Hypnotic and Subtle Influence

Hypnotic and Subtle Influence: Hypnosis in the Scientific Eye,
a book by Todd I. Stark

This book delves deeply into the mystique of hypnosis and shows how it is illuminated by modern behavioral and social science principles, yet remains a fascinating way to look at the human mind.  I summarize many principles of behavioral and social science and apply them to the study of hypnosis and suggestion.  I believe that I take some very complex research and make it understandable at an undergraduate level, or that of
a sophisticated layman, allowing seriously curious readers to approach the topic of suggestion with a solid foundation that is neither debunked out of existence nor overly imbued with mystery. 

Hypnosis is one of those topics that seems to constantly elicit interest,
an enduring mystery even to people considered experts. 

The academic question that confronts us is whether hypnosis deserves a field of study of its own, or whether its existence as a distinct entity within clinical practice and research protocols is an historical accident. Theorists have long debated the question of how special a "special state" hypnosis needs to be in order to explain its essential phenomena.  Even the very definition of the essential phenomena of hypnosis has often been
questioned. 

The popular human question that confronts us is whether our autonomy is threatened by the existence of phenomena associated with hypnosis.  What are the real effects and limits of the "power of suggestion ?"  An obvious question often arises when people discuss hypnosis:  "is it real,"  "can people really be hypnotized to do such things ?"  People
often wonder whether this has ever been studied scientifically.  Of course it has, but the answers are often difficult to comprehend without some background of the research programs leading to those answers. 

The purpose of "Hypnotic and Subtle Influence" is to take these complex scientific answers to the questions we ask about hypnosis, and render them more accessible to students  and literate readers seriously curious about hypnosis.

How this book is unique ...

Hypnosis books have typically either been "how to" books, skeptical
dissections that deny any reality to the topic, or complex academic
treatments that lose most readers before they get through the dust jacket. "Hypnotic and Subtle Influence" is different in that it makes the hard science behind the topic accessible, without debunking it into non-existence.  An important theme in this book is that we can
think in a disciplined scientific way about a topic often shrouded in mystery without rendering the topic sterile, useless, or uninteresting.  This book shows that the study of hypnosis can reveal fascinating things about the human mind and body, without resorting to the paranormal. 

Features ...

Each chapter ends with a review of the salient points, a summary of the material learned in that chapter, and a brief cumulative summary of the book up to that point  ("The Story So Far").  The first volume ends in a set of answers to commonly asked questions about hypnosis, based on the material presented in the section.

In order to reach the audience from their current understanding, the chapters are each organized around a popular theme relevant to hypnosis, such as "trance," "rapport," "role taking," and "the unconscious," rather than around technical principles of behavioral and social science.

Intended audience ...

My primary intended target audience is threefold, psychologists curious
about or interested in hypnosis but afraid to try it, hypnotherapists
who want to understand what medical and behavioral resarch has found
about it, and people outside the field who are interested in a rational
science-based explanation.  The assumed level of the reader is someone
scientifically literate, but not neccessarily a specialist in behavioral
science.

Background ...

Todd I. Stark is a research consultant, computer consultant, and freelance science writer with a background in computer science, psychology, and health sciences.  This book represents a decade of his research into hypnosis and suggestion. 

The Competition ...

Hypnotic and Subtle Influence is intended to fill a market gap left vacant by the passage of time since Ken Bowers' 1976 book, "Hypnosis for the Seriously Curious," published by W.W. Norton and Company.  The present book takes a closer look at manyof the same things that Bowers examined, and brings the light of more recent research to bear on them. 

Probably the work most comparable in scope and intended audience  that is still in print is "The Hypnotic Brain," by Peter Brown, from Yale University Press, 1991.  Hypnotic and Subtle Influence is intended to address a similar audience, but from a broader theoretical perspective.  Hypnotic and Subtle Influence provides a much more detailed look at the phenomena of hypnosis as they are popularly conceived, whereas Brown avoids that to focus on the social communication aspects of
hypnotherapy in particular.

The phenomena of hypnosis are examined from a number of scientific and scholarly perspectives in bridge the mystique of the topic with the principles of brain and behavioral sciences.