Trance on Trial

Alan W. Scheflin, LL.M. is Professor of Law at Santa Clara University Law School. Author of two previous books with three others currently in preparation, Scheflin has also written a number of articles for professional journals and law reviews. He was invited to give testimony before the United States Congress and the California Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and appeared as an expert witness on mind and behavior control in Federal District Court. Jerrold Lee Shapiro, Ph.D. is Associate Professor in the Graduate Division of Couseling Psychology and Education at Santa Clara University. Co-Director of OHANA Family Therapy Institute of San Jose and Los Altos, California, he also serves on the Clinical Faculty at Pacific Graduate School of Psychology in Menlo Park. He has authored four other books as well as numerous book chapters and journal articles.

I. INTRODUCTION. 1. The Legal Status of Hypnosis: An Overview. II. A CLINICAL CASE. 2. Jennifer: A Case Portrait. III. INVESTIGATIVE HYPNOSIS. 3. The Road to Admissibility 4. The Search for Safeguards. 5. The Rise and Fall of Inadmissibility. IV. HYPNOSIS AND MEMORY. 6. Defining Hypnosis. 7. The Nature of Memory and of Hypnotically Refreshed Recall. V. THE HYPNOTHERAPIST IN COURT. 8. Direct Examination. 9. Cross-Examination. 10. The Psychotherapist's Experience. VI. CONCLUDING REMARKS. 11. Conclusion.

The use of hypnosis in the judicial system has created a massive tar baby that can cause serious complications for even the most accomplished expert. Scheflin and Shapiro ease the reader into the salient issues and provide practical tips for negotiating the treacherous web of legal embranglements. This combination of riveting prose and comprehensive scholarship make Trance on Trial required reading for psychotherapists and attorneys concerned with any aspect of hypnosis in the courtroom. Moreover, studying this book prior to practicing hypnosis will prove prophylactic for practitioners in this age of litigation. --Jeffrey K. Zeig, Ph.D., Director, Milton H. Erickson Foundation - Everyone who is interested in hypnosis, memory, and eyewitness testimony should read this book. --Contemporary Psychology, 8/6/1989