Friday, August 30, 2019

学习催眠,与心同行



A Journey of Self Improvement with Subconscious Power

剛完成了身心症狀的催眠治療課程。我真的很享受這種輕鬆的,小型、充满individual caring 的催眠課程!
在一個溫馨舒暢、自由放鬆又高度集中的氣氛中,我和学员们一起探索催眠治療的意义和体验催眠的真谛。

對我來說,這是我的一個夢想課堂。終於變成現實。我和學員們從中得到極大的啟發和成長。

課程最大的特點是:至始至終,學習催眠,與心同行的理念放在每個人的心裡,貫徹在每一個方面。
每一個概念,每一個個案分析,我們都嘗試與自己的內心產生連接。每個提問,每個人的問題,都得到充分的關注和回應。每個人都成為自己的生命教練,每個人都是一個天使,supporting 和陪伴別人,陪伴自己內在的小孩成長!

從中,我越來相信,所有催眠都是自我催眠,所有的coach,都是self coach

这是一个分享式的學習,學員們那種投入感,參於感帶來的喜悅,令我最感興奮,也令每一個課題可以進行的比想像中深入的多。每個同學的所長,潛能在課堂上得以發揮,增強了自信心,找到自我healing的資源,自我反省和自我成長的力量。

整個過程,我的功能不是老師,不是instructor,而是一個啟發者,一個帶動者,分享者,一個陪伴者。我的工作是要引發自我回應、思考,廣大思維,深化思維,跳出框框、超越自己!

每個同學提問,參與,分享,他們的人生經歷、才華和反省都成為我們每個人在這次課程中的素材,充分發揮每一個人的智慧,令這個課程成為啟發思維,深化思維和發揮集體創意、集體療癒的機會.

最令人感動的是,在催眠的環境下- 放鬆和專注催眠環境下,我們每一個人都敞開心扉,走進自己的心靈深處,將自己的問題,困擾,長期想改變的習慣都拿出來分享,渴望找到內在的動力!

我首先做自我coaching,反省如何面對自己脆弱的內在小孩,面對shadow 同時收大家的feedback和建議。最後,每個人都有一個共同的感覺,那就是每個人的問題,都有自己的一部分,從中得到啟發和改變的方法,产生集體療癒。
有的問題,可能是一生的課題,要建立新的信念,需要反复催眠自己,催眠就是修心修行,修改行為的過程。自我催眠是最直接,潛意識最容易接受的溝通方式。也是自我coaching的最好的方式。
我們每個人都有深感學習催眠,要做的就是- 如何令身心平衡、如何與自己溝通,如何愛自己?
記得三年前參加一個令我對催眠有啟蒙意義的課程- 基礎催眠,與心同行,Nelson,一位年輕有為老師,他充分發揮了每一位同學的智慧,應用分享式的學習,在他的催眠下,我們不知不覺的學到很多,最重要是有機會發揮自己以前所學和當時所學。他的風格令我們在整個旅程中都非常投入,我們開始明白如果每個老師都用這種催眠學習的教學方法,將沒給學員的積極性,創意和知識都得以發揮,那麼學生的學習生涯將不是一件苦差,而是一個人生的探索,一大享受。
從此,我有這樣一個夢想- 將來我的課程也要是這樣的!但原來要做到,之間我經歷了九次解夢工作坊的實踐。我發現,要做到放鬆自如的講課,同學們有投入和發揮自己所長,我必須做到充分focus out和課堂經驗, 不是一件容易的事,自己的mindset也在不斷震盪!
所以這次課程,是一個夢想實現的過程,一個嘗試,也發現有不少提升的空間,時間管理是其中一个。
在課程的尾聲加上一個hypnosis process 的總結和visualization,將學習的內容和想達成的目標活現在心底!相信的效果會好多了。
All coach is self coach, all hypnosis is self hypnosis.

Short form 
23 7 2015


如何把催眠治療應用在日常生活和工作中

How to use Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy in daily life


催眠作為輔助醫療的應用,在心理治療上的應用,包括減壓、疏解情緒、減輕痛症、夢境療癒、提高睡眠質素,體重管理戒煙等身心健康管理,開啟潛意識自我療癒的機制,解決身心症狀

My   YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_eU5c7-rUOMmqUlnfLQ1OQ
Donna Wong Hypnosis



這是一個廣東話的自我放鬆催眠,快速恢復精神,體力的催​​​​眠,或睡前的自我催眠。利用豐富的想像力,想像放鬆自在和服的狀態,將想像變成現實,那就是,想它發生,它就發生... 作者:Donna,冬冬,催眠治療師課程導師







痛症催眠應用


我是怎樣做自我催眠的?

有學員問我是怎樣做自我催眠的。

首先談談我是如何看待催眠的。

催眠是與生俱來的能力:在催眠狀態下,人的免疫力提高,反省能力提升,創意和解決問題的能力都得到大大提高,產生自我療癒的效果,不論是身體還是心理、心靈,帶來平靜,放鬆和幸福感覺。

記得上催眠導師課程時,老師問我們,為什麼要學催眠,還要做導師?

我答道:催眠對我來說修行,既修改行為。通過催眠,修改限制性的信念,觀念和戒除不良習慣。所以,催眠是一個過程。也是一個工具。

同時,催眠是一種狀態:又叫做最佳學習的狀態:這時的潛意識特別活躍,人變得更加專注,由於意識同時存在,人的想像力,創造力,執行力,念力同時會提升,工作狀態,精神狀態都同時提高。因為這時也可以說是處於忘我的,自由和享受當下的狀態,所以有自由、自在、resourceful 和empowered的感覺。這些都不是來自外在的,而是由心而發。

我相信絕大部分的人都有能力、潛能用自我催眠解決自己的問題,開發自己的潛能,發揮出最佳的狀態,因此,我學習導師課程,幫助我將來要推廣這些信息。

你什麼時間做自我催眠?

