Essentials of Clinical Hypnosis

The best complete and fundamental textbook on clinical hypnosis available. Written by master therapists and educators Steven Jay Lynn and Irving Kirsch, it bridges the research-practice gap, bringing hypnosis into mainstream evidence-based clinical psychotherapy. Through session transcripts, illustrative case examples, and step-by-step procedures, this volume explores the benefits of incorporating hypnotic methods into treatment plans for such common disorders and conditions as anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, pain and medical conditions, smoking, and eating disorders. It is appealing to a broad range of practitioners and students, including psychologists, psychiatrists, physicians, social workers, and dentists. The book weaves together history, scientific evidence, and vivid applications material. Helps novices get started with basic inductions and suggestive methods, describing when and when not to use hypnotic procedures. More advanced techniques are also covered, along with various theoretical perspectives on hypnosis, up-to-date literature reviews, and unflinching discussions of thorny issues including the use of hypnosis for memory recovery.