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| Year : 2017
| Volume
: 59 | Issue : 1 | Page
: 131 |
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| Hypnosis |
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Ajit V Bhide
Department of Psychiatry, St Martha's Hospital, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Click here for correspondence address and
email
| Date of Web Publication | 12-Apr-2017 |
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How to cite this article:
Bhide AV. Hypnosis. Indian J Psychiatry 2017;59:131 |
This little book is the outcome of almost half a century of work done by the author, Dr. Peter Fernandez, a clinical psychiatrist from Chennai with a devoted interest in hypnotherapy. The author has trained many professional colleagues in this form of therapy over the past four decades.
The book details his serendipitous entry into the field of hypnosis while working as a psychiatrist, at the insistence of the parent of a young patient, who even paid for his initial training in the technique. Apart from his own unabashed story of being a reluctant debutant, he gives us a history of this form of therapy right from ancient times to the late 20th century. For reasons that are unclear, he lists the important milestones in the history of hypnosis once again in the context of course material for corporate who no doubt have benefitted from Fernandez's considerable skills in workshops. I was pleased to note that the history mentions the contribution of Abbe Faria, a Brahmin from Goa who as a convert catholic cleric traveled to France and earned a reputation as a healer using what we today call hypnosis. Practically, a contemporary of Mesmer, he differed from the latter in style and substance.
Fernandez's book carries a compilation of some sixty vignettes, where a useful succinct case history (usually by the patient him/herself) is followed by a commentary including an analysis and a brief therapeutic summary. These notes could have been a little more elaborate in many instances, but the cases cover a wide range of longstanding as well as acute pathologies. This section may seem long and tedious but is actually the strength of this volume as each individual case merits consideration. The cases have been chosen out of quite a plethora of those available with the author.
There is also a practical manual included in the book with details of induction, analysis of material, and awakening procedures with due emphasis on precautions. Great endorsement is placed on the learning self-hypnosis by patients and there is a quaint collection of feedback letters that the author has received, all of them laudatory. A section for the corporate on stress management, mentioned earlier, includes a collection of PowerPoint slides; this ought to have been in the text form. There is also a small vernacular section that I have not followed and therefore not reviewed here.
This book is worth possessing, for its rich content, simple style and practical tips which would be good aid to beginners and even busy practitioners in our profession.
Correspondence Address:
Ajit V Bhide
Department of Psychiatry, St Martha's Hospital, Bengaluru, Karnataka
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_71_17
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