Hellmut W. A. Karle

"OCEAN and ISLAND" a Novel in Two Book Hellmut W.A. Karle The central theme of this book is a love story with a mythological background - the Aphrodite of Gozo. Book 1 - "Ocean" - tells the life of Ingrid up to the point at which she accepts that she loves Harry, a man whom she had met briefly while on holiday in Gozo. Book 2 - "Island" - relates Harry's life to the same point. .The story is told on three levels. On one, it is the story of the lives of two people which converge, a love story set in the background of their personal histories. At another, it tells how a man and a woman each discover and come to terms with the unacknowledged, buried, parts of their own selves, and so become capable of a whole and fulfilling relationship. In the case of 'OCEAN', the story of Ingrid, this is in the form of her experience of analytic psychotherapy. In the case of 'ISLAND', the story of Harry, a similar process of self-discovery is described in a less formal context - experience, accident, and wise counsel. At the third level, interwoven with the lives of Harry and Ingrid, lies a story of Aphrodite, slightly mystical and mythological. Throughout the story, there is a thread of mystery: is perhaps Ingrid a re-incarnation of Aphrodite, and the story on both sides has been dictated by her? Or is it even more subtle and hidden than that?

In the 23 years since this book was first published, numerous books on the same lines have appeared. Techniques vary minimally, and very few discoveries or developments have been made in the field of using hypnosis in therapy. Such research as has appeared largely confirms what has been known for a very long time, such as its efficacy as an adjunct to chemical analgesia and anaesthesia for intrusive and painful surgical procedures. However, during that period a tremendous and astonishing amount of research has appeared in the fields of neurology, especially brain function, endocrinology and immunology and their interaction, or, more accurately, their total integration with psychological processes. While hypnotic techniques are much as they have been for so long, the underlying and mediating roles of these physical mechanisms in hypnosis are now substantially revealed. Understanding how hypnotic suggestions produce physical effects, and how these physical processes affect what is to be done in hypnosis will illuminate and guide what is attempted in hypnotherapy. The more the therapist bears these mechanisms in mind, the more effective and focused his work will be. This new edition therefore includes a summary account of the most cogent discoveries of the last two decades, and references to some of the most important knowledge acquired in this period in psycho-neuro-endocrino-immunology.