Hypnosis Books For Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy Students
Posted on December 7, 2010 in Hypnosis | 2 Comments
Yes I do indeed get asked a lot about the best books to buy to help become a hypnotherapist and learn hypnosis.
So I have a very exciting video clip tour of my office bookshelf for you today, pointing out the importnat stuff that exists there:
In written form, here are the books I mention in the clip, the important stuff for hypnotherapists and students of hypnosis:
- Hartlands Medical and Dental Hypnosis by Heap and Aravind
- Essentials of Clinical Hypnosis by Kirsch and Lynn
- Handbook of Hypnotic Suggestions and Metaphors by Corydon Hammond et al
For those interested in stage hypnosis and mentalism:
- Encylopaedia of Stage Hypnotism by Ormond McGill
- The Secrets of The Amazing Kreskin by Kreskin, of course.
Medical and scientific importance:
- Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology by Lynn, Lilienfield and Lohr (If your surname does not begin with the letter L, you are not allowed in their gang)
- DSM-IV – The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the fifth edition is due out next year.
History of Hypnosis:
- Hidden Depths by Robin Waterfield
- The Discovery of Hypnosis: The Complete Writings of James Braid by Donald Robertson
For an exhaustive text on NLP:
- The Encylopaedia of Systemic Neuro Linguistic Programming and NLP New Code by Dilts and DeLozier
And I forget the book I referred to about self-hypnosis…
There are others I like, but all the above I love and deem important to the hypnosis student.
I am more than happy for others to share their favourites here too 
That’s funny, I was planning an email to you today to share with the 2010/2011 diploma students.
You recommended “Training Trances” in your course prerequisites for last year, although we never actually discussed it in the classes.
I particularly like the way that this book is a direct transcript of a hypnosis training seminar, and as such, is almost like being there. There is clever use of typography to enable analogue marking, and a really nice embedded command that I find myself following every time I read through it.
Another book that I highly recommend is “Monsters and Magical Sticks“.
This is not a technical manual, but a series of anecdotes. There are useful style tips to pick up, but the main reason that I love this book is that it does a great job of explaining what we do in terms that are accessible to all. I also particularly like the central premise of the book that “there is no such thing as hypnosis”, with the justification that “all communication is hypnotic“
Posted by Andy Palmer on 7th December, 2010 at 11:33 am.
Ah yes, I do love that book Andy, it is very well written and easy to follow and fits in with primarily an Ericksonian approach to hypnosis. Thanks for mentioning that one.
Posted by Adam Eason on 7th December, 2010 at 1:46 pm.