This is the most important volume on hypnosis and pain since the 1970s. It is a must-have for practitioners and researchers.---Arreed Barabasz, PhD, ABPP, Professor and Editor, International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis; author of Hypnotherapeutic Techniques, Second Edition; and Editor of Medical Hypnosis Primer: Clinical and Research Evidence The strain in pain lies mainly in the brain. Patterson shows us how to take advantage of that fact in clear and evidence-based language. If you want to add hypnotic analgesia to your set of psychotherapeutic skills painlessly, read this book. Your patients will thank you.---David Spiegel, MD, Willson Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine; coauthor of Trance and Treatment: Clinical Uses of Hypnosis Today, hypnosis and hypnotic phenomena are in the mainstream of clinical, cognitive, and social psychology, and practitioners can benefit from a wealth of research to guide their interventions. In this second edition of a landmark book, Lynn, Rhue, and Kirsch have undertaken a significant revision to their classic text, first published over 15 years ago. Through session transcripts, illustrative case examples, and step-by-step procedures, this highly readable 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. This book lays out an empirically documented program for treating patients experiencing acute and chronic pain, two of the most common symptoms in modern society. Going beyond traditional biomedical remedies, Gatchel offers a comprehensive viewpoint that takes into consideration not only biological but also psychological and social variables. Clinical Hypnosis for Pain Control is a compelling argument for the use of hypnotic analgesia as a viable alternative to psychopharmacological interventions for controlling acute, chronic, and postoperative pain, as well as pain from nonsurgical procedures. Yet clinical hypnosis is not an "alternative" medicine, Patterson argues; rather, it is an innovative way of using a patient's subconscious resources to distract, dislocate, or reduce pain in a variety of clinical settings---from the ER to the hospital's rehabilitation wing. As the staff psychologist at a bum center, Patterson draws on his experiences---and many hypnotic inductions---in helping patients deal both with severe pain and with other types of acute and chronic pain, such as headaches, fibromyalgia, cancer, and neuropathy. Written for a general clinical audience---but particularly for pain specialists---this volume also provides a masterful survey of the different types of pain as well as a variety of easy-to-follow induction examples (with instructive commentary) for the major types of pain syndromes. The book is also an excellent resource for students and researchers who want to explore hypnotic analgesia's scientific basis and its growing acceptance as an evidence-based practice. In the penultimate chapter, Patterson outlines a groundbreaking approach of combining brief counseling techniques and Ericksonian hypnosis for long-term pain management.

If you suffer from chronic pain, whether as a result of an injury, illness, or accident, you know it can interfere with every aspect of your life. You may also know the medical treatments currently available are limited and, for many, ineffective. Current research has shown hypnosis to be an effective treatment for managing chronic pain, and almost all patients who learn self-hypnosis skills benefit from this approach. The hypnosis treatment found in this workbook has been scientifically tested and proven effective for reducing the intensity of chronic pain, including migraines, back pain, and tension headaches, among others. This workbook explains how to use these techniques to manage your chronic pain and take back control of your life and your health. Used in combination with the program described in the corresponding therapist guide, this workbook teaches you self-hypnosis skills for lessening your pain, enhancing your sleep, and improving your mood. The first chapters will help you understand how hypnosis works by changing how your brain deals with information it receives from the body. The complete hypnosis treatment described in this book, alongside the treatment you receive from your clinician, will ultimately teach you skills for pain management that you can use at any time, and for the rest of your life. "An excellent blueprint to understanding pain and the fundamentals of how hypnosis combined with CBT can offer pain amelioration. Perfect, even for uninitiated practitioners who wish to use empirically based scripts."--Jeffrey Zeig, Ph.D., The Milton Erickson Foundation "Pain can too easily enslave people, holding them captive in many different ways. It is a liberating theme of empowerment that echoes throughout Dr. Jensen's work: he empowers clinicians to work more knowledgeably and skillfully with people who suffer painful conditions using his therapist guide, and he encourages the suffering individual to break free from pain's grip with the practical pain management skills taught in his workbook. Dr. Jensen's vision for the many ways hypnosis can help reduce the debilitating effects of painful conditions is fresh, inspiring and should be regularly integrated into every pain management program."--Michael D. Yapko, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist and author of Trancework: An Introduction to the Practice of Clinical Hypnosis (Third Edition) and Treating Depression with Hypnosis

Bruce Eimer's program for chronic pain alleviation is based upon research findings that show that a vicious mind-body loop develops in sufferers and that to stop the pain the loop can be broken through the use of auto-suggestion and hypnosis.

If you suffer from chronic pain, this book may provide valuable help! Both authors suffered permanent injuries years ago, and have used mindfulness to tame their chronic pain...and literally walk their talk. Additionally, Dr. Bruce Eimer has years of experience as a pain psychologist working in a major hospital, using techniques to help pain patients. Roy Hunter is a well-known hypnotherapist who has also helped a number of clients manage pain with approval of their doctors. The techniques they share in this book have passed the test of time.

