by Shaun Brookhouse
Milton Erickson is considered by many to be the father of modern hypnosis, he was a psychiatrist and psychologist who brought hypnosis to the attention of the medical and psychological establishment.
Erickson was a medical oddity in that he contracted 2 of the 3 possible strands of Polio at different points of his life. The first was when he was still in high school. The disease took such a hold that his physician did not believe he would survive that night. Later accounts say that Erickson said that “he should not have said that; it upset my mother”, he requested that his mother move the bureau with its mirror so that he could see outside as a reflection of the mirror. After Erickson saw the sun rise that first morning he slipped into a coma for 3 days. I mention this story because, when he eventually recovered, he needed to learn to walk and talk again, which he achieved by watching his young sister learning these things for herself.
Because of this early experience, I believe it is safe to say that Erickson was a master of observation. It was said that he could pace his hypnotic work by watching the pulse of the small vein at the side of a client’s head by the eye.
Erickson was unique in that he was both a qualified psychologist as well as being a psychiatrist. He was also the product of his generation, he had very strong opinions as to who should be allowed to practice the art. In his opinion, only people with a medical or psychological background should be allowed to practice hypnosis. Sadly I believe he was misguided by this opinion in that he lost an opportunity to bring the two “wings” of the profession together in co-operation rather than the distrust and in some cases hostility that exists between the licensed hypnotic practitioner and the professional hypnotic practitioner.
Whilst it cannot be denied that Erickson straddles the profession like a colossus, I disagree with many things relating to the “cult of Erickson”. Practitioners who want to learn about his techniques have a wealth of text books to choose from ranging from books written by or with Erickson, to those written by Erickson’s students, to those written by people who have no direct link with Erickson, but think they have a good idea what he was all about. In the later two categories, there are stories which one would be forgiven in thinking that Erickson was the greatest healer of his or any other generation. Where a simple quip would be enough to undo years of psychological or physiological pain and distress. Whilst as hypnotists we know that unconscious change happens in an instant and everything that proceeds and precedes this change is ritual, it appears that most of Erickson’s successes were instantaneous. Also, as an Instructor, I believe that my students learn as much from my mistakes as they do from my successes. There is sadly very little written about or by Erickson about his failures.
I have identified three key components of what distinguishes Erickson’s work from others in the field. They are:
-
Utilisation: This is idea of using everything, that a client brings with him/her to the session
-
Subtlety of Language: This is the use of 19 specific linguistic patterns which Erickson favoured in the induction and deepening of trance
-
Metaphors: The idea of pacing and leading a client through the plot of a story specially designed to assist the client to bridge the gap between where he/she is now and where he/she wants to be.
In future articles, I will take each of these components and break them down so that practitioners can use them in their work as quickly as possible.
This article’s title is “Milton Erickson: The Greatest of All Time?”, so as I posed the question I will give you my answer. It is my view that there is no greatest of all time. All hypnotists who came before and after Erickson have added to this wonderful profession and field of study. However, Erickson some 25 years after his death is still one of the most widely recognised practitioners. This is due to his breakthrough work as well as his mission to get hypnotism recognised by the medical establishment as being a valid method of treatment. In closing, the answer to the question, at least for me is he is great, but there is no greatest. I wonder what the answer will be for you.
