Warning: this book may do too good a job of unsettling the reader. Right from the start, Kluft makes clear that his fictional tome has a factual basis and message: Psychiatry today is at risk of conflicting with its own first principle—namely, to do no harm. One of the main premises of the book is the concept of using hypnosis to develop secret agents who would withstand torture based on being consciously unaware of their missions. The book is also about brainwashing people and abusively manipulating them into doing the wrong thing, even for the right reasons. In essence, it has a modern-day, more authentic and convincing Manchurian Candidate-style plot.

Since the book includes torture scenes, it may be best for readers with relatively thick skin. There are two short chapters in which the first portion of each hints that the following scenes are about to get very gross or graphic. The second torture scene can be a tough call for thinner-skinned readers to skip since Kluft foreshadows having the protagonist use self-hypnosis to survive it. There is also a misogynist, sadistic reference with no forewarning. At times, certain readers may even feel tempted to drop the book, due to not knowing if or when there may be another horrifying or haunting scene. A pull toward finishing it is a promise from the back-cover material that there is the hope of a happy conclusion in which good triumphs over evil.

Clearly, Kluft is a very good writer, engaging even timid readers and drawing them into a real page-turner. In this novel, even where politics is rampant, the characters still seem to fall neatly into categories of those who care and those for whom other interests overshadow caring, despite the characters being multi-dimensional and able to change sides. Kluft is deft at creating a character with dissociated identities, having worked professionally with so many patients who suffered such disorders. This makes for a lot of intrigue and drama in the book. Additionally, Kluft is a very detailed writer and clearly did a great deal of homework in putting together a realistic story. Readers may note a challenging number of colourful, cultural characters and minor subplots as well. The book clearly points up the inherent danger in mixing politics and science, military and medicine.

The use of trance is the main interest of this book. It also gets readers thinking about therapeutic relationships versus experimenter-subject relationships, the development of rapport, the loss of classical analysis in mainstream psychotherapy, and the issues of transference and counter-transference. For this reason, it is a very powerful book—important to read, save any squeamishness.

A bit of a beastly aspect of the book other than the torture is that it re-raises the spectre of false memories without offering an immediate, literary way to balance readers’ understanding with information about hypermnesia. The book includes much interweaving of fact and fiction, which is just what people often fear about hypnosis. This reviewer hopes readers will not fear hypnosis further because of this book, but rather be wary of how some people exploit it. A redeeming quality is that this story may compel people to look into Schefflin’s work illuminating the more nefarious uses of hypnosis, especially in the military.

Some especially good news about this book is that it pulls the covers off scientism and mentors readers to use critical thinking in further uncovering issues regarding lack of ecologic validity or generalizability. The author also makes keen use of the story to illustrate such concepts as the double bind and Capgras Syndrome, even the rare Fregoli Syndrome in which the delusion revolves around believing different people are the same person in various forms or disguises.

The book additionally reminds readers that fiction can mirror fact, and it hints that certain kinds of conspiracy theories, unfortunately, may not be all that convoluted after all. It also can lead readers to query; does hypnosis have a bad rap partly due to the conditioning that sometimes goes along with it? Does the poor reputation of hypnosis owe partially to its unfortunate pairing with aversive techniques?

Overall, Kluft did a major amount of research for this book. Every detail is perfectly polished. Good Shrink Bad Shrink is indeed a masterful piece of work. Kluft used the hypnosis references expertly and impeccably. Meanwhile, it is very much a book with more testosterone appeal than a way to relax and unwind at the end of a good patient bad patient day. For reading that seems more philosophical yet likely just as spellbinding, a gentler choice might be Kluft’s How Fivel Stole the Moon!

Kluft, Richard P. (2014). Good Shrink Bad Shrink. London: Karnac, 435 pp., $19.95 (softcover), ISBN:-13: 978-1-78220-175-5.

