The Power of Milton H Erickson Pt 2

The Power of Milton H Erickson Pt 2

Following on from yesterday’s post. In 1973, Hayley made a final assessment of Erickson’s work. The key elements identified here are:

1. Encouraging resistance
2. Encouraging a response by frustrating it
3. Encouraging a relapse
4. Providing a worse alternative
5. Amplifying a deviation
6. Using “hypnotic skills” and communication devices in non-hypnotic therapy including:
7. Amnesia and the control of information
8. Seeding ideas
9. The use of space and position
10. Awakening and disengagement
11. Causing change by communicating in metaphor

Beahrs in 1971, made additional observations on Erickson’s work in Psychotherapy in the following ways:

General Principals of Psychotherapy ala Erickson

1. Therapists attend to patient communication at all levels
2. Therapists meet the patient at his or her level
3. Therapists modify the patient’s behaviour thereby achieving control
4. Therapists collaborate with the patient so behaviour will change from within to be more acceptable to self or others
5. New mental patterns should exclude or displace earlier undesirable ones, and must be compatible with the patient’s basic personality structure.
6. Therapists must work with the unconscious, which is viewed as a positive resource rather than a negative cauldron of suppressed impulses and conflicts
7. The chief goal of therapy is not abreaction or uncovering, but coordination between conscious and unconscious functioning.