Hypnosis for the Seriously Curious

About this book

Ever since Franz Mesmer captured the imagination of Paris in the 1780s with his marvelous "magnetic" powers hypnosis has been the subject of enormous controversy. With this innovative book Kenneth Bowers provides an unusually clear and coherent introduction to a puzzling and elusive subject. Organizing his presentation around the major questions surrounding this often paradoxical phenomenonAre hypnotic effects genuine? What is hypnotic suggestibility and the hypnotic state? Can anyone be hypnotized?the author takes the reader systematically through the pivotal experiments in the field. And more his evenhanded approach brings to light those critical studies that do and do not support theories of hypnosis. The author concludes his account with a look at the clinical applications of hypnosis.