Hypnosis, dissociation and survivors of child abuse

American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis,  Jan 2008  by Gold, Steven N

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The second three chapters represent a considerable change in tone. Chapter 4 consists of very detailed discussion of specific hypnotherapeutic techniques for working with abuse survivors. The transition from chapter 3 and 4 are somewhat jarring due to the marked shift from a relatively academic discussion of research and theory in chapters 1 through 3 to an extremely detailed description of practical clinical applications in chapter 4.

Chapter 4 presents an array of specific hypnotherapeutic techniques, each suitable for use with child abuse survivors at a particular point in the progression of treatment. Chapter 5 then shifts back to a more broad-based perspective, providing an overview of the typical structure and course of hypnotherapy for abuse survivors. The order of these 2 chapters is puzzling: it seemed to me that the detailed interventions discussed in chapter four would have been more understandable after having been introduced to the wider context presented in chapter 5. Chapter 6 concludes the volume with a very useful set of three case presentations that demonstrate how the approaches surveyed in the previous two chapters were applied in particular instances. An especially useful aspect of this chapter is the variety of the cases selected. Each one has markedly different features that nicely illustrate the range of symptom pictures, abuse histories, and complexity and length of treatment that can be encountered in working with abuse survivors.

Given the enormity of the task Degun-Mathers has taken on, this book represents an impressive achievement. The work is a useful survey of a large body of knowledge. For those who are conversant in this area, Degun-Mathers has performed the valuable service of reintroducing a long-avoided topic in a sober and thoughtful manner.

References

Cotsell, M. (2005). The theater of trauma: American modernist drama and the psychological struggle for the American mind, 1900-1930. New York: Peter Lang

Courtois, C. A. (2002). Traumatic stress studies: The need for curricula inclusion. Journal of Trauma Practice, 7(1), 33-57.

Freud, S. (1959a/1893). On the psychical mechanisms of hysterical phenomena. In J. Riviere (Trans.), Sigmund Freud: Collected papers. Vol. 1. New York: Basic Books.

Freud, S. (1959b/1896). The aetiology of hysteria. In J. Riviere (Trans.), Sigmund Freud: Collected papers. Vol. 1. New York: Basic Books.

Janet, P. (1973/1889). L'automatismepsychologique: Eessai depsychologie experimentale sur lesformes inferieures de l'activite humaine. [Psychological automatisms: An experimental psychological essay on the lower forms of human activity.] Paris: Societe Pierre Janet/Payot.

Reviewed by Steven N. Gold, Ph.D., Trauma Resolution & Integration Program, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL.

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