Treating Depression With Hypnosis: Integrating Cognitive-Behavioral and Strategic Approaches

Rating:
Summary: A helpful clinical guide
Review: This is a readable book on using hypnosis as an adjunct to cognitive, behavioral, or interpersonal therapy of depression. The author's views are sensible, balanced, and clinically relevant. He references the clinical and research literature to butress his arguments. The book is a bit skimpy for the price. The author refers the reader to his other books, CDs, and tapes for futher information, making this a bit like an infomercial. In addition, the author sometimes sets up a straw man to make his points. For example, he writes about therapists who tell their clients to "get their anger out" by pounding a chair with a bat. This example sounds like a caricature of therapy and I can't believe anyone but the most incompetent novice therapist would take such a stance -- but living on the East Coast, I may be ignorant of how therapy is practiced in California where the author resides. Nonetheless, the book contains valuable insights for clinicians who treat depression. It is also one of the few books that deals with the use of hypnosis in depression, which used to be a strict "no-no" according to traditional schools of hypnosis. In that sense this book is a breath of fresh air in the often dogmatic and opinionated world of hypnosis.

Rating:
Summary: A helpful clinical guide
Review: This is a readable book on using hypnosis as an adjunct to cognitive, behavioral, or interpersonal therapy of depression. The author's views are sensible, balanced, and clinically relevant. He references the clinical and research literature to butress his arguments. The book is a bit skimpy for the price. The author refers the reader to his other books, CDs, and tapes for futher information, making this a bit like an infomercial. In addition, the author sometimes sets up a straw man to make his points. For example, he writes about therapists who tell their clients to "get their anger out" by pounding a chair with a bat. This example sounds like a caricature of therapy and I can't believe anyone but the most incompetent novice therapist would take such a stance -- but living on the East Coast, I may be ignorant of how therapy is practiced in California where the author resides. Nonetheless, the book contains valuable insights for clinicians who treat depression. It is also one of the few books that deals with the use of hypnosis in depression, which used to be a strict "no-no" according to traditional schools of hypnosis. In that sense this book is a breath of fresh air in the often dogmatic and opinionated world of hypnosis.