This presentation poses a substance abuse treatment which acknowledges and accommodates the personal needs being addressed by substance use, bypasses perceived resistance and employs idiosyncratic psycho-biological learning to achieve a body-mind gestalt complementary to the client's sobriety. Client self-empowerment and relapse prevention are built into the intervention. This method develops a safe framework for addressing any subsequent mental health themes directly or indirectly related to substance misuse. Ideomotor questioning is employed in this procedure.
Zeig (1995) demonstrates the Ericksonian approach to psychotherapy while working with Carol, a woman whose nail-biting habit is rooted in anxiety. After gathering information on her personal history, Zeig helps Carol utilize her values and history to affect change. The process is both humorous and dramatic. After working to change associations linked to the problem behavior, Zeig offers Carol an ordeal that will produce a "guaranteed cure." Hypnosis is offered as the "dessert", rather than the main course. Ericksonian approach to psychotherapy.
Ericksonian approaches use both direct and indirect techniques and tailor methods to the unique characteristics of individual patients. Diagnostic categories can be used to individualize treatment. These tailored techniques are ways of "gift wrapping" ideas so that patients can best actuate effective changes. The concept of "Utilization'' and methods of processing interventions will be discussed. In Ericksonian treatment, dynamic experiences precede dynamic understanding.
This hypnotherapeutic session took place in 1978, and decades later, it’s just as powerful and engaging. Enhancing the viewer’s learning experience is Dr. Zeig’s discussion of the underlying elements of Erickson’s methods: the ARE model of instruction; the art of parallel communication; targeted utilization; and the use of implication. Erickson’s fluid repertoire, drawn from systematic thinking, includes the use of anecdotes, symbolic communication, and strategic seeding. The elicitation of solutions, based on promoting constructive associations and flexible thoughts and feelings, is an area of particular interest and one in which Erickson was especially elegant.