Book Reviews

Hypnosis For Change by Hadley and Staudacher

Hypnosis for Pain Control by David Patterson

Mindfulness and Hypnosis

By Michael Yapko

Reviewed by Nancy Gewirtz, Psy.D

I’ve been patiently waiting for a gifted clinician to explore, what to me has seemed the parallel universes of mindfulness meditation and hypnosis. Thankfully, Michael Yapko has taken up this challenge and, as expected, has tackled it in a creative, accessible and clinically incisive way. Yapko compares Guided Mindfulness Meditation (as opposed to solo practice) with hypnosis and finds shared core values and overlapping methods. At the heart of Yapko’s thesis is that perhaps, the most significant contribution of hypnosis and Guided Mindfulness Meditation (GMM) lies in the power of therapeutic suggestion. In fact, Yapko would argue that positive, therapeutic suggestions are the common, core ingredient for ALL forms of psychotherapy. (Hence, Yapko’s subtitle for his book:” The Power of Suggestion to Transform Experience.”)

 

Yapko explores the extreme popularity of mindfulness based therapy (a popularity that hypnotherapists can only envy) and the misconceptions about hypnosis. As he wryly points out, in the public eye, the iconic figure for Mindfulness is the Buddha and for hypnosis it’s Svengali. That explains a lot. Those in the Mindfulness field view awareness as coming solely from the meditating individual, as opposed to hypnosis, where the insights are perceived as being” implanted” by the hypnotherapist. Yapko argues that this is an erroneous conclusion based on misconceptions about hypnosis and a not deep enough understanding of GMM. To his point, in a fascinating chapter, Yapko analyzes two GMM transcripts, finding them chock full of “hypnotic” therapeutic suggestions! Yapko further asserts that practitioners of both hypnosis and GMM utilize focused attention and disassociation, (as well as suggestion) as they teach the skills of relaxation, acceptance and compassion. He concludes that hypnotherapists and mindfulness- based practitioners can learn from and enrich each other’s work.

 

As always, Yapko brings these insights right into the office of the clinicians, where it is most relevant. He reminds us that any technique can be helpful or harmful – even mindfulness. He also reminds us of our duties as clinicians to keep the therapeutic relationship front and center –no matter what our approach. Finally, Yapko helps us to “mindfully” and skillfully assess which techniques are beneficial for which patients.

 

My best recommendation for “Mindfulness and Hypnosis” is that while reading it, I felt as if I were in a master class with Michael Yapko. A class not to be missed.