Hypnosis Book Reviews...

Hypnosis in the Relief of Pain
By Ernest R. Hilgard & Josephine R. Hilgard

To save you looking for my conclusions I will tell you now that this is one book that would be a welcome addition in every practising hypnotherapist's private library and in my opinion is almost obligatory reading for advanced students of Clinical Hypnotherapy.

This is a classic text book on hypnotherapy and pain control written by a retired emeritus Professor of Psychology from Stanford University, Ernest R Hilgard, and Josephine R Hilgard, who was a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry also at Stanford University.

This is not a book containing scripts. In fact it is not until you get right to the end of the book where you will find enlightening information about the use of the Stanford Hypnotic Scale, that you find a script at all.

The objective of the Professors was to find out as much as they could about pain control in a controlled environment and prove one way or another the effect hypnosis had on the alleviation of pain compared to other methods such as direct suggestion, placebo effects, pain killing drugs etc. Throughout the book there are technical references and medical terms, however this never seemed to become overly daunting.

Because the book has been written from the perspective of controlled research, the authors make clear from the start that hypnotherapy techniques are not going to be suitable for everybody. However they do suggest methodologies which can be used to determine the susceptibility of a patient to hypnosis and the levels of pain control that can be expected amongst a group of patients.
Part one provides an in-depth background to the underlying elements including hypnosis, pain, controlling pain and hypnosis in pain control. The pain is induced in the laboratory using two control methods. The first is ‘cold pressor pain which involves a hand or forearm being placed in circulating ice water and induces pain relatively quickly. The second is referred to as ‘ischemic pain  which uses a tourniquet technique and the subject subsequently squeezing at a controlled rate until the pain becomes intolerable. The two methods are referred to throughout the book and enabled the development of scaled responses to pain to be clearly demonstrated.

Part two of the book covers specific application areas in which the use of hypnotherapy has been used and clear examples are given annotating how beneficial the use of hypnotherapy was in each case, together with the limiting factors. The subject areas covered are Cancer, Obstetrics,Surgery and Dentistry.

Part three is split into two sections, the first entitled 'Hidden Pain and its Interpretation'  which discusses the concept of ‘the hidden observer' and concludes with a discussion on ‘The Future of Hypnosis in Pain Control'. 

Not a quick, or necessarily easy read, it provides such a fascinating insight into the subject of pain and how the human body deals with pain that as I started off by saying it's ‘a must for anyone whose work involves helping peopIe who are in pain' (quote borrowed from the Journal of the Medical Society of New Jersey, reviewer Paul Lehrer PhD)

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