Hypnotically Enhanced Treatment for Addictions--By Joseph Tramontana, Ph.D.

2009, Crown House Publishing, Ltd., Wales

Reviewed by Judith E. Pearson, Ph.D.

For mental health practitioners trained in hypnotherapeutic approaches to addictions, compulsions, and habit control, Joseph Tramontana's new book will make an excellent library addition. Hypnotically Enhanced Treatment for Addictions provides strategies and scripts for alcohol abuse, drug addiction, gambling addiction, smoking cessation, and weight loss. The methods in this book can be extended to other compulsions and impulse control disorders as well.

This book packs a wealth of practical information into just 144 pages. Readers get advice on client interviews, assessment questionnaires, tests of hypnotizability, and explaining hypnotherapy to clients. The author trains readers in hypnotic processes such as trance induction, trance ratification, deepening, affect-bridge, ego-strengthening, reframing, ideomotor signaling, and reorientation---specifically for addictions. He includes therapeutic metaphors, tips on assessing motivation, and methods for preventing relapse.

He recommends "packaged programs" which I, too, have found useful in working with these client populations. Such programs consist of a specific number of sessions, contracted between the therapist and the client, with each session focusing on a unique aspect of the presenting issue.

This highly readable book is thorough and straightforward with excellent examples and case studies. Solid gold instruction for hypnotherapists!

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Judith E. Pearson, Ph.D. is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Clinical Hypnotherapist, and Master NLP Practitioner/Trainer. She is Executive Director of the National Board of Certified Clinical Hypnotherapists and has a private practice in Springfield, VA, under the name Motivational Strategies. She has published The Weight, Hypnotherapy and You Weight Reduction Program: An NLP and Hypnotherapy Practitioner's Manual and has recently released a hypnosis CD entitled Discover Your Learning Genius. Her website is www.engagethepower.com.