在白天清醒的狀態下,當我獨自一個人的時候,我會放適合我要寫作的音樂,將我在睡眠前後或夢中想到的東西,寫下來,內容包括工作、學習、日常生活中的感想,收穫、經驗和教訓點滴,還有就是準備工作坊和課程,個案輔導等。

還有一個很喜歡做的工作是寫催眠scripts,然後錄音。製作不同範疇的MP3和videos,放上YOUTUBE免費供大家下載,包括提升睡眠質素,體重管理,情緒轉化、減壓等。推廣催眠的心靈力量。過程需要反復修改, 反复練習,也是一個100%的自我催眠和強化的過程。

這些,都是在自我催眠的狀態下去做,才能享受其中。

做催眠工作時,我會用催眠讓個案和自己都處於放鬆、平靜的狀態。和個案一起走進潛意識的世界,同步和陪伴走,轉化和提升,都是用潛意識喜歡的語言和語氣。

享受催眠的滋潤和洗滌。

For Dream Therapy

每個人天生就有自我催眠,自我療癒的能力

夢境,就是一種深度潛意識狀態下的自我催眠, 每個人都會,而且幾乎每天都發生 ; 自編自演自導和自己觀看的電影和 故事片

解夢,利用催眠,回憶夢境

植入夢境,visualization (CAROL): 和女兒一起談心,吃飯,BE DO HAVE

hypnotherapy:my voice will goes with you, and become your own voice and your own imagination

For pain management

減痛和睡眠管理: 幫助個案用手療和心理催眠治療,治療治療坐骨神經和椎肩盤突出痛症

For Sleep management

For myself: 失眠,焦慮; by using my own hypnotherapy record, i can sleep faster

By using dream therapy, I can release a lot my worry, with energy to chasing dreams and manage difficulties

For finding lost stuff

我利用催眠 時間回溯法和夢境,找東西

For healing by story therapy

in my healing practice, more than 2/3 time on story , conversation hypnosis.

For improvement of performance, speech, workshop

Kinetic hypnosis: I broke record many times, running and jogging , i also can do hypnosis




催眠治療有很多用處啊,如深層的問題,進入潛意識,跨越自我防衛系統,回歸内在,啓動自我修復的功能,就是催眠治療其中一個目的。 我用很多在哀傷處理,解夢療愈和睡眠管理...


陳一德老師《催眠治療實務工作坊》有感

 

哀傷療愈 - 催眠、敘事、夢境和隱喻治療的運用


“身心症狀的催眠治療課程”的總結 Part 1

https://www.donnadreamhypnosis.com/2015/07/a-journey-of-self-improvement-with.html


Hypnotherapy on sleep management course note

MY VOICE WILL GO WITH YOU Book reading notes

I am reading Milton Erickson's book - My voice will go with you. Milton Erickson's my coaching icon. I studied hypnotherapy 10 years ago mainly because of Milton Erickson inspiration. He has many powerful quotes. Here it goes:

https://www.azquotes.com/author/22892-Milton_H_Erickson

内容简介  · · · · · ·

Babies 心中根本沒有失敗二字


如何面对失败 -

https://youtu.be/7PTikX4TO3k


第二章
故事:學會站立

我們在意識層面上曾學會許多事物;爾後卻忘了所學的內容,只是單純享用箇中技巧而已。你們瞧,與別人相較,我占盡了優勢。我曾罹患小兒麻痺,一度全身癱瘓:由於當時發炎的情況很嚴重,有段時間連身體都失去了知覺,唯一不受病毒侵擾的是我的視線與聽覺。病發之際,我孤獨地躺在床上,除了眼球可轉動之外,毫無行動力可言。拜這令人聞之色變的疾病所賜,我必須與七個姊妹、一位兄弟、父母,以及一位老練的護士,在一個被隔離的農莊中接受觀護。我能如何娛樂自己呢?我開始觀察四周人群與所處環境。我立即察覺到我的姊妹在口中說「是」的同時,意思卻可能是否定的。她們往往伸手給對方一個蘋果,卻又同時扣住蘋果不放。我隨即展開有關非口語訊息與身體蠶言方面的研究。     當時我的小妹妹正值學步年齡,我自己也恰巧必須重新學習站立與行走。你應不難想像我眼中所見給與我的震撼。你絶不會知道你當初是如何學會站立的,甚至不明白自己到底如何學會行走。你可能始終認為自己可以直線走過六條街口——只要沒有喧嚷行人或車輛的干擾,你卻並不知道自己其實無法以穩健不變的步伐循直線行走。

你完全不明白你在行走之際,自身的運作過程。你想不通自己當初如何學會了站立,不記得自己曾伸直手臂將身體立了起來。當時,你曾將壓力置於雙手,你意外的發現自己其實可以將全身重量放在雙腳上。此舉說來容易,過程卻複雜無比,因為你的雙膝可能不聽使喚——而當你的雙膝能保持挺立時,你的臀部卻又可能扯你後腿。此外,你也可能將雙腳交叉而無法施力,這時,你的雙膝與臀部又會同時下跌而站不起來。你的雙腳交叉——但你立刻學會了將它們分開,藉以支撐身軀。你終於將自己拉了起來,卻必須懂得如何保持雙膝挺直—— 一旦逐步學會此招後,接著該注意保持臀部挺直。隨後,你發現你還必

須在留意保持臀部、雙膝挺直的同時,設法將雙腳加以分開。最後你終於可以藉著雙手的扶助將雙腳分開著站立。

接下來的工作可分為三個階段。你先試著將全身重量分佈在一隻手與兩條腿上,另隻手不再對你有所協助。這確實是樁困難的工作——你得挺直站著,臀部打直、雙膝打直、兩腳張開,而利用一隻手努力支撐。順著此一站姿,你開始學習如何改變身體的平衡姿勢。你藉著轉頭、轉身以轉移身體的平衡支點。當你試著移動手部、頭部、肩膀與身軀時,必須學會協調軀體的各種平衡狀態——待熟練一隻手的協調動作後,即換手進行另一番適應。緊接著則是難如登天的一步,你得學著鬆開兩隻手,讓雙手自由活動,僅僅仰仗穩健的雙腳支撐全身重量。此時,你必須保持臀部挺直——膝部也得維持挺直,同時注意維持雙膝、臀部、左臂、右臂、頭部與身軀之間的平衡。最後,當你技巧純熟時,將會開始嘗試以單腳保持平衡。這可是件驚天動地的費事舉動。

你如何能夠撐住自己的全身重量而又同時保持臀部挺直、雙膝挺直,以及警覺到手部、頭部與身軀的一舉一動呢?接著你大膽嘗試將一腳向前跨並隨之轉移身體的重心。未料,你的雙膝一彎——整個人竟又跌坐在地。你立即起身重新出發,一試再試後,你終於學會了如何向前跨步——這跨出的感覺真好。於是你重複相同舉動——感覺真是好極了。隨後,你開始跨出第三步——還是抬起同一隻腳,結果摔了個四腳朝天。你著實費了好長一段時間才懂得輪流左右、左右、左右跨步向前,現在的你大可以搖晃雙臂、轉動頭部、左顧右盼,以及行走自如,完全不必費神注意雙膝與臀部是否始終維持挺直。

艾瑞克森指出,「殘障」也許能提供當事人某種利益,令他與別人相較「占盡優勢」。他同時暗示大家,「學習」應是最佳的娛樂方式。當他全身癱瘓時,曾自問:「我能如何娛樂自己? 」他隨即描寫自己如何藉機發展敏鋭的觀察能力,並且進一步表達在深入學習後的喜悅——獲知原屬於潛意識領域的訊息著實令人快慰無比,但也以行走為例,詳述了儲存於潛意識範圍內的行動步驟。

