The Ericksonian approach rests on the use of effective direct and indirect technique to access inherent resources and promote patient-based change. Lecture, demonstration, group exercise.
Dialgoue 10 from the Evolution of Psychotherapy 1990 - Trialogue: The Contributions of Milton H Erickson, featuring Jay Haley, MA, Ernest Rossi, PhD, and Jeffrey Zeig, PhD.
Moderated by Camillo Loriedo, MD.
A presentation of the influence upon therapy, particularly Strategic Therapy of Zen Buddhism. Similarities between therapeutic change and spiritual enlightenment are discussed in terms of the relationship between Master and trainee and therapist and client. The use of directives, of riddles, of absurd tasks, and the types of single interventions and paradoxical procedures are discussed. Examples of cases and Zen stories are compared. Zen, systems theory, and Erickson's strategic therapy are brought together.
This paper surveys a key concept of Ericksonian therapy. Cornerstone principles of an Erickson ian approach are presented and illustrated. The method can be incorporated into any psychotherapeutic discipline in order to enhance effectiveness.
Hypnosis is a method of injunctive communication used to help patients elicit previously dormant potentials. The phenomenology of Ericksonian hypnosis will be developed through lecture, demonstration and practice exercises.
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.
Methods for training therapists customarily are directed to developing cognitive abilities. Using Milton Erickson as a model, an alternate, experiential approach is offered. The "evoking style" of the therapist determines the outcome of the treatment more than the theoretical and clinical methods to which the therapist ascribes.
The evolution of psychotherapeutic methods over the past 200 years from Mesmer through the psychoanalytic schools, behaviorism and current cognitive psychology tells a fascinating tale of our evolving understanding of human nature. In this address we will trace the development of fundamental techniques such as suggestion, free association, active imagination, gestalt dialogue, focusing, Erickson's indirect approaches and what I now call "The Basic Accessing Question."