Darlene Viggiano, PhD (MFT); Saybrook University, CA

Warning: this book may do too good a job of unsettling the reader. Right from the start, Kluft makes clear that his fictional tome has a factual basis and message: Psychiatry today is at risk of conflicting with its own first principle—namely, to do no harm. One of the main premises of the book is the concept of using hypnosis to develop secret agents who would withstand torture based on being consciously unaware of their missions. The book is also about brainwashing people and abusively manipulating them into doing the wrong thing, even for the right reasons. In essence, it has a modern-day, more authentic and convincing Manchurian Candidate-style plot.

Since the book includes torture scenes, it may be best for readers with relatively thick skin. There are two short chapters in which the first portion of each hints that the following scenes are about to get very gross or graphic. The second torture scene can be a tough call for thinner-skinned readers to skip since Kluft foreshadows having the protagonist use self-hypnosis to survive it. There is also a misogynist, sadistic reference with no forewarning. At times, certain readers may even feel tempted to drop the book, due to not knowing if or when there may be another horrifying or haunting scene. A pull toward finishing it is a promise from the back-cover material that there is the hope of a happy conclusion in which good triumphs over evil.

Clearly, Kluft is a very good writer, engaging even timid readers and drawing them into a real page-turner. In this novel, even where politics is rampant, the characters still seem to fall neatly into categories of those who care and those for whom other interests overshadow caring, despite the characters being multi-dimensional and able to change sides. Kluft is deft at creating a character with dissociated identities, having worked professionally with so many patients who suffered such disorders. This makes for a lot of intrigue and drama in the book. Additionally, Kluft is a very detailed writer and clearly did a great deal of homework in putting together a realistic story. Readers may note a challenging number of colourful, cultural characters and minor subplots as well. The book clearly points up the inherent danger in mixing politics and science, military and medicine.

The use of trance is the main interest of this book. It also gets readers thinking about therapeutic relationships versus experimenter-subject relationships, the development of rapport, the loss of classical analysis in mainstream psychotherapy, and the issues of transference and counter-transference. For this reason, it is a very powerful book—important to read, save any squeamishness.

A bit of a beastly aspect of the book other than the torture is that it re-raises the spectre of false memories without offering an immediate, literary way to balance readers’ understanding with information about hypermnesia. The book includes much interweaving of fact and fiction, which is just what people often fear about hypnosis. This reviewer hopes readers will not fear hypnosis further because of this book, but rather be wary of how some people exploit it. A redeeming quality is that this story may compel people to look into Schefflin’s work illuminating the more nefarious uses of hypnosis, especially in the military.

Some especially good news about this book is that it pulls the covers off scientism and mentors readers to use critical thinking in further uncovering issues regarding lack of ecologic validity or generalizability. The author also makes keen use of the story to illustrate such concepts as the double bind and Capgras Syndrome, even the rare Fregoli Syndrome in which the delusion revolves around believing different people are the same person in various forms or disguises.

The book additionally reminds readers that fiction can mirror fact, and it hints that certain kinds of conspiracy theories, unfortunately, may not be all that convoluted after all. It also can lead readers to query; does hypnosis have a bad rap partly due to the conditioning that sometimes goes along with it? Does the poor reputation of hypnosis owe partially to its unfortunate pairing with aversive techniques?

Overall, Kluft did a major amount of research for this book. Every detail is perfectly polished. Good Shrink Bad Shrink is indeed a masterful piece of work. Kluft used the hypnosis references expertly and impeccably. Meanwhile, it is very much a book with more testosterone appeal than a way to relax and unwind at the end of a good patient bad patient day. For reading that seems more philosophical yet likely just as spellbinding, a gentler choice might be Kluft’s How Fivel Stole the Moon!

Kluft, Richard P. (2014). Good Shrink Bad Shrink. London: Karnac, 435 pp., $19.95 (softcover), ISBN:-13: 978-1-78220-175-5.

Darlene Viggiano, PhD (MFT); Saybrook University, CA