當他談及學習站立的具體過程時,曾刻意強調肌肉運動知覺。聽者很可能將注意力轉向個人體內肌肉運動知覺。至於文中所描述的站立過程中種種笨拙舉動(雙腳交叉以及其他失措狀況),與所有的人在嘗試學習新事物過程中體驗的笨拙應如出一轍。

藉著描述嬰兒時期學習站立與行走之際可能遭遇的逼真經歷,艾瑞克森漸次引導聆聽者退化至嬰兒階段。事實證明,幾乎每位聆聽此故事的人,都不由自主地置身催眠幻境、體驗退化成嬰兒的反應。這故事強調的重點在於,學習基本技巧的過程——先在意識層面努

力,接著轉向潛意識層面的運作。當這故事用作催眠的誘導語句時,它將有助於誘發求診個案的退化歷程以及自動現象。有趣的是,艾瑞克森一律選用英文過去式的文法句型,表達文中的負面陳述(例「結果摔了個四腳朝天」)。當傳達正面暗示時(「你藉著轉頭、轉身以轉移身體的平衡支點」),他則刻意使用現在式文法句型。

這篇有關「早期學習歷程」的故事,在心理治療初期相當管用,因為它會將求診個案帶回精神症狀產生之前的歲月,從而瓦解對方僵化的心智結構。也有助於提醒個案學習雖非易事,但他終將克服困難——只要他堅持不懈。無論如何,他確知自己如今已能不費吹灰之力地行走自如。

艾瑞克森同時指出我們早已隨著成長經驗奠定了人生基礎,而我們終將帶著此一基礎邁向未來。身為農家子弟的艾瑞克森曾經努力播種,期待有朝一日得享豐收。在這篇文章中,艾瑞克森則替心理治療鋪設了基石——他談論眾人的基本學習歷程,並將此歷程描述得饒富興味而不帶任何威脅性。他也連帶觸及本書其他故事一再涉及的重點:他觀察事物一向鉅細靡遺。他藉著觀察他人而有所學習,暗示眾人「你是來學習的」,並且試圖激發「學習功能」——開放的學習心態。生理方面的癱瘓是殘障,而備受心理困擾的求診個案同樣具有某種殘障,艾瑞克森卻樂於將自身殘障轉變成有利的工具。孤獨的他只能仰賴自己,進而選擇以觀察週遭人事自娛。

當他說到他的姊妹可以伸手拿給另位姊妹一個蘋果卻又扣住蘋果不放時,他是否同時暗示他其實可以貢獻一個蘋果(學習歷程》卻又有所保留?或者身為聽眾的你雖可以有所貢獻卻也始終不放手?此處,艾瑞克森提供的並非只是一、兩項單純的訊息,而是多重層次的訊息。文中的蘋果難免令我們聯想到伊甸園——世界的最初、一切的源起。

「你不難想像我自眼中所得的震撼。」他在此句中特別強調「想像」兩字。當然,這正是他進行催眠工作的主要途徑——利用想像以及各種意象引導對方進入恍惚狀態。他隨即乘著聽者的想像之翼展開誘導,並且設法集中聽者的注意力。

傑夫。西格對這故事的評語是:「艾瑞克森相當懂得如何與你的注意力以及他自己的注意力玩耍。描述所有故事過程中,他均笑得很開心。他自己玩得愉快並急於邀請你與他共同嬉戲。如果你毫無玩耍的興緻,那將是你個人的問題。他依舊會提出邀請,卻不至於因你的拒絶而惱火。只可惜,我們不論如何用心,常只能略懂這些故事的表面含意。我個人以為我已頗瞭解艾瑞克森的作風,但若有機會與他坐下討論其間用意,我們將發現自己不過觸及皮毛而已。他的心思往往至少深入表象以下的兩三層意義。當他提出蘋果此一象徵語
詞時,他同時賦加兩三層含意。例如:「小孩子會如何看待一個蘋果?」或是:「身為稚齡孩童的你,將如何處置一個蘋果? 」你很可能會將蘋果帶給老師,而此舉意味著渴望取悅他人。艾瑞克森對眾人的潛意識狀態知之甚詳,一旦你表現出某類語句或象徵時,他往往對你即將產生的相關聯想瞭若指掌。事實上,當你仔細觀察某人時,你確實不難獲知對方心中的各式聯想,你因而可以針對這些聯想追根究柢。這類內在訊息的深度,卻很難令當事人具體加以掌握。因此,你無法確知自己當初如何學會站立,雖然你擁有一切相關資訊。」

這正是艾瑞克森一項重大治療原則眾人在屬於個人的生命歷程申,早已擁有解決困境的豐富資源。在前文故事中,他即提醒眾人正視他們不曾意識的重要內在訊息。

當他運用「你將壓力置於雙手!而意外的,你發現自己其實可以將全身重量放在雙腳上」這類語句時,他傳達出在心理治療過程中使用「設定式意外」的觀念。你不妨將求診個案置於注定有所發現的情境中——只要對方能夠用心加以體會,必定收穫豐富。

「此舉說來容易,過程卻複雜無比,因為你的雙膝可能不聽使喚,而當你的雙膝終能保持挺直時,你的臀部又可能扯你後腿。」在以上這番敘述中,艾瑞克森藉由諸如「挺直」與「站立」等字眼,針對聽者的潛意識進行重要暗示。稍後,當這些字句在治療過程中加以引用時,對方的學習功能與態度將自動受到啟發。

30 8 2019

Dr Milton Erickson 如何治愈 六歲的偷竊狂


摘要

一對夫婦前來向我求助,他倆十分絶望地問:「我們該拿那才六歲大的女兒怎麼辦?她偷我們的東西,她也偷我們朋友以及她朋友的東西。當她與母親上街購物時,她又會偷店裡的東西。我們才送她參加專為女孩舉辦的育樂營一天而已,她就帶回來了其他女孩的東西——有些東西上面還清楚寫著原來主人的名字。她編造許多謊言,聲稱母親買了許多東西給她,而那些偷來的東西全是屬於她的物品。有任何方法可以整治這般年紀的偷竊狂與年僅六歲的騙子嗎?

