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Milton H. Erickson

Milton Hyland Erickson (5 December 1901 – 25 March 1980) was an American psychiatrist and psychologist specializing in medical hypnosis and family therapy. He was the founding president of the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis. He is noted for his approach to the unconscious mind as creative and solution-generating. He is also noted for influencing brief therapy, strategic family therapy, family systems therapy, solution focused brief therapy, and neuro-linguistic programming.[1]

Milton H. Erickson

Milton Hyland Erickson

5 December 1901 (1901-12-05)

25 March 1980 (1980-03-26) (aged 78)

Helen, Elizabeth

Hypnosis[edit]

Trance and the unconscious mind[edit]

Erickson's view of the unconscious mind was distinctly different from that of Freud whose ideas dominated the context of the times. Zeig quotes Erickson as describing "The unconscious mind is made up of all your learnings over a lifetime, many of which you have forgotten, but which serve you in your automatic functioning".[10] Andre Weitzenhoffer points out: "The Ericksonian 'unconscious' lacks in particular the hostile and aggressive aspects so characteristic of Freud's system".[11][12]


Erickson relied on a supposition of an active, significant, unconscious.[13] It was Erickson's perspective that hypnosis provided a tool with which to communicate with the unconscious mind and access the reservoir of resources held within. He describes in a 1944 article on unconscious mental activity, "Since hypnosis can be induced by trance and manifests the unwarranted assumption is made that whatever develops from hypnosis must be completely a result of suggestion, and primarily an expression of it". In the same publication Erickson repeatedly comments about the autonomy of the unconscious mind and its capacity to solve problems.[14]


The essential element of Erickson's jokes was not hostility, but surprise.[15] It was not uncommon for him to slip indirect suggestions into a myriad of situations. He also included humor in his books, papers, lectures and seminars.[16]


Early in his career Erickson was a pioneer in researching the unique and remarkable phenomena that are associated with that state, spending many hours at a time with individual subjects, deepening the trance. Erickson's work on depth of trance is detailed in his 1952 paper[17] in which he provided history, justification, and ideas about its use. ("Trance states for therapeutic purposes may be either light or deep, depending on such factors as the patient's personality, the nature of his problem, and the stage of his therapeutic progress".[18])


Where traditional hypnosis is authoritative and direct and often encounters resistance in the subject, Erickson's approach is permissive, accommodating and indirect.[19][20]

Techniques[edit]

While Erickson explored a vast arena of induction methodologies and techniques of suggestions, there are certain areas where his name is known as key in the development or popularity of the approaches. He used direct and indirect approaches, though he is most known for his indirect and permissive suggestion techniques.[21]

Indirect suggestions[edit]

Erickson maintained that it was not consciously possible to instruct the unconscious mind, and that authoritarian suggestions were likely to be met with resistance. The unconscious mind responds to opportunity, metaphors, symbols, and contradictions. Therefore, effective hypnotic suggestion should be "artfully vague," leaving space for the subject to fill in the gaps with their own unconscious understandings – even if they do not consciously grasp what is happening. He developed both verbal and non-verbal techniques and pioneered the idea that the common experiences of wonderment, engrossment and confusion are, in fact, just kinds of trance. An excellent example of this can be viewed in the documentary film.[22]

Metaphor[edit]

Erickson sometimes instructed people to climb a mountain or visit a botanical garden. His narrative and experiential metaphors are explored extensively in Sydney Rosen's My Voice Will Go With You, but an example is given in the first chapter of David Gordon's book Phoenix. The following quotes Erickson:[23]

Controversy[edit]

A colleague, friend and fellow researcher, André Weitzenhoffer, an author in the field of hypnosis himself, has criticized some ideas and influence of Erickson in various writings, such as his textbook The Practice of Hypnotism. Weitzenhoffer displays a clear and explicitly stated, opposition to Ericksonian hypnosis in his book, in favor of what he terms the semi-traditional, scientific, approach.[31] For Erickson, the shift from conscious to unconscious functioning is the essence of trance. Nowhere in his writing however, can one find an explicit definition of the term "unconscious" or, for that matter, of "conscious".[11]


This criticism persists among clinicians and researchers of today, not only about Erickson himself, but also about his followers. Nash and Barnier note that some clinicians, especially those working in the tradition of Milton Erickson may discount the importance of hypnotizability.[33]


In a book largely complementary to the works of Erickson,[39] Rosen alludes to the uncertainty that can result from his clinical demonstrations: "This has nevertheless raised the question of whether or not the patient is playing a role by pretending not to feel pain…" Erickson's daughter Roxanna Erickson-Klein, also a trained psychotherapist, validated this uncertainty about the completeness of Erickson's case reports and demonstrations. She added that although he tirelessly advocated scientific investigations of hypnosis and was a prolific writer on techniques, he often left details out of case reports that could have been meaningful to clinicians of today. More importantly, critics often overlook the context of the times. He was a physician who worked from a framework of a country doctor, and clinicians of today are hasty to judge by today's standards, while not taking into consideration the context of the times.


Self-professed "skeptical hypnotist," Alex Tsander, cited concerns in his 2005 book Beyond Erickson: A Fresh Look at "The Emperor of Hypnosis", the title of which alludes to Charcot's characterization in the previous century as "The Napoleon of the Neuroses." Tsander re-evaluates a swathe of Erickson's accounts of his therapeutic approaches and lecture demonstrations in the context of scientific literature on hypnotism and his own experience in giving live demonstrations of hypnotic technique. Emphasizing social-psychological perspectives, Tsander introduces an "interpretive filter" with which he re-evaluates Erickson's own accounts of his demonstrations and introduces prosaic explanations for occurrences that both Erickson and other authors tend to portray as remarkable.[40]


In an audiotape that is attributed to him, Dharma Teacher Tenshin, Reb Anderson of the Zen tradition, has referred to Erickson as a "Magician/Healer."[41] Zeig concurs that professional skepticism and education is paramount for the advancement of a discipline. He states "Among psychotherapists there are some who worship Erickson with a reverence that borders on idolatry. Every word, sentiment, opinion, or act is presumed to have an inspired meaning. Such deification rooted in expectation of timeless power and omnipotence can ultimately lead to disillusionment. Equally prejudiced are those who regard Erickson as a maverick whose egregious methods are a passing fancy that will eventually be consigned to the dustbin of outmoded schemes. [Both] these attitudes do injustice to a highly creative and imaginative original mind... A poignant criticism of Erickson's strategic therapy is that it is overvalued by those who believe that clever tactics can substitute for disciplined training.[16]

Attachment therapy

Brief psychotherapy

Covert hypnosis

Family therapy

Hypnosis

Hypnotherapy

Methods of neuro-linguistic programming

Neuro-linguistic programming

Solution-focused brief therapy

References[edit]

Primary Resources Featuring the Work of Milton H. Erickson[edit]

The Milton H. Erickson Foundation is a non-profit educational organization the mission of which is to preserve and promote the contributions of Erickson to the field of psychotherapy. Erickson was a prolific writer, most of his works are in a 16 volume series. The collected works series is the current edition of all of the Erickson-Rossi collaborative works and contains the vast majority of all of the works of Milton Erickson originally published in the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis and other professional periodicals.


Rossi, Ernest, Erickson-Klein, Roxanna, & Rossi, Kathryn (Eds.), The Collected Works of Milton H. Erickson.: