Thinking Therapeutically: Hypnotic Skills & Strategies Explored

A New Book by Tom Barber & Sandra Westland.

Thinking Therapeutically: Hypnotic Skills & Strategies Explored by Tom Barber & Sandra Westland. A Journey into becoming a therapist and some of the most successful techniques used within their many years of professional practice.

Thinking Therapeutically provides a rare insight into the world of two experienced therapists as they recall their own enlightening journeys to becoming therapists. Tom Barber and Sandra Westland offer a number of verbatim accounts of their most memorable sessions, along with a personal processing of each session and, more importantly, a critical analysis of each other's work.

Therapists are often provided with a number of theories, approaches and techniques they are told will be therapeutic, but without any guidance as to whether they will help a particular client. This book provides an opportunity to see these ideas in action and gives some essential critique as to what did and what did not work in the sessions described. The authors offer us insight and guidance into the world of creativity which will open up to us when we engage with clients within their own paradigms. Tom and Sandra bring their own personal touch to this book, never before seen with this degree of honesty and transparency. In sharing their work they provide both new and experienced therapists with unique insights that only the seasoned practitioner can possess.

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Reviews

by David Slater BA, DHyp, MHA(RegHyp), MASC, DCS, MGSCT, Clinical Hypnotherapist and Counsellor.

Congratulations to Tom Barber and Sandra Westland for producing this outstanding and unique book which has relevance to all who work within the field of hypnotherapy, beginners and experienced practitioners alike.

Tom and Sandra are two of our most experienced and respected practitioners who also have that superb talent of communication at all levels. The book, a "must have" for all interested in hypnotherapy, describes the journeys that they have made not only to becoming therapists but also includes a fascinating journey into their own professional world where real-life situations are recounted and dissected. It is almost like a "fly on the wall" documentary and is totally riveting from beginning to end.

Seldom has one seen such openness and honesty. There is an immediacy in their writing, although they have differing styles, and one feels very much part of the whole experience and, as such, I feel derive a great deal of benefit from the what they share so ably with us. It makes no difference whether you are a student or a seasoned professional, there is most definitely something here for everyone to appreciate at their own level.

Our authors share with us some of their most memorable sessions which they both analyse and criticise as they go on. Each session is processed and analysed critically and honestly. As one reads it becomes an exercise in which the reader becomes totally involved and formulates his/her own opinions and strategies often putting themselves in the position of the therapist and planning their own route forwards.

It is one thing having strategies explained in a dry, clinical way but it is totally another to have the strategy theoretically explained and then, through the medium of the verbatim reporting of sessions, actually put to real use in such an open and compelling way. At times their clients almost become yours as you share each intense moment of the journey made.

This superb book gives the reader not only the theories, the strategies, the techniques and the approaches but accompanies all of these with personal expert guidance and consideration which takes us from the general to the particular with all our clients.

The reader is engaged is sessions which are far ranging from Driving test nerves to Bulimia. We examine the world of hypnohealing and hypnoanalysis. We become involved in the fascinating world of Parts Therapy and the transforming effect of Swish Technique. We explore the world of the inner child and learn how to access it.

There is such fascination here. Such inspiration. Such intense, and at times deeply moving, reality and humanity. It is a book which does NOT deserve a place on your bookshelf but a regular place in your hands, on your desk and in your mind. The shelf suggests dormancy. This book deserves to be part of your everyday action and thought.

This is seeing hypnotherapy in action and, with the honesty and transparency already mentioned, we see it warts and all, as it were. There is honest explanation of what worked and what didn't in the sessions described. On reading here I certainly had many of my own experiences springing to mind, comparing and contrasting what I did to the way the authors had worked. I am glad to say that most of the time the roads travelled were very close to each other but there were times when elements of doubt or disagreement crept in. This I feel helps to emphasise that the whole therapy hinges not just round the strategies and techniques but also on the unique make-up of the therapist too. There are times when we really need to stand back and look not just at the client but at ourselves too and not be afraid to question our own approaches and be prepared to amend and adapt where necessary.

The book is both inspirational and creative. It is instructive and engaging. Above all it is unerringly honest and that is a major part of its appeal. I have no hesitation in recommending this to all training establishments, students, and practitioners old and new. This is a book which, to date, has no peer. In all seriousness, you cannot afford to be without it!

I feel that this book deserves the highest acclaim by students and fellow professionals alike and I, for one, hope that we see more books in years to come from these two enlightened and enlightening professionals.

Thinking Therapeutically gives you a solid run through of effective hypnosis and NLP approaches and techniques. Unlike other books that become compendiums of marginal strategies, the authors focus on those approaches most likely to help the client. Regression, "Parts," Imagery and NLP's most important techniques are all called on to help the client improve. Every therapist will find value herein. Pick up this book and keep it at the ready in your office.

Thinking Therapeutically, by Tom Barber and Sandra Westland affords a rare look into the minds of two seasoned hypnotherapists, as they relate case studies and comment on one another's work.  This book is ideal for beginning hypnotherapists and for those who wonder about a therapist's internal process during the therapeutic conversation. 

The authors open the book by each telling the personal story of how he/she came to be a therapist, reflecting on life-changing experiences as well as an existentialist philosophy.  From that point, Barber and Westland alternate authorship of the subsequent chapters. The reader learns that these authors are highly eclectic hypnotherapists, drawing from a wide variety of approaches.

Each chapter presents a single client session and is built around this format:

• A description of a particular therapeutic method, citing authors who have written about the method.
  
• How the author applied the method in a session with a client. The author explains the rationale for selecting this method for this client, with consideration of the client's presenting issue and what the client wants as an outcome. Excerpts of session transcripts are provided, with the therapist's running commentary.
  
• The other author's comments on the session.
  
• "What happened next" - a follow-up on what the client did after the session.

I liked the authors' expert descriptions and real-life applications of a wide variety of interventions that are a hypnotherapist's stock-in-trade: anchoring, swish pattern, parts work, guided imagery, dream analysis, regression, hypnoanalysis, and inner-child work. The descriptions are so clear, readers can easily model them.  In fact, the day I read about "the library" regression method, I used it on a client with success!  The authors explain how to apply these methods to a wide range of typical, yet often challenging issues such as agoraphobia, shyness, internal conflict, irritable bowel syndrome, bulimia, and overeating

The book is reminiscent of the conversation between Milton H. Erickson and Ernest Rossi in the classic: The February Man. The two authors take turns explaining their selection of interventions, perceptions of their clients, feelings during the session, and evaluation of each outcome.  What I found most touching was the honesty with which the authors shared their perceptions and emotions during each session, even when they were uncertain as to how to proceed.

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by Roy Hunter, Ph.D.
Author of Hypnosis for Inner Conflict Resolution and The Art of Hypnosis - 3rd Edition

Tom Barber and Sandra Westland offer an excellent contribution to the hypnotherapy profession with their new book, THINKING THERAPEUTICALLY: HYPNOTIC SKILLS AND STRATEGIES EXPLORED. Rather than presenting detailed and lengthy explanations of various techniques, they provide numerous case histories showing how they use different techniques for different clients. Their practice offers a blend of both NLP and traditional hypnotherapy, combined with various imagery techniques. Their book includes scripts from actual sessions with clients who experienced guided affective imagery, hypnoanalysis, regression, parts therapy, dream work, as well as various NLP techniques.

There are usually different ways to arrive at the same destination; so Tom Barber and Sandra Westland show how they use a variety of techniques to help clients achieve their desired results. The authors also use some metaphors quite skillfully. Their case history involving dream work was especially interesting to me because of my very limited experience with dreams. On a personal note, I was impressed at the honesty of the authors to include a chapter on their own personal journeys into the hypnotherapy profession.

by William Broom
Chief Executive of The General Hypnotherapy Standards Council and General Hypnotherapy Register

Here at last is the book that I wish had been available when I first started out in practice. The authors understand totally that a newly trained practitioner, whilst assumed by the client to be the consummate professional, is in reality in every sense a novice - and only too aware of it. In order to fully engage with the reader, they willingly (indeed necessarily) expose themselves and their respective therapeutic approaches to scrutiny and in so doing display exceptional professional generosity.

Not satisfied with the mediocre, the authors are concerned with demonstrating the full potential of what can be achieved via a range of hypnotherapeutic interventions. Using actual case examples, and with an obvious passion for their calling, they illustrate via an engaging mix of real time therapist/client dialogue and explanatory comment on both their own questions and the client responses, exactly what worked and on occasions, what did not.

In essence they convey that most essential of commodities to the practicing hypnotherapist - confidence in his or her own ability to provide the service that the client has both paid for and expects. In so doing, they show the novice practitioner how to maintain a steady hand at the tiller no matter how stormy the passage may become.

Although presumably intended for the student and newly qualified practitioner, this is a book that should be in every hypnotherapist's library regardless of their experience in practice. 

by Bobby Keeling, DIHP, Hypnotherapist and Psychotherapist. 

Tom and Sandra convey a sense of how it feels to grow therapy within the framework of the well formed techniques and approaches they present in this book.  Processing the sessions in the way they have shows therapy developing creatively and engenders trust that there is always another perspective to be found.  I was most touched by the intimacy of disclosure showing the clear advantage we gain as therapists when we acknowledge our own journeys, experiences and responses.

In ‘Thinking Therapeutically' both experience and awareness are demonstrated in ways that can be referred to by individual students or groups, even practicing therapists will be guided to revisit core skills that easily fall to the side as they take on more methods and techniques in the always developing and brave world of integrative therapy.

by Penny Parks
Author of Rescuing the Inner Child and The Counsellor's Guide to Parks Inner Child Therapy

As therapists who are also dedicated trainers it is no surprise that Tom and Sandra have produced a book with rich perceptions of the therapeutic process. The reader is given a candid, open peephole into the therapy room, where Tom & Sandra share their successes, fears, feelings and insights; not to mention their ‘compare and contrast' comments of one another's sessions. Novice and seasoned therapists alike can benefit from this rare opportunity to learn from and reflect on the practical and emotional journey within the therapy room for both the client and the therapist.

Price: £19.00 (RRP - £20.00) 
inc VAT, credit/debit card fee & P&P.

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