我告訴他們,我自有辦法,隨即寫了封信給這個小女孩:「親愛的海蒂,我是你六歲大的成長小精靈。每個孩子都會有一個成長小精靈,但卻從來沒有人看見過這個小精靈。因此,你也從來沒有看見過我。或許,你會想要知道我的長相如何。我在頭頂上、前額上以及下巴上都長著一些眼睛。如此一來,我才能清楚地看見我所負責看守的孩子所做的一切事情。

如今,我看著你慢慢地學會了許多事情。我對你熱中學習的態度深感滿意,而有些事情似乎比某些事情難學許多。此外,我也有許多耳朵。我的耳朵卻不長在頭頂上,否則它們將會干擾我的眼睛進行觀察。我有些耳朵長在臉頰的旋轉關節上,我因而可以自由調整它們的方向,藉以聆聽四面八方傳來的訊息。我也有些耳朵長在頸部、身體側面以及那些後腿上面。此外,我的尾巴上也長滿了耳朵。尾巴末端的耳朵則是最大的一個——正巧位於尾巴的旋轉關節上(請你的父親告訴你旋轉關節是個什麼樣的東西)。那麼我才可以自由轉動這個大耳朵的方向,好能聽見你所說的每一句話,以及著乎進行每件事情過程中所發出的吵雜聲。

我共有三隻左前腳與一隻右前腳。一般說來,我多半憑藉著靠外側的兩隻左前腳向外行走。內側的左前腳一共有三十二個指頭,這也正是為什麼我的字跡如此醜陋的緣故,因為我老是不記得該用哪些指頭夾住鉛筆才對。當然,你可想而知,我運用左前腳的速度得比運用右前腳快上兩倍,否則無法維持直線前行。此外,我還有七隻後腳——三隻在左側,三隻在右側,兩側行進的速度因而頗為平均。我向來喜歡光著腳丫子到處行走;你也知道,鳳凰城的夏天有多麼炎熱。因此,我常只在兩隻後腳上穿鞋子,其餘則一律打赤腳。」

一段時間之後,我受邀參與小女孩七歲的生日宴會,我不得不謝絶對方的盛情,因為我是個六歲小孩的成長小精靈,對七歲小孩的成長事物所知甚少。然而,卻是這個屬於六歲小孩的成長小精靈,一路看顧她、聆聽她,伴她走過六歲時光。屬於小精靈的故事徹底矯正了她的行為。

                              

在提供有助於孩子發展健全良知的資訊過程中,艾瑞克森刻意避免使用有關「禁止」、「應該」,以及規範之類的描述。他以其一貫的態度強調學習的價值。此處他採取的立場,與先前另一個故事如出一轍——均以一種有趣的方式(而非怒氣衝衝地)呈現教訓。事實上,在所有關於訓誡的故事中,艾瑞克森的態度總是堅定卻並不嚴酷——即使某些讀者可能認為他的方法其實頗為嚴厲,或有如進行意志之戰。事實上,他的真正目的是,協助孩子發展出屬於個人的自主意志與自律精神。

此一案例中,六歲的小女孩已被父母標示為偷竊狂,艾瑞克森卻並未被捲入此一有關偷竊的「動力系統」中。相反的,他認定小女孩需要的是一個內化的超我。於是透過寫信與對方產生共鳴的方式,提供小女孩所缺乏的內在監護人物與自律系統。

Milton Erickson and the Little Girl who Lied and Lied and Lied - Hypnosis Video excerpt



30 8 2018


埃里克森:人的一生心理發展的8個階段

https://kknews.cc/psychology/5glgan6.html

摘要:

嬰兒期(0~1.5歲):信任和不信任的衝突
此時不要認為嬰兒是一個不懂事的小動物,只要吃飽不哭就行,這就大錯特錯了。此時是基本信任和不信任的心理衝突期,因為這期間孩子開始認識人了,當孩子哭或餓時,父母是否出現則是建立信任感的重要問題。信任在人格中形成了」希望」這一品質,它起著增強自我的力量。
具有信任感的兒童敢於希望,富於理想,具有強烈的未來定向。反之則不敢希望,時時擔憂自己的需要得不到滿足。埃里克森把希望定義為:「對自己願望的可實現性的持久信念,反抗黑暗勢力、標誌生命誕生的怒吼。」




成熟期(65歲以上):自我調整與絕望的衝突
由於衰老過程,老人的體力、心車和健康每況愈下,對此他們必須做出相應的調整和適應,所以被稱為自我調整對絕望感的心理衝突。
當老人們回顧過去時,可能懷著充實的感情與世告別,也可能懷著絕望走向死亡。自我調整是一種接受自我、承認現實的感受;一種超脫的智慧之感。如果一個人的自我調整大於絕望,他將獲得智慧的品質,埃里克森把它定義為:「以超然的態度對待生活和死亡。」


原文網址:https://kknews.cc/psychology/5glgan6.html


30 8 2019

如何將缺陷變成自己的優勢?

看看催眠大師Milton Erickson 如何和缺陷、疾病共存,充分發揮自己擁有的身體功能,在不可能中找到可能性:

埃里克森17歲開始的脊髓灰質炎的故事是一個傳奇。不過,對埃里克森而言,類似這樣的傳奇也未免太多了一些。

他患有色盲、音盲、閱讀障礙……

埃里克森是色盲,他的視覺只能對紫色有感覺。他還是一個罕見的音盲,聽不到音調的變化,沒有辦法欣賞正常人稱之為“音樂”的東西。

他有嚴重的閱讀障礙,到了16歲時才發現,字典是從A排到Z的。小時候同學給他起了綽號“字典”,因他常常數個小時就是在看字典,同學以為他喜歡看字典,卻不知道他不過是在找一個字,因不知道字典的排序,他每次都是從第一頁開始,逐個字逐個字地找。

好像是,相比正常人,他與世界溝通的許多通道都被關閉了。但是,他從未抱怨過命運,並反而因此打開了正常人所沒有的一些通道。

既然只對紫色敏感,那麼他就坦然享受一個“紫色主義者”的生活,穿紫色衣服,用紫色杯子,在紫色的辦公室里工作,在紫色的家中居住……

6歲時,他走過一個教堂,教堂裡很多人在進行合唱練習。因是音盲,他聽不到他們合唱的音樂,他只是納悶,這一群人發出這麼奇怪的聲音,為什麼卻那麼快樂?他看著看著,找到了一個答案,哦,他們在一起呼吸,呼吸的節奏是一致的,所以這麼快樂。

於是,從6歲起,別人給他講話,他就和別人一起呼吸。譬如老師講課,他不去聽老師講什麼,而是跟著老師的節奏呼吸,老師看著他,他就點頭,發出“嘣嘣”的聲音,這聲音是踩著老師呼吸的節奏而發出的。別人都無法理解他到底在做什麼,但有一個人和自己呼吸的節奏一致,會產生一種奇特的和諧。

這種節奏感成了埃里克森催眠的重要基礎。學催眠時,老師教我們去和個案的呼吸保持同節奏的呼吸,我們要花很大努力才能做到這一點,而埃里克森從6歲起就可以很自然地做到這一點了。

