Ericksonian Approaches: A Comprehensive Manual

"After studying hard and reading way too many books in 3 months, this is one of my top 20 books in this field. I started from an NLP learning point of view, however this book should be in the hands of anyone learning to use states of trance in their work. It's broad enough to be a useful reference and interesting enough to be a thorough read across the applications of talking therapy style work.

It covers the Meta model in quite some depth and also how it's used in reverse to induce trance along with further "Milton model" forms of language. Various other language forms are introduced and explained. I'd have liked more detail about "torpedo therapy" however I suspect I'm supposed to have the wit by now to create my own (that's NOT a gripe LOL).

They go onto to demonstrate using these skills without trance and relate various cases, and as noted, some of these will stick in your mind! (I read the Teaching Tale book mentioned-and that's another you should read through-because I said so and it's really interesting if you have any more than a passing interest in this field ;) )

Metaphor, Advanced metaphor and layered story telling are discussed and demonstrated also. There's plenty more, I just don't want to type any more right now!"
~ Written on 2006-04-03

"The beauty of this book is the quality of the writing. It is wonderfully easy to read providing a good overview of many aspects of Ericksonian hypnotherapy. It is also the funniest “serious” book I have read in years. Many of the case studies are hilarious – I particularly love the case of the “Hugest Fanny” (I promise it’s there in chapter 6 !) which had me in stitches. The book doesn’t go into great detail but concentrates on providing a broad overview of the field. It is an interesting and well written book and I recommend it for all students of hypnotherapy, or anyone interested the field."
~ Written on 2004-02-28

"Just what the title says - a comprehensive manual of Ericksonian hypnotherapy for the serious student. Readable and enlightening, this would be an excellent text book for a hypnosis course. It covers a variety of inductions, rapport-building, solution-focused approaches, language patterns, ethical considerations... everything needed for a complete hypnotherapy training. It's on the reading list for the hypnosis section of my NLP practitioner trainings."
~ Written on 2003-08-21

"This may seem pedantic, but worth pointing out 'cos it might get a laugh from most Europeans. I've decided to point out a rather amusing, but none too inspiring inaccuracy in the text of this otherwise useful and informative book.

It is in the first chapter, 'History of Hypnosis', where the author asserts "the medieval medical society considered her condition to be incurable" with reference to a young blind woman in the time of Franz Mesmer, circa 1779.

I'm quite amazed to hear how medieval doctors knew of this young lady's condition some 400-500 years before she or Mesmer were even born. Quite a feat of time regression... maybe the American authors can tell me how to do it?"
~ Written on 2003-06-18

"Psychology is a subject area that is dogged by jargon terminology, sometimes making it inaccesible for someone outside the field. While in places this book gets a little confused by the language it is giving us such an insight into, generally it is well explained and relatively simple. As a person who is relatively new to this field I found the book extremely useful, giving me a wide breadth of subject matter to think about. There are also useful exercises suggested at the end of the chapters.

While in places the authors present ideas without giving adequate explanation or examples, it is certainly worth buying if you have an interest in Ericksonain hypnosis & hypnotherapy."
~ Written on 2001-01-04