PDF
Email
PrintMilton Erickson - Hypnosis
When Milton Erickson started working as a psychiatrist the field was limited by certain accepted rigid tenants. Hypnosis was widely seen as ‘the dark art' Psychiatrists could be struck off for using it leading to Erickson having to teach it to other psychiatrists in secret.The role of the subconscious
In the early part of the last century the subconscious/unconscious was seen as a 'seething hotbed' of suppressed conflicts and complexes. The idea was that it had to be vanquished by the rational conscious part. Erickson stressed the wisdom and intelligence of the unconscious mind and did not view it as primarily a negative force. He would talk of trusting the unconscious with many of life’s activities. He didn’t see ‘insight' into the cause of a problem as necessarily the main focus of therapy.
The use of brief therapy
At the beginning of Milton Erickson’s career, therapy was often interminable. Change was expected to happen very slowly and painfully. Erickson would often see a client only once but still make lasting change happen for these individuals. Now brief therapy is ‘all the rage' Solution focused therapy
Until relatively recently, therapy was mainly focused on pathology rather than on the individual’s inherent resources. Therapy was usually past focused whereas Erickson would focus on future solutions and seek to help develop the skills that people might need in order to move on. See ‘The Seminars, Workshops and Lectures' of Milton H Erickson volumes I through IV for amazing insights into how he worked.
Lifting the symptom
It used to be assumed that psychological problem behaviours were always symptoms of something much deeper. The idea was that the mind worked exactly like the body. It was seen as superficial to just treat the symptom and indeed many practitioners had no idea how to lift a phobia or relieve the experience of depressions.
Milton Erickson maintained that a therapist’s duty was to first ease or remove the unpleasant psychological complaint. He said that if you could ‘lift the handle a lot could be done with the pot' A small change has ‘knock on' effects which lead into other areas. For example, the lifting of a phobia can lead to increased confidence in other areas. Erickson was directive and strategic in his therapy in a time where the therapist was supposed to be passive.
Next, Family Therapy
Back to Psychology Articles
