Book excerpt: First published in 1986. Scientific hypnosis has made great advances particularly since World War II, both as part of basic psychological science concerned with the understanding of brain, mind, and personality and as a professional skill in which knowledge of hypnosis is used to serve human welfare by enhancing the quality of life for those who have the good fortune to benefit from hypnotherapy and the related practice of hypnoanalysis. The reader is brought abreast of these developments through the arrangement of the chapters into two sections of the book, with the first four chapters explaining the basics of hypnosis as an altered state of consciousness interpreted theoretically from several points of view.