Product reviews for Ego State Therapy

An interesting book, and definitely an interesting idea.

The first part of the book details the theory behind Ego State Therapy which appears to be somewhat Freudian based. It's main idea is that the unconscious is a pessimistic and disconnected place and that ego states are formed through some type of childhood trauma.

Chapter Two identifies the practical techniques for accessing ego states, both non-hypnotic and hypnotic. This part of the book shows how to locate and map ego states and gives general guidelines for talking to ego states.

Chapters Three & Four show how to use and apply Ego State Therapy within a therapeutic environment. In particular Mr Emmerson applies Ego State Therapy to cases of pain control, depression & anger, panic attacks, addiction and PTSD.

The last two chapters overview and conclude the authors thoughts on this subject hwover I am not convinced after reading this book of the validity of Ego State Therapy as a separate therapeutic intervention. I cannot see how it is really any different to Satir's “parts therapy” or some of the hypnotic interventions that I was taught on the NACHP course.

As a therapist I am aware of the different conscious states that a client can access both inside and out of the therapy environment. And as an individual I am aware that I too change states depending on the environment I am in. After all, we are all slightly different people at home than we are when sitting in the therapy room (at least I hope we all are!), different again at a party than when giving a talk to a roomful of strangers. That's normal. So yes, we all have different states of mind or behaviour depending on the circumstances we are in but to make a therapy based solely on this I find hard to accept.



It is nevertheless an interesting book to read.