Review: The Induction of Hypnosis (Jeffrey Zeig)

The Induction of Hypnosis, like many books about Erickson, starts out with some very skippable chapters about Erickson’s brilliance. That aside, the real content of the book is interesting, although it feels somewhat haphazardly organized.

Ultimately, it’s building up concepts in parts, then assembling them in ways that feel phenomenally underwhelming by the time it gets there, because the whole feels very much like the sum of its parts. The title of the book promises instructions on induction; in practice, much of it is about delivery of indirect suggestions in general.

The last chapter in the book puts the pieces together, into “absorb, ratify, elicit”; it’s an approach to induction To the degree that it gives advice specific to inductions, it suggests using naturally-existing memories as a means to absorb the attention, repeatedly using examples about learning to write in early childhood before - near the end of the book - mentioning that this might not be a good idea for people with learning disabilities; it doesn’t give a single word of caution check whether folks’ childhoods are traumatic before taking this approach. This strikes me as imprudent.

The book’s overall model makes sense, and lines up with my experiences and observations so far as “these techniques should generally work”; its advice on hypnotic phrasing is excellent and easily the most valuable content in the book. I don’t think I’d want to apply it too literally or strictly - the resulting inductions feel very hypnotherapist-y, unsurprisingly, but a loose interpretation has a lot to offer.

In conclusion, I’d call it a book that is slightly less than the sum of its parts, but the parts can be worthwhile. They may not be new material to someone who has already read substantially on Ericksonian hypnosis. I feel like the $10 I spent on the ebook is a fair price.