Product reviews for The Art of Therapeutic Communication

This is a love story. It is a story of a love of words and a love of communicating them in a positive and healthy way. More than that it is a love of people and the story of a woman's dedication to helping all those around her for whom she felt compassion and love - her fellow men. No monument could provide a more fitting or lasting tribute to Kay Thompson than this skilfully executed and beautifully presented book
I felt sorry for the girl who delivers my post when she came down my front path bearing the parcel which contained this book. To say that it is a hefty and weighty tome is an understatement, almost 600 pages long and with an accompanying CD.

I too groaned under the weight of it and just wondered whether the reading would be as heavy as the book.

I was very pleasantly surprised.

It proved to be not only a joy but also a privilege to be allowed to explore the pages of this book. It was fascinating to have insight into the thought and work of Kay Thompson who was arguably one of the world's greatest hypnotherapists of the twentieth century. She was an intellectual, a lively brain, but also had the linguistic capability to be able to share her thoughts and ideas with a wide audience. Indeed, if she hadn't made the grade as a therapist I am sure she would have made a great novelist or communicator in other ways..

Regular readers of my reviews will know that I am an ardent fan of the work of Milton Erickson. You can imagine the delight I felt when I read of Kay that she was one of his most gifted students. They shared a joy of communication, a gift for language. Their work is professionally intoxicating and compulsive reading.

Much of our thinking and methodology has been built upon foundations laid originally by Kay Thompson. She has done much to develop and expand the whole subject of contemporary hypnosis.

The book, a testament to her life and work, deals with the subject of therapeutic communication from a variety of angles - direct teaching, comment, explanation, example and is at all times fascinating as well as informative.

On the one level we get excellent instruction and advice on how to approach and conduct our own therapy sessions to achieve the greatest benefit. On the other hand, and in a very subtle way, we are also taught much about ourselves and the way we think and live. It is a book of intense humanity not a scientific tome alone.

Throughout all of the book we are being taught sensitively yet firmly, how to conduct our own personal lives ! It is a book of inspiration and interpretation. It is a book with both breadth and depth which covers the complexity of the subject in an immensely readable way. It is a book written with care, concern , understanding, respect and total integrity, and not a little love.

Speaking of love, I just have to quote a poem by Roy croft included in the book. It is sensational !

It sets out to describe the teaching of Erickson and the shared values and thoughts of his followers.

I love you, not only for what you are,
But for what I am when I am with you.

I love you, not only for what you have made of yourself,
But for what you are making of me.
I love you for the part of me you bring out.
I love you for putting your hand into my heaped up heart,
And passing over all the foolish, weak things you can't help dimly seeing there,

And for bringing out into the light all the beautiful belongings
That no one else had ever looked quite far enough to find.

I love you because you are helping me to make,
Of the lumber of my life, not a tavern but a temple,

And of the words of my everyday,
Not a reproach but a song.
I love you because you have done more than any creed could
Have done to make me good,
And more than any fate could have done to make me happy.

You have done it,
Without a word,
Without a touch,
Without a sign

You have done it by being yourself

Perhaps that is what being a friend means, after all.

I wish that I could have been one of the pupils that Kay guided through in their early years. I feel that I would have been uplifted by her excitement and commitment, captivated by her strength of personality and personal warmth and dazzled by the depth of her knowledge and the brilliant way in which she could share this with others.

It is a great book about a great woman written by two great authors who, through their careful editing and selection of material and contributors etc, have almost allowed us to travel within our minds so that we can experience the power that was, that still is Kay Thompson.
I finished the book feeling that I had met her, spoken with her and most certainly been affected by her in a very positive sense.

I will make a sweeping statement but it is one that will be true, I know, and that is I will never be the same therapist, maybe even person, again. I will have been strengthened, guided and enlightened by this experience and feel most if not all readers will feel the same. As Akira Otani says within the book, " and her words will go on".

Practically the book covers all aspects of a therapist's work. There are fascinating and very valuable sections on Therapy with Pain and an excellent section on Hypnosis in Dentistry which I found most helpful.

Inductions and the nature of trance are dealt with at length, including commentary on clinical work and demonstration.

As I said earlier, this book is about humanity, and I was delighted to see included a section on Ethics in caring, so often omitted from such texts. You will enjoy, too, "Why do we learn about hypnosis?"

"Well, if you can do something good for them, Do it!" Was her catch phrase and could well be the catchphrase of each and every one of us who endeavour to tread in her footsteps.

I have no doubt that if there was an Oscar for Hypnotherapy books of 2004 this one would come storming home as an undisputed winner, but it wouldn't be Kay standing up there making tearful thanks to her family, friends, patients, baby goldfishes. This would be drowned by OUR acclaim of a woman who has been and will continue to be a beacon for us to follow, an example to emulate. Sincerity breeds sincerity. Love breeds love.

As you read this book sense the sincerity, bathe in the love and bring part of her professionalism and expertise into your lives and practice.

Do I recommend this book ??

I most certainly do!!!!!! Oh yes, by the way, the experience in being in the company of this wonderful lady and teacher was made possible by the inclusion of a CD, secreted right at the back of the book. Crown House - I salute you. Another astonishing achievement I feel.