The Practical Application of Medical and Dental Hypnosis

by Milton H. Erickson, Seymour Hershman, Irving I. Secter

"During the past several years there have been ever-increasing numbers of physicians, dentists, and psychologists interested in hypnosis, both therapeutic and investigative. Reliable sources of clinical information and instruction were practically non-existent except for a few scattered individuals. To meet this need, to interest universities, and to stimulate medical and dental schools to an awareness of the importance of teaching clinical hypnosis, a group of experienced clinicians competent in teaching were formed. Throughout the United States, under the auspices of various professional societies and universities, this group conducted seminars on hypnosis.
"This book is compiled from the tape recordings of dozens of those seminars, and thus it contains the material as it was presented, with all the simplicity, directness, and effectiveness of the classroom presentation.
"It is no more, no less, than a comprehensive presentation of the material upon which thousands of clinicians throughout the United States have based the initiation and development of their successful clinical use of hypnosis."
-Milton H. Erickson, M.D. (1961)

464 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1989

About the author

Milton Hyland Erickson (5 December 1901 – 25 March 1980) was an American psychiatrist specializing in medical hypnosis and family therapy. He was founding president of the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis and a fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Psychopathological Association. He is noted for his approach to the unconscious mind as creative and solution-generating. He is also noted for influencing brief therapy, strategic family therapy, family systems therapy, solution focused brief therapy, and neuro-linguistic programming.

Reviews

[David McClendon, Sr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book. However, it is not a “how to book” by any stretch of the imagination. The three doctors conducted a seminar for dentists, physicians, and others.

I marked it down from 5 stars to 4 only because there are many problems with the transcription of the book. It appears that the doctors had handwritten notes and whoever transcribed the notes did not attempt to alter anything from the notes and typed them as the words appeared to them. In many cases, it is clear that the word intended was “he” but the transcriber wrote the word “lie”. This is also true of the word “are” which the transcriber saw as the word “arc”. These problems aside, it is a good book for a professional such as a physician or dentist who is seeking to expand the use of hypnosis in their practice.