Hypnosis and stress: A guide for clinicians

American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, Oct 2006 by Gravitz, Melvin A

Hawkins, P.J. (2006). Hypnosis and stress: A guide for clinicians. Chichester: Whurr Publishers, Ltd. Reviewed by Barry B. Hart, Ph.D., York, PA.

Peter Hawkins is a founder director and currently President of the European School of Psychotherapy. He is also a visiting professor in hypnosis and psychotherapy at ISMAI in Portugal. In his Preface, Hawkins makes clear that his book was written for practicing clinicians, with the hope to "stimulate their inner creativities and imaginations," and in so doing "to assist patients to utilize their own resources to find solutions to their stress-related problems." The book is divided into eight chapters, entitled Contextual Understandings; Hypnosis and Stress; The Hypnosis Session; Clinical Issues; Ego-Strengthening; Hypnoanalytic Approaches; Treatment of Specific Problems (2 chapters); and Children and Families.

The author paints on a very broad canvas, offering a brief history of hypnosis, comments on the sociopolitical context in which it is carried out; the limitations of research, and the use of hypnotic suggestion for a wide variety of disorders and client groups, including children and families. This is both the strength and weakness of the book. That is, while it is interesting to read about the author's views on a wide variety of topics, the book ends up too broad in scope, acknowledging the utility of direct and indirect suggestion, dynamic and hypnoanalytical approaches, and state and non-state viewpoints (i.e. referring to 'trance' but also the importance of expectation and belief). A sense of this is captured in Hawkins' description of his approach as humanistic, phenomenological and integrative, incorporating cognitive-behavioral as well as generic dynamic strategies.

The book ends up just scratching the surface of some issues and clinical conditions (e.g. only a half page is devoted to eating disorders), but Hawkins offers 62 partial scripts that many clinicians will find useful in their day to day practice. Despite advocating the use of scripts, he acknowledges the influence of Milton Erickson and Ernest Rossi, and the scripts are replete with Rossi's use of the implied directive and the search for "inner resources." Although Freud's work is referred to on 12 occasions, Hawkins view of the unconscious is far more Rogerian and Jungian, making numerous references to its benign, yet helpful, nature as a repository of abilities and resources that it is the therapist's job to help the client access. And Hawkins does an admirable job of this. Indeed, within minutes of reading Chapter 7, this reviewer found Scripts 45-48 to be very helpful with a patient. The author also uses briefcase studies to show how hypnotic suggestion can be used.

In summary, the subtitle says it all: this book is a guide for clinicians. This reviewer would have much preferred the book to cover fewer topics, but in more depth, such as anxiety and psychosomatic disorders. There is no pretence to it reviewing theory or research topics in depth, but the very wide and surface coverage of clinical conditions probably makes it most useful for clinicians who want an introduction to how hypnosis can be used in their day to day practice.