甚至閱讀障礙也幫助了埃里克森。 16歲時的那個冬天,一天中午很冷,他待在地下室裡用字典查一個字,突然間,彷彿一道白光照亮了整個地下室,埃里克森剎那間明白,原來字典是按照字母從A到Z排序的。那一刻,他深深地感謝內在的自己,把這個訊息留這麼久才讓他發現,因為這讓他對英文有了更深的理解,他在無數次的逐字查詢的路上,學了更多。

許多正常人所擁有的與世界溝通的渠道,在埃里克森那裡被命運無情地關閉了,但埃里克森反而因此打開了獨特的通道。這些通道,本來正常人也有,只是,因為那些常見的通道太好使了,我們開始依賴它們,於是忽略了那些獨特的通道,也是更為深邃、更富有價值的通道——與潛意識溝通的通道。

相比起埃里克森來,一般人擁有的命運的饋贈要多很多,然而,或許是擁有的東西太多了,我們反而喜歡抱怨,為什麼我擁有的還不夠多呢?為什麼命運對我如此不公呢?
埃里克森恰恰相反,他對他所擁有的一切總是心存感激,他永遠是在享受已擁有的資源,而不是將注意力放在欠缺上。

埃里克森70歲以後,只能坐在輪椅上。有天晚上,吉里根去廚房裡見埃里克森太太,看到埃里克森也在廚房,他穿著紫色的運動裝,在切晚餐用的菜,非常投入,並對吉里根說:“我正在運動。”

脊髓灰質炎的後遺症跟隨了埃里克森一輩子,他有過數次嚴重的複發,因為不斷萎縮的肌肉,他本來可憐的視力和聽力也不斷在減損。儘管他傳奇般地站了起來,但他右半邊身體的肌肉幾乎徹底失去了力量,他只能靠著少許的肋間肌和橫膈膜呼吸。此外,他還患有痛風和輕微的肺氣腫。

當他70多歲時,早晨是身體最疼痛的時候,通常他要花數小時來進行疼痛管理,要做很大的努力才能穿好衣服和刮鬍子,但即便如此,他也保持著坦然的樂觀。 1974年的一天,他對薩德說:“今天凌晨4點,我覺得我可能會死掉,中午的時候,我很高興我還活著,我從中午一直高興到現在。”

埃里克森1980年過世,他的太太總結說:“他活到78歲,比他自己預期的久得多,直到過世前一周,他還是過著積極不懈的生活。”

作者:海明
鏈接:https://www.zhihu.com/question/38310066/answer/75802444
來源:知乎

How to turn disadvantages to advantages

在这本书中:


艾瑞克森指出,「殘障」也許能提供當事人某種利益,令他與別人相較「占盡優勢」。他同時暗示大家,「學習」應是最佳的娛樂方式。當他全身癱瘓時,曾自問:「我能如何娛樂自己」他隨即描寫自己如何藉機發展敏鋭的觀察能力,並且進一步表達在深入學習後的喜悅——獲知原屬於潛意識領域的訊息著實令人快慰無比,但也以行走為例,詳述了儲存於潛意識範圍內的行動步驟。



Dr Milton Erickson 從小體弱多病,有各種缺憾和殘障。但他對他所擁有的一切總是心存感激,他永遠是在享受已擁有的資源,而不是將注意力放在欠缺上。




30 8 2019

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

Personal history[edit]

Biographical sketches have been presented in a number of resources, the earliest being by Jay Haley in Advanced Techniques of Hypnosis and Therapy[2] which was written in 1968 collaboration with Erickson himself. Though they never met Erickson, the authors of The Worlds Greatest Hypnotists[3] did a thorough job of researching the details of his biography. The following information about his life is documented in that source. Currently the most comprehensive information is available through The Milton H. Erickson Foundation in Phoenix, Arizona, a non-profit founded the year prior of his death.

Milton Hyland Erickson was the second child of nine of Albert and Clara Erickson. Born in a mining camp in Aurum, Nevada where his father mined silver, the family moved to the farming community of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin when he was quite young. The family settled on a modest farm, and the children all attended the one-room schoolhouse in nearby Lowell. One of only two boys with seven sisters, the family farm was very demanding of physical labor.[4]

Erickson was late in learning to speak and had difficulties in reading which he described as dyslexia. He was also color blind and tone deaf. Later in life as he explained what seemed to be extraordinary abilities, he stated that the "disabilities" (dyslexia, color blindness, being tone-deaf) helped him to focus on aspects of communication and behavior which most people overlooked. This is a typical example of emphasizing the positive, which is characteristic to his overall approaches.[5]

Though the family valued education, books were scarce. His desire to learn led him to read the dictionary front to back, repeatedly, along with the few other texts the family treasured. He overcame his dyslexia and described the pivotal moments in a paper entitled "Auto-hypnotic Experiences of Milton Erickson" which is contained within The Collected Works of Milton H. Erickson, MD. The early moments of creative change, which he described as a "blinding flash of light" was later recognized by him to be an early spontaneous auto-hypnotic experience.[6]

He first became interested in hypnosis at an early age when a traveling entertainer passed through the area. He later described his feelings that hypnosis was too powerful of a tool to be left to entertainers and decided to bring this tool into the realm of scientific evaluation and into the practice of medicine. At the time, Erickson already admired the local community doctor and had committed himself to becoming a physician.[2]

At age 17, he contracted polio which left him with lifelong disabilities. Having long been interested in hypnosis, the year of his recovery gave him the opportunity to explore the potential of hypnosis self-healing. He began to recall "body memories" of the muscular activity of his own body. By concentrating on his memories, he slowly learned to tweak his muscles to regain control of parts of his body to the point where he was eventually able to talk and use his arms. Still unable to walk, he decided to train his body further by embarking – alone – on a thousand-mile canoe trip with only a few dollars. After this grueling trip, he was able to walk with a cane which he used throughout his adult life, becoming confined to a wheelchair only in his last decade of life. While he himself attributes his self-healing with giving him insight into the use of hypnosis, the magnitude of the extent that his own ordeal contributed to the techniques he became known for remain speculative.[2]

After recovering his ability to walk, he attended the University of Wisconsin and achieved graduate degrees in both psychology and medicine. It was there that he began his formal studies of hypnosis and worked in the laboratory of Clark Hull. His ideas were somewhat different from Hull's, and he began to explore his own views of hypnosis, investing himself in rigorous scientific exploration of the nature of hypnosis. Specializing in psychiatry, he took a series of positions at state hospitals that allowed him to continue research in hypnosis while refining his approaches to therapy. He was already a prolific writer focusing primarily on case studies and experimental work relevant to advancing understanding of hypnosis. These earlier writings are now also included in The Collected Works of Milton Erickson, M.D.[2]

