Product reviews for The Art of Therapeutic Communication

Occasionally, I receive books to review on ISOC. I received the above book recently and was intrigued by its title. I had not heard of Kay Thompson. The person sending me the book wrote that Kay Thompson was a dentist in the Pittsburgh area. She said Kay Thompson was a student of Milton Erickson, a psychologist who was a pioneer in the field of hypnosis. Kay Thompson applied his work in hypnosis in her practice of dentistry. She was also one of the first women dentists in the Pittsburgh area.

If you are interested in hypnosis in your dental practice, this is a must read for you. If you are not interested in hypnosis, several chapters are still worth reading.

They are:

• Part V: Therapy with Pain,
• Part VI; A holistic approach to Dentistry,
• And Part IX; The Personal Impact of Hypnosis

I give the book *** out of *****. You have to dig through a lot of information on hypnosis to find the pearls of Thompson's work on the dentist/patient relationship and pain. It is enlightening to read the language and metaphors of a skilled dentist/therapist as she works with patients. There is much to be learned from her commentary.