The Worst Is Over

I'm an RN working on an oncology unit. There have been times when I've cared for patients who are suffering enormously and the medication just doesn't help enough. After reading this book, I have new weapons against pain and mental anguish. I'd love to see every nursing school include this in the curriculum. Nurses who practice in emergency rooms, transplant units, children's hospitals, burn units, and cancer treatment centers in particular can use the techniques taught in this practical and research-based book.

This unique book would be a useful resource not only for paramedics but for clinicians, nurses, midwivs and other paramedical staff dealing with patients in an acute clinical care setting. The use of hypnotic principles in everyday communications with patients faciliates subconscious responses that result in changes in patient mood, perception and behaviours. Such communications, when used as an additional adjunctive tool, can be of immense value perioperatively, in obstetrics and when interacting with children. The authors are to be congratulated on this excellent work which has a range of useful examples that could be adapted by acute care providers to enhance patients' experience both prior to and during their hospital care.

The book is a fantastic primer for first responder or any other person who may be involved in an emergency. Best I have ever read; well written and with sensitivity.

I am a professional hypnotist, also firefighter and completing paramedic training at this writing. I'm surprised to see only one reader review of this fine piece of work, so I'd like to second exactly what Dr. Levenson wrote above. Definitely an extremely valuable piece of work.

Beautifully written - eloquent, thoughtful, sensitive and, at the same time, scholarly and professional - this book is a "must read" for physicians, psychologists, social workers, police, fire, emergency personnel - in short, anyone who responds to crises and knows that the right words can soothe, promote healing, and initiate psychological recovery. The Worst Is Over takes the reader through a discovery of how Verbal First Aid is used to ease physical pain, conquer traumatic events, and work through emotional dysfunction. The book provides a "new language" to be employed in a vast variety of stressful, traumatic, and life-changing events. It excels as a training manual for interpersonal interaction. In view of the events of September 11, 2001, The Worst Is Over is mandatory reading for anyone with a colleague, friend, or family member suffering the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. A chapter for Caregivers is also provided. The Worst Is Over is sure to become a classic and serve as a reference point for how to deal with the uncertainties in our lives in this time.