During WWII, he conducted physical and mental examinations of the soldiers. He was called upon by the U.S. intelligence services to meet with other experts to help the war effort through a better understanding of the psychological and mental factors involved in communication relevant to combat. Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson were among those with whom he worked in this capacity and with whom he developed lifelong friendships. Over the subsequent decades, they consulted many times on a series of projects.[7]

In his late 40s, he developed post-polio syndrome which resulted in additional muscle loss and additional pain.[7] At that time, he and his wife Elizabeth and family of five young children departed from Detroit and his position at Eloise State Hospital to relocate in Phoenix, Arizona where it was believed that the weather conditions would support healing. Once in Phoenix, he established himself in private practice, and had a home office for the remainder of his life.[2]

At this stage of his career, he became active in the Society for Clinical and Educational Hypnosis (SCEH) which promoted research and taught physicians how to use clinical hypnosis. Due to personal differences with others in the organization, and strong feelings about the most effective manner in which to bring clinical hypnosis into the hands of practicing physicians and dentists, Erickson ended his affiliation with the SCEH and broke away to form the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH) in July 1957. For a decade he was the founding editor of the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis and had at least one article in every issue. He dedicated the next two decades of his life to professional writing, teaching other professionals, and maintaining a private practice. This was a productive period during which he developed and refined his own unique style of hypnotherapy which caught the attention of other notables.[8]

His ongoing relationship with Gregory Bateson led others to take an interest in Erickson's unique communication skills and therapeutic approaches. In 1973, Jay Haley published Uncommon Therapy, which for the first time brought Erickson and his approaches to the attention of those outside the clinical hypnosis community. Erickson's fame and reputation spread rapidly, and so many people wished to meet him that he began holding teaching seminars, which continued until his death.[9]

Throughout his professional career, he collaborated with a series of serious students, and the colleagues who recognized the uniqueness and effectiveness of Erickson's approaches amassed Erickson's individual publications into volumes. His weekly workshops remained popular until his death. It was during that interval of time that his students began to create frameworks for the work that Erickson did, and describe in their own way the style of his work. Those efforts have influenced a vast number of psychotherapeutic directions, including brief therapy, family systems therapy, strategic therapy, neuro-linguistic programming, and additional directions.[9]

Milton H. Erickson died in March 1980, aged 78, leaving behind his wife Elizabeth, four sons, four daughters, and a lasting legacy to the worlds of psychology, psychiatry, psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, pedagogics and communications.[9]

Hypnosis[edit]

Milton Erickson dedicated his professional career to the advancement of the use of hypnosis in the context of medicine. He was committed to scientific methodology and a staunch advocate of the regulated professional training for practitioners. The investigations of Erickson in the first half of the 20th century were particularly influential on the second half. Erickson's clinical innovations on the practice of hypnosis are credited with inspiring its renaissance and arousing a new generation of practitioners.[10]

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".[11] Andre Weitzenhoffer points out: "The Ericksonian 'unconscious' lacks in particular the hostile and aggressive aspects so characteristic of Freud's system".[12]

It is clear from Erickson's writing that he 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]

Erickson was an irrepressible practical joker. 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]

The same situation is in evidence in everyday life, however, whenever attention is fixated with a question or an experience of the amazing, the unusual, or anything that holds a person's interest. At such moments people experience the common everyday trance; and get that faraway or blank look. Their eyes may actually close, their bodies tend to become immobile (a form of catalepsy), certain reflexes (e.g., swallowing, respiration, etc.) may be suppressed, and they seem momentarily oblivious to their surroundings until they have completed their inner search on the unconscious level for the new idea, response, or frames of reference that will re-stabilize their general reality orientation. We hypothesize that in everyday life consciousness is in a continual state of flux between the general reality orientation and the momentary micro-dynamics of trance.[17]

Many people are familiar with the idea of a "deep" trance, and 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 in which he provides history, justification, and ideas about its use.[18] Trance states for therapeutic reasons can be either light or deep, depending on such factors as the personality of the patient, the nature of the problem and the stage of therapeutic progression.[19]

Where traditional hypnosis is authoritative and direct and often encounters resistance in the subject, Erickson's approach is permissive, accommodating and indirect.[20] For example, where a classical hypnotist might say "You are going into a trance", an Ericksonian hypnotist would be more likely to say "you can comfortably learn how to go into a trance." In this way, he provides an opportunity for the subject to accept the suggestions they are most comfortable with, at their own pace, and with an awareness of the benefits. The subject knows they are not being hustled and takes full ownership of, and participates in, their transformation. Because the induction takes place during the course of a normal conversation, Ericksonian hypnosis is often known as conversational hypnosis. In a 1976 paper, Erickson describes his developments of indirect suggestions.[21]

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.[22]

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.

Erickson 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.[23]

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:[24]

I was returning from high school one day and a runaway horse with a bridle on sped past a group of us into a farmer's yard looking for a drink of water. The horse was perspiring heavily. And the farmer didn't recognize it so we cornered it. I hopped on the horse's back. Since it had a bridle on, I took hold of the tick rein and said, "Giddy-up." Headed for the highway, I knew the horse would turn in the right direction. I didn't know what the right direction was. And the horse trotted and galloped along. Now and then he would forget he was on the highway and start into a field. So I would pull on him a bit and call his attention to the fact the highway was where he was supposed to be. And finally, about four miles from where I had boarded him, he turned into a farmyard and the farmer said, "So that's how that critter came back. Where did you find him?" I said, "About four miles from here." "How did you know you should come here?" I said, "I didn't know. The horse knew. All I did was keep his attention on the road."

Interspersal Technique[edit]

Erickson describes hypnotic technique as a means to an end while psychotherapy addresses guidance of the subject's behaviors. As such, the same hypnotic technique can be applied towards diverse patient concerns. In his discussion of the applications of the interspersal technique, Erickson offers two case examples in which a similar application of the technique was made. One patient was suffering from intolerable malignant pain from a terminal condition, while the other subject was an intelligent though illiterate man who sought to relieve a disabling symptom of frequent urination. Erickson provides an interesting case write up for each of the cases chosen to illustrate his use of the interspersal technique. Erickson provides a transcript for the induction in which he interwove personalized therapeutic suggestion, selected specifically for the patient, within the hypnotic induction itself. The transcript offered illustrates how easily hypnotherapeutic suggestions can be included in the trance induction along with trance-maintenance suggestions. In the follow-up case discussions Erickson credits the patients' positive responses to the receptivity of their unconscious minds: they knew why they were seeking therapy, they were desirous of benefiting from suggestions. Erickson goes on to state that one should also give recognition to the readiness with which one's unconscious mind picks up clues and information. Erickson stated that "Respectful awareness of the capacity of the patient's unconscious mind to perceive the meaningfulness of the therapist's own unconscious behavior is a governing principle in psychotherapy. The patient's unconscious mind is listening and understanding much better than is possible for his conscious mind".[25]

