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Hypnosis in Asthma. By A. Philip Magonet, M.D. (London: Heinemann Medical Books, 1955. Pp. 95. Price 7 s. 6 d.)
The first is a very unsophisticated book with a tendency to overstating the therapeutic usefulness of hypnosis which is recommended mainly for facilitating abreaction. Direct hypnotic suggestion is used only for relief of tension and rarely for removal of symptoms. The book contains nothing new and could have been written at the time when Freud used hypnosis and found it wanting. Some general practitioners will find useful hints here, while others might feel that it fails to do justice to the complexity of the method and to the capriciousness of its results.
The little book on asthma seems to be addressed to the general reader, probably also to patients undergoing hypnotherapy. Dr. Tredgold, who writes a foreword, sounds a word of caution. One can only hope that the numerous patients about whom the author reports maintained their improvement or recovery beyond the periods during which they were followed up, and that other workers will confirm 'the tremendous value of hypnotherapy in the treatment of bronchial asthma'. The author is convinced that he cures his patients through giving them intellectual understanding by a short course of hypno-analysis.