealth of material designated for this volume. The result of their combined efforts is an outstanding hypnotherapy text that both retains Erik Wright's unique orientation and captures the essence of values that guided his work. Presenting a cogent conceptual framework along with actual protocols demonstrating a wide variety of clinically effective hypnotherapeutic procedures, CLINICAL PRACTICE OF HYPNOTHERAPY is divided into three parts. The first section introduces the underlying principles of hypnotherapy. Defining the relationship of hypnotherapy to psychotherapy, and the theoretical basis upon which the book was founded, it describes the various methods and preparations for inducing trance experiences. Topics include: common misconceptions about hypnosis; procedures for introducing clients to the trance state; the hypnotherapy of language usage; and non-verbal ways of signaling thoughts and feelings. Closing the section are lucid demonstrations of induction and enhancement procedures, including progressive relaxation, eye fixation, number progression, guided imagery, and autohypnosis, among others. The second section elaborates and illustrates a variety of hypnotherapeutic procedures using actual cases. One chapter, for example, presents guided imagery as applied to cases of phobic-anxiety, skin rash, and peptic ulcer. Another chapter is devoted to a variety of projective techniques, showing how they may be used to assuage grief and relieve stress. Other chapters describe approaches involving time, re-orientation, dissociation, and client-therapist role reversal. Part three focuses on special clinical problems such as pain control, cessation of smoking, and the management of sleep disorders. Each is addressed in a separate chapter that provides detailed therapeutic procedures for ameliorating the problem. In understanding the nature of the problems covered, the historical and cultural contexts, biological aspects, and current theories are brought to bear. For example, a chapter on the management of overeating opens by reviewing the psycho-social meanings of food, and offers guidelines for evaluating a client's weight management needs. After exploring these issues, specific hypnotherapeutic strategies--such as negative accentuation and alternative means of gratification-- are vividly demonstrated. This comprehensive text offers a penetrating and integrated discussion of the principles and practices of hypnosis in psychotherapy. An invaluable clinical tool for those concerned with both the theoretical and practical workings of hypnotherapy, it will be of particular interest to professionals and advanced students in the fields of psychology, medicine, and social work.

Few therapies in the history of medicine have enjoyed simultaneously such widespread acclaim and such universal condemnation as has hypnosis. To some extent these opposing attitudes still prevail. However, recent years have witnessed advances in experimental and therapeutic hypnosis which have tended to establish hypnotherapy firmly as a scientific treatment method. The present volume is a contribution to the growing literature on therapeutic hypnosis. It issues out of experimental work with hypnosis in the treatment of various emotional difficulties, and it attempts to delineate the utilities and limitations, as well as advantages and disadvantages, of hypnotherapy. A considerable portion of Volume One is devoted to a step-by-step description of the induction process, illustrating various induction methods by excerpts from transcriptions of actual hypnotic sessions. There is a didactic discussion of the principles of psychotherapy, and of the psychopathologic factors in the different disease syndromes. Therapeutic methods applicable to the existing dynamics and the contributions hypnosis has to make to the treatment plan are also elaborated on in some detail. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved).

Hypnosis has always captured the attention of some of the most creative thinkers in the field of psychology. Today, hypnosis and hypnotic phenomena are studied with state-of-the-science neuroimaging techniques, and hypnosis has informed cognitive science (and vice-versa) in meaningful ways. In this second edition of the landmark Handbook of Clinical Hypnosis, editors Steven Jay Lynn, Judith Rhue, and Irving Kirsch have undertaken a significant revision and update to their classic text, first published over ten years ago. It is divided into six sections: Foundations and General Considerations, which includes chapters on the history of hypnosis and measures of hypnotizability; Theories of Hypnosis, in which hypnosis is examined within the context of various therapeutic constructs; Hypnotic Techniques, which includes a how-to primer for trained therapists to conduct hypnotic inductions, as well as chapters about the integration of hypnosis with mindfulness strategies; Treating Psychological Problems and Populations, which discusses the use of hypnosis in treatment for depression, PTSD and Anxiety; Health and Sport Psychology, which examines hypnotic treatments for pain control and surgery as well as for maximizing athletic performance; and finally Further Issues and Extensions, which addresses, among other things, popular and cross-cultural conceptions of hypnosis. Handbook of Clinical Hypnosis, Second Edition is the comprehensive resource for clinicians, researchers, and anyone interested in the theory and practice of clinical hypnosis.

Covering theory and practice, The Handbook of Contemporary Clinical Hypnosis is an up-to-date, authoritative resource to support health professionals in their use of hypnosis in clinical settings. Provides an authoritative reference for practitioners and trainees on the diverse applications of hypnosis, published under the auspices of the British Society for Clinical and Academic Hypnosis (BSCAH) Combines a theoretical framework with material on a wide range of specific disorders including anxiety, stress phobias, eczema, oncology, eating disorders and infertility Shows how to adjust hypnotic techniques for different contexts e.g. when working with children, in emergencies and via a translator Features a variety of case studies that illustrate hypnosis techniques in action