The Discovery Of Hypnosis

The first complete edition of the writings of James Braid, the man who coined the term "hypnotism" and founded hypnotherapy. Also includes Braid's "lost manuscript," written just before his death, in which he reviews his life's work for the French Academy of Sciences. Excerpts from the writings of his most devoted follower, Dr. John Milne Bramwell, are also included, which describe Braid's life and work. The current editor provides detailed prefatory essays and commentary for the modern reader.

This is a comprehensive evidence-based clinical manual for practitioners ofcognitive-behavioural hypnotherapy. Cognitive-behavioural hypnotherapy is increasingly becoming the dominant approach to clinicalhypnosis. At a theoretical level, it adopts a research-based cognitive-behavioural model ofhypnosis. At a practical level, it closely integrates traditional hypnotherapy andcognitive-behavioural therapy techniques. This is the first major treatment manual to describe a fully integrated cognitive-behavioural approach to hypnotherapy, based on current evidence and best practice in the fields of hypnotism and CBT. It is the product of years of work by the author, a cognitive-behavioural therapist and specialist in clinical hypnosis, with overfifteen years' experience in the therapy field. This book should be essential reading for anyoneinterested in modern evidence-based approaches to clinical hypnosis. It's also an importantresource for cognitive-behavioural therapists interested in the psychology of suggestion and the useof mental imagery techniques.

Hypnosis: A Brief History crosses disciplinary boundaries toexplain current advances and controversies surrounding the use ofhypnosis through an exploration of the history of its development. examines the social and cultural contexts of the theories,development, and practice of hypnosis crosses disciplinary boundaries to explain current advances andcontroversies in hypnosis explores shifting beliefs about the nature of hypnosis investigates references to the apparent power of hypnosis overmemory and personal identity

"Hypnotism," asserted Durand de Gros in 1860, "provides psychology with an experimental basis, from which point on it becomes a positive sci ence and takes its place in the larger sphere of animal physiology. " At the time it was written, this pronouncement was perhaps more wish than fact, but it was accurately prophetic of many of the developments in clinical psychiatry in the decades that lay ahead. Charcot was the pioneering pathfinder. With his colleagues at the Salpetriere in Paris, he employed hypnosis as an investigative tool to explore the psychology of patients with major hysteria. The discovery of the role of unconscious pathogenic ideas in the production of hysterical symptoms provided a basis for theoretical formulations that reached an apogee in the voluminous writings of Pierre Janet. For Janet, dissociation of mental functions became a central concept, and at the turn of the century, numerous clinical investigators in Europe and America were engaged in a study of its mechanisms and clinical mani festations. Among those early investigators was Sigmund Freud, who after a visit to Charcot's clinic, initially turned his attention to dissociative phenomena. His interest, however, was soon drawn to the nature and source of the dissociated (repressed) mental contents and away from the mechanism of dissociation itself.

Despite more than two centuries of having tacitly recognized its enormous potential utility, the phenomenon of hypnosis has always been commonly regarded with outright Fear and Loathing. How is it possible that something as beneficial to humanity as hypnosis ever came to be viewed in such a horrible manner? I intend to show that the history of hypnotism provides us with the clue to this unfortunate legacy; and I've neither spared anyone's feelings nor pulled any punches in this quest to reveal the shamefully appalling level of incompetence and ignorance that has characterized the (mis)use of this phenomenon since its discovery by Mesmer more than two hundred years ago.

Tumba, Sweden. A triple homicide, all of the victims from the same family, captivates Detective Inspector Joona Linna, who demands to investigate the grisly murders -- against the wishes of the national police. The killer is at large, and it appears that the elder sister of the family escaped the carnage; it seems only a matter of time until she, too, is murdered. But where can Linna begin? The only surviving witness is an intended victim -- the boy whose mother, father, and little sister were killed before his eyes. Whoever committed the crimes intended for this boy to die: he has suffered more than one hundred knife wounds and Lapsed into a state of shock. He's in no condition to be questioned. Desperate for information, Linna sees one mode of recourse: hypnotism. He enlists Dr. Erik Maria Bark to mesmerize the boy, hoping to discover the killer through his eyes. It's the sort of work that Bark had sworn he would never do again-ethically dubious and psychically scarring. When he breaks his promise and hypnotizes the victim, a Long and terrifying chain of events begins to unfurl.

Shows how to alleviate phobias, insomnia, and many other problems by literally talking to one's body...