Customer Reviews

Hypnosis: A Jungian Perspective

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This book is probably a great book if you view life from the Jungian perspective, and is as much a book about the Jungian approach as it is about hypnosis. It is not a how to do it book by any means, but designed to allow those with Jung's leanings to make use of hypnosis. Very few Jungian hypnotherapists exist, and in that sense the book is great as it opens up a new avenue for those with a mindset that didn't allow for use of hypnosis. But for others it may be a disappointment. Not an easy read, it requires a basic knowledge of the Jungian perspective to understand. If you don't have that, read some Jung first, and then the book will be more meaningful and useful.

This is not an introduction to, or textbook on, hypnosis. Knowledge of hypnosis and its clinical uses is assumed. The book is for those who are already familiar with clinical hypnosis and who -- like the vast majority of those -- are unaware of the potentially happy marriage between clinical hypnosis and fundamental ideas and treatment practices from Jungian psychology. It contains enough clearly stated information about the relevant Jungian ideas and treatment practices to make a good case for such a potential marriage. Jungian psychologists and their offspring have for too long avoided hypnosis, in part because Jung himself, like Freud, turned away from it early on his career. However, today's clinical hypnosis is neither Jung's nor your grandfather's hypnosis anymore. The time has come for Jungians to take another look at hypnosis, and for clinical hypnotists to take a look at Jung. Even though I am no Jungian I dare predict that there is a bright future ahead for this marriage of Jung and hypnosis, and for anyone who dares to look a bit further than both Jungians and well informed hypnosis theorists and practitioners have been looking so far. The time for that is ripe, and James Hall's book has done a very fine job at pointing in the right direction. I think this book deserves much more attention than I suspect it has received. And even though, considering the book's publication date, the present review may seem late in coming, I think that the book's own day is still young.