Confusion Technique[edit]

"In all my techniques, almost all, there is a confusion". – Milton H. Erickson[26]

Erickson describes the confusion technique of hypnotic induction that he developed as being done either through pantomime or through plays on words. Spoken to attentive listeners with complete earnestness, a burden of constructing a meaning is placed upon the subject, and before they can reject it another statement can be made to hold their attention. One example is offered in which he uses verb tenses to keep the subject "…in a state of constant endeavor to sort out the intended meaning". He offers the following example: One may declare so easily that the present and the past can be so readily summarized by the simple statement "That which is now will soon be yesterday's future even as it will be tomorrow's was. Thus the past, the present, and the future all used in reference to the reality of today". Erickson describes the second element of confusion to be the inclusion of irrelevancies and non-sequiturs. Taken in context these verbal distractions are confusing and lead progressively to the subject's earnest desire for and an actual need to receive some communication they can readily understand. A primary consideration of the confusion technique is the consistent maintenance of a general causal but definitely interested attitude and speaking in a gravely earnest and intent manner expressive of a certain utterly complete expectation of the subject's understanding. Erickson wrote several articles detailing the technique and results that can be achieved. This succinct overview comes from a 1964 article, one of several detailing the technique, the justification and the responses that could be achieved.[27]

Handshake Induction[edit]

Erickson describes the routine as follows:[26]

  • Initiation: When I begin by shaking hands, I do so normally. The "hypnotic touch" then begins when I let loose. The letting loose becomes transformed from a firm grip into a gentle touch by the thumb, a lingering drawing away of the little finger, a faint brushing of the subject's hand with the middle finger – just enough vague sensation to attract the attention. As the subject gives attention to the touch of your thumb, you shift to a touch with your little finger. As your subject's attention follows that, you shift to a touch with your middle finger and then again to the thumb.
  • This arousal of attention is merely an arousal without constituting a stimulus for a response.
  • The subject's withdrawal from the handshake is arrested by this attention arousal, which establishes a waiting set, and expectancy.
  • Then almost, but not quite simultaneously (to ensure separate neural recognition), you touch the under-surface of the hand (wrist) so gently that it barely suggests an upward push. This is followed by a similar utterly slight downward touch, and then I sever contact so gently that the subject does not know exactly when – and the subject's hand is left going neither up nor down, but cataleptic.
  • Termination: If you don't want your subject to know what you are doing, you simply distract their attention, usually by some appropriate remark, and casually terminate. Sometimes they remark, "What did you say? I got absentminded there for a moment and wasn't paying attention to anything." This is slightly distressing to the subjects and indicative of the fact that their attention was so focused and fixated on the peculiar hand stimuli that they were momentarily entranced, so they did not hear what was said
  • Utilization: Any utilization leads to increasing trance depth. All utilization should proceed as a continuation of extension of the initial procedure. Much can be done nonverbally. For example, if any subjects are just looking blankly at me, I may slowly shift my gaze downward, causing them to look at their hand, which I touch and say "Look at this spot." This intensifies the trance state. Then, whether the subjects are looking at you or at their hand, or just staring blankly, you can use your left hand to touch their elevated right hand from above or the side – so long as you merely give the suggestion of downward movement. Occasionally a downward nudge or push is required. If a strong push or nudge is required, check for anesthesia.

Hand Levitation[edit]

Erickson was the first to describe the hand levitation method of induction, described as being broadly applicable. Weitzenhoffer describes the technique as broadly applicable and quotes a colleague as describing Erickson's demonstration as "the best of all induction procedures. It permits the participation in the induction process by the patient and lends itself to non-directive and analytic techniques"[28] It is however, the most difficult of methods and calls for greater endurance on the part of the hypnotist". A transcript of Erickson demonstrating this technique script is included.[29] The nature of the induction is for the hypnotherapist to repeatedly suggest a lightness in the hand, which results in a dissociative response and the hand elevating unconsciously.

Resistance[edit]

In the book Uncommon Therapy, Jay Haley[5] identified several strategies that appeared repeatedly in Erickson's therapeutic approach. For Erickson, the classic therapeutic request to "Tell me everything about ...," was both aggressive and disrespectful. Instead he would ask the resistant patient to withhold information and only to tell what they were ready to reveal:

[Erickson] "I usually say, "There are a number of things that you don't want me to know about, that you don't want to tell me. There are a lot of things about yourself that you don't want to discuss, therefore let's discuss those that you are willing to discuss." She has blanket permission to withhold anything and everything. But she did come to discuss things. And therefore, she starts discussing this, discussing that. And it's always "Well, this is all right to talk about." And before she's finished, she has mentioned everything. And each new item – "Well, this really isn't so important that I have to withhold it. I can use the withholding permission for more important matters." Simply a hypnotic technique. To make them respond to the idea of withholding, and to respond to the idea of communicating."

Some people might react to a direction by thinking "Why should I?" or "You can't make me." This is called a "polarity response" because it motivates the subject to consider the polar opposite of the suggestion. The conscious mind recognizes negation in speech ("Don't do X") but according to Erickson, the unconscious mind pays more attention to the "X" than the injunction "Don't do." Thus, Erickson used this as the basis for suggestions that deliberately played on negation and tonally marked the important wording, to provide that whatever the client did, it would be beneficial: "You don't have to go into a trance, so you can easily wonder about what you notice no faster than you feel ready to become aware that your hand is slowly rising."

Double Bind[edit]

Providing a worse alternative (The 'Double Bind') – Example: "Do you want to go into a trance now, or later?" The 'double bind' is a way of overloading the subject with two options, the acceptance of either of which represents acceptance of a therapeutic suggestion.