Written by a psychologist and a psychiatrist noted for their expertise as both practitioners and researchers, the book illustrates how hypnosis can significantly alleviate the pain of childbirth, medical or dental surgery, burns or other accidental injuries, cancer, and chronic syndromes. With over 600 references covering the field of modern research into the mechanisms of pain, the authors convey a thorough understanding of findings and limitations of available empirical studies. Yet the book remains exceptionally clear and non-technical and will appeal not only to professionals involved with pain reduction but to lay people as well. The Hilgards address a broad spectrum of topics relating to hypnosis and pain, ranging from an historical review to a consideration of future areas for investigation. They thoughtfully tackle the controversy still surrounding the nature of hypnosis - is it an altered state of consciousness or a pattern of behaviour adopted by both subject and hypnotist? The concluding section presents the Hilgards' neo-dissociation theory of hypnosis as well as a highly useful technique for assessing susceptibility in clinical situations. Pain has been called the greatest unsolved problem in medicine. Hypnosis in the Relief of Pain, with its honest and complete appraisal of the role of hypnosis on pain reduction, will contribute significantly to the understanding and broader use of this noninvasive and natural healing phenomenon.

What is hypnosis? Despite widespread misconceptions, hypnosis is not a treatment in itself; instead, it is a facilitator -- a useful diagnostic tool that can help the practitioner choose an appropriate treatment modality and accelerate various primary treatment strategies. The second edition of this remarkable work (first published 25 years ago) is written to provide both beginning and seasoned practitioners with a brief, disciplined technique for mobilizing and learning from an individual's capacity to concentrate. Putting to rest both exaggerated fears about hypnosis and overblown statements of its efficacy, this compelling volume brings scientific discipline to a systematic exploration of the clinical uses and limitations of hypnosis. The challenge was to develop a clinical measurement that could transform a fascinating amalgam of anecdotes, speculations, clinical intuitions and observations, and laboratory advances into a more fruitful and systematic body of information. Thus was born the authors' Hypnotic Induction Profile (HIP), a crucial 10-minute clinical assessment procedure that relates the spectrum of hypnotizability to personality style, psychopathology, and treatment outcome. Structured to reflect the flow of a typical evaluation and treatment session and highlighted by case examples throughout, this remarkable synthesis describes how to use the HIP, reviews relevant literature, and details principles and short- and long-term treatment strategies for smoking control; eating disorders; anxiety, concentration, and insomnia; phobias; pain control; psychosomatic disorders and conversion symptoms; trichotillomania; stuttering; and acute and posttraumatic stress disorders and dissociation. Meticulously referenced and indexed, this in-depth work concludes with an appendix on the interpretation and standardization of the HIP.This unique work stands out in the literature because It is written both as an introduction for practitioners new to hypnosis and as an in-depth guide for practitioners with wide experience in hypnosis. Unlike current clinical works, it emphasizes the importance of performing a systematic assessment of hypnotizability to identify, measure, and utilize a given patient's optimal therapeutic potential -- a process that, until now, has been relegated to clinical intuition. It describes human behavior phenomenologically as it relates to hypnosis in a probable rather than an absolute fashion. It reviews only specific portions of the literature that are particularly relevant to the important themes presented by the authors. Wherever possible, the authors apply statistical methods to test their hypotheses. The realm of scientific investigation encompassing hypnosis and psychological dysfunction is comparatively new. This exceptional volume, with its profusion of systematic data, will spark controversy and interest among scientific students of hypnosis everywhere, from psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychoanalysts to physicians, dentists, and other interested clinicians.

Hypnosis has always captured the attention of some of the most creative thinkers in the field of psychology. Today, hypnosis and hypnotic phenomena are studied with state-of-the-science neuroimaging techniques, and hypnosis has informed cognitive science (and vice-versa) in meaningful ways. In this second edition of the landmark Handbook of Clinical Hypnosis, editors Steven Jay Lynn, Judith Rhue, and Irving Kirsch have undertaken a significant revision and update to their classic text, first published over ten years ago. It is divided into six sections: Foundations and General Considerations, which includes chapters on the history of hypnosis and measures of hypnotizability; Theories of Hypnosis, in which hypnosis is examined within the context of various therapeutic constructs; Hypnotic Techniques, which includes a how-to primer for trained therapists to conduct hypnotic inductions, as well as chapters about the integration of hypnosis with mindfulness strategies; Treating Psychological Problems and Populations, which discusses the use of hypnosis in treatment for depression, PTSD and Anxiety; Health and Sport Psychology, which examines hypnotic treatments for pain control and surgery as well as for maximizing athletic performance; and finally Further Issues and Extensions, which addresses, among other things, popular and cross-cultural conceptions of hypnosis. Handbook of Clinical Hypnosis, Second Edition is the comprehensive resource for clinicians, researchers, and anyone interested in the theory and practice of clinical hypnosis.