Hallucination-Focused Integrative Therapy: A Specific Treatment That Hits Auditory Verbal Hallucinations

Hallucination-focused Integrative Treatment (HIT) is a specific treatment for auditory verbal hallucinations which integrates techniques from CBT, systems therapy, psychoeducation, coping training, rehabilitation and medication. It emphasises active family involvement, crisis intervention when required and specialised motivational strategies. In clinical trials HIT has been proven to have longer lasting and wider ranging effects than other therapies, high patient satisfaction scores and a low drop-out rate.

In Hallucination-focused Integrative Therapy, Jack Jenner presents a full manual for using HIT with patients. Divided into five parts, the book offers a clear and straightforward explanation of each aspect of the treatment. Part One introduces auditory verbal hallucinations in their social and historical context. Part Two explains the need for an integrative approach to treating them and sets out the eleven-step diagnostic procedure. Part Three describes the treatment in full, including motivational strategies, the constituent modules and how to integrate them, flexible implementation of a tailor-made procedure and its overall effectiveness. It also demonstrates the use of HIT with specific patient groups, including those suffering from trauma, children and adolescents, those who are suicidal and those with learning difficulties. Part Four examines other hallucination-focused therapies. Finally, Part Five covers insight-oriented psychotherapies. The book also includes several appendices of supplementary material which enhance the content.

Illustrated throughout with case studies and clinical material, Hallucination-focused Integrative Therapy will be of interest to psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses and social workers working with patients who experience auditory verbal hallucinations.

Jack A. Jenner is a consultant psychiatrist and psychotherapist registered for children and adolescents as well as adults in the Netherlands. He has been presenting and giving workshops internationally on issues relating to emergency psychiatry, suicidology, psychiatry and hallucinations for over 30 years. He is the director of AUDITO, a centre for diagnosis and treatment of people with auditory verbal hallucinations, and is the creator of HIT. He has formerly been associate professor of community psychiatry at Groningen University and visiting professor at Banaras Hindu University.