Erickson provides the following examples: "My first well-remembered intentional use of the double bind occurred in early boyhood. One winter day, with the weather below zero, my father led a calf out of the barn to the water trough. After the calf had satisfied its thirst, they turned back to the barn, but at the doorway the calf stubbornly braced its feet, and despite my father's desperate pulling on the halter, he could not budge the animal. I was outside playing in the snow and, observing the impasse, began laughing heartily. My father challenged me to pull the calf into the barn. Recognizing the situation as one of unreasoning stubborn resistance on the part of the calf, I decided to let the calf have full opportunity to resist, since that was what it apparently wished to do. Accordingly, I presented the calf with a double bind by seizing it by the tail and pulling it away from the barn, while my father continued to pull it inward. The calf promptly chose to resist the weaker of the two forces and dragged me into the barn".[17]

Shocks and Ordeals[edit]

Erickson is famous for pioneering indirect techniques, but his shock therapy tends to get less attention. Erickson was prepared to use psychological shocks and ordeals in order to achieve given results: The ordeal process is different from other therapeutic techniques originated by Erickson. Extending the dissociative effects of paradox and non sequitur, wherein confusion is used only as an entry to a trance state, the technique of ordeal superimposes a distressing but achievable challenge over the therapeutic aim such that the achievement of the former implies a positive outcome in the latter. Hence ordeal therapy is not merely an induction technique but a theory of change. The therapist's task is to impose an ordeal, appropriate to the problem the person wishes to change, an ordeal more severe than the problem. The main requirement is that it cause distress equal to or greater than that caused by the symptom. It is also best that the ordeal is good for the person. The ordeal must have another characteristic: it must be something the person can do. It must be of such a nature that the therapist can easily say "This won't violate any of your moral standards and is something you can do". The final characteristic is that it should not harm anyone else. One final aspect of the ordeal is that sometimes the person must go through it repeatedly to recover from the symptom.[30]

Influence on Others[edit]

One of Erickson's first students and developers of his work was Jay Haley. Other important followers who studied directly with Erickson include Ernest Rossi, Stephen Gilligan, Jeffrey Zeig, Bill O'Hanlon, Michele Ritterman, Stephen Lankton, Richard Landis, Jane Parsons-Fein, Herb Lustig, Alex & Annellen Simpkins and Sidney Rosen. The majority of today's Ericksonians consist of individuals who have never known Erickson. Today, and for some time now, much of the teaching of the Ericksonian approach is and has been done by individuals who have acquired their knowledge second and third hand. Some of those who did spend time with Erickson, like Jeffrey Zeig, Ernest Rossi, and William O'Hanlon have tried, to present and preserve as much as they could what they believed and have understood Erickson's thought and methods to be. They have succeeded to do so to a fair degree. Others, like Richard Bandler and John Grinder have on the other hand, offered a much adulterated, and at times fanciful, version of what they perceived Erickson as saying and doing guided by their personal theorizing. Further distortions have resulted outside of the United States due to translation problems as well as for other reasons. More and more the Ericksonians have become a heterogeneous group of practitioners.[31]

Jay Haley told of sending a group of his students to see Erickson. When they returned, one student was particularly touched at Erickson's sensitivity to his own issues. The student then related one of the stories that Erickson and told the group. He says he knew this story was intended specifically for him. Another student corrected him and said that the story was for her, not for him. She pointed out a few of its features that addressed her issues. Haley said he found that very strange. He had heard that same story years earlier and knew that Erickson and created it especially for him![32]

Erickson eschewed rigid approaches to therapy and thus never accepted a binding framework or schematic set of procedures during his lifetime, though a multitude of other approaches grew from his perspective and practice. He had a strong influence on the diverse areas of Strategic therapy, Family Systems, Brief Therapy, Ordeal Therapy, Narrative Therapy, and Neuro-Linguistic Programming.[33]

Ericksonian Approaches[edit]

Following Erickson's death in 1980, The Erickson Foundation lead by Jeffrey Zeig held a conference which at the time was the largest professional hypnosis conference ever held.[9] Afterward, many participants began to teach Erickson's ideas in their own way. It was not until after Erickson's death that the word Ericksonian was used to describe his methodology. Over the decades that followed, there were various attempts to identify the key components that bring together the individual styles of an Ericksonian. In an attempt to identify the key elements of Erickson's work, Stephen Lankton contributed an extensive overview of Erickson's ideas and techniques which he referred to as the "Ericksonian Footprint".[34] More recently, the development of Ericksonian Core Competencies spearheaded by Dan Short and Scott Miller defines Ericksonian approaches in a manner that makes it amenable to evidence-based studies.[35]

Lankton and Matthews state that perhaps Erickson's greatest contribution to psychotherapy was not his innovative techniques, but his ability to de-pathologize people and consider a patient's problematic behavior as indicative of a best choice available to the individual. His approach was to facilitate the patient's access to inner resources to solve the problems.[36]

The concept of utilization in psychotherapy is identified primarily with the work of Milton Erickson. More than any other therapist, he taught us to appreciate everything the client brings and whatever the client brings should be regarded as valuable. Perhaps Erickson's struggles with polio as a teenager impressed on him the value of regarding everything as a potential asset. All weaknesses can become strengths in the same way a negative can become a positive. Many imperfections can be altered slightly so that they become endearing. Some things can be highlighted while others can be de-emphasized. To recognize and use the qualities of the individual and the situation is to affirm something in which they have already invested.[37]

A 1954 article by Erickson describes his technique of utilizing a patient's own personality and ideas, "Doing it His Own Way", in which a patient requested hypnosis for the explicit purpose of ceasing his reckless driving, and the patient did not want psychotherapy for any other purpose. Erickson worked with him and provided a summary of the case, after carefully assessing the patient's potential for safe practices, as well as his motivation for change. The discussion of working with the patient while allowing him to guide his own healing is a clear example of the concept of utilization for which Erickson has become known.[38] Another key principle that is associated with Erickson's techniques is described in his 1964 paper entitled the "Burden of Effective Psychotherapy" whereby he describes the essential nature of the investment of the subject in the experiential process of healing.[39]

An entry in the prestigious American Psychological Association Dictionary of Psychology[40] defines Ericksonian psychotherapy. Based on the work of Milton Erickson, this approach to psychotherapy is described as a "form of psychotherapy in which the therapist works with the client to create, through hypnosis and specifically through indirect suggestion and suggestive metaphors and real life experiences, intended to activate previously dormant intra-psychic resources".

Core Competencies of Ericksonian Approaches[edit]

The Core Competencies Manual was a joint endeavor between the Erickson Institute of Phoenix, and The Milton H. Erickson Foundation to define Ericksonian approaches in a manner that makes it amenable to evidence-based studies. Using the wisdom of individual professionals who studied with Erickson, the organizers developed a matrix of features associated with what they had learned from Erickson about his approaches. The developers then developed a matrix to evaluate clinical approaches used to ascertain whether or not a style of therapy could be considered Ericksonian. The elements involved included four skills: Observation, Validation, Cultivation, and Challenge, combined with six competencies: Tailoring, Utilization, Strategic, Competency, Destabilization, Experiential, Naturalistic. This resource is available for a free download, and its founders are supportive of research-controlled studies to further evaluate the utility of the model.[35]

Controversy[edit]

A colleague, friend and fellow researcher, André Weitzenhoffer, a prolific and well-respected 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".[12]

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.[34]

In a book largely complementary to the works of Erickson,[41] 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…" In an interview, this sentiment of uncertainty regarding completeness of Erickson's case reports and demonstrations is valid, reports his daughter, Roxanna Erickson-Klein, who is a professional psychotherapist. 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.[42]

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."[43] 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]