Hope and Resiliency : Understanding the Psychotherapeutic Strategies of Milton H. Erickson, MD

by Short, Dan, Ph.D.; Erickson, Betty Alice; Erickson-Klein, Roxanne, Ph.D.

• ISBN13: 9781904424932
• ISBN10: 1904424937
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-11-30
• Publisher: Crown House Pub Ltd

Summary

Milton H. Erickson is recognized as one of the most innovative clinicians of our time. He is known as the father of modern hypnosis as well as the source for many modern forms of family therapy and brief therapy (including the increasingly popular solution-focused therapy) This seminal book examines the major core strategies that are woven throughout Milton H. Erickson's work. Each strategic principle is broken down into several techniques that share a common function. To help bring to life these clinical strategies and to provide the experience of witnessing masterful clinical work, this book contains numerous clinical examples from Erickson (many of these never before published) and others. To make clearer the core function of any given technique, the overarching concepts have been paired with simple analogies, folk wisdom, and illustrations from other schools of psychotherapy. It is not important to know which school of thought the book is describing but instead seek to recognize the timelessness and universal nature of these strategic principles. This scaffold framework not only helps the reader better understand the interventions and strategies employed by Erickson but more importantly points beyond the finite limits of Erickson's achievements to an ever expanding tradition of exploratory and innovative work by which he was characterized. Part I, Foundations of Healing and Health, presents the fundamental dynamics of healing and of the clinical relationship. Part II, Clinical Strategies, provides a description of each strategy. These are introduced in a broad and simplistic manner, followed by a more elaborate and complex examination of the clinical techniques derived from a givenstrategy. Milton H. Erickson will continue to be remembered for his determination, patient perseverance, humanity, and unending love of learning. From these he benefited personally while at the same time creating a broader spectrum for the field of psychotherapy and benefiting people around the world, decades after his death. This book will help others follow in his footsteps.

Author Biography

Dan Short, PhD is the former Associate Director and Chief Archivist for the Milton H. Erickson Foundation in the US. Betty Alice Erickson, MS is a licensed professional counselor, marriage and family therapist and an international teacher of Ericksonian psychotherapy and hypnosis, Roxanna Erickson Klein RN, PhD, is a member of the Board of Directors of the Milton H. Erickson Foundation.

Table of Contents

Foreword	iii
Stephen Lankton
Preface	xi
A Biographical Sketch of Milton H. Erickson	xv
Overview	xv
Family background	xvi
Childhood	xvii
Late adolescence	xvii
Professional beginnings	xx
Post-polio syndrome	xxii
The later years	xxiv
Part I: Foundations of Healing and Health	1	(32)
Introduction	3	(4)
The Human Condition	7	(8)
Mental Health and Healing	15	(6)
The Role of the Clinician	21	(6)
A Philosophical Framework	27	(6)
Summary	32	(1)
Part II: Clinical Strategies	33	(194)
Introduction to the Six Core Strategies	35	(6)
Distraction	41	(16)
Red herring	45	(2)
Questioning and presupposition	47	(2)
Emphasis on detail	49	(2)
Therapeutic amnesia	51	(3)
The general application of distraction	54	(3)
Partitioning	57	(24)
Symptom definition	59	(1)
Formal diagnosis	60	(3)
Prognostic splitting	63	(4)
Dividing conscious	67	(6)
Dissection	73	(2)
Partitioning of time and space	75	(3)
The general application of partitioning	78	(3)
Progression	81	(28)
Geometric progression	86	(3)
Progressive desensitization	89	(4)
Pattern interruption	93	(4)
Cognitive progression	97	(6)
Forward progression	103	(2)
The general application of progression	105	(4)
Suggestion	109	(44)
Cooperation versus control	115	(3)
Direct suggestion	118	(4)
Indirect suggestion	122	(7)
Permissive suggestion	129	(4)
Interspersal and repetition	133	(6)
The confusion technique	139	(8)
The general application of suggestion	147	(6)
Reorientation	153	(32)
Insight	157	(4)
Reframing	161	(7)
Externalization	168	(7)
Reorientation in time	175	(6)
The general application of reorientation	181	(4)
Utilization	185	(36)
Simple bind	191	(5)
Double bind	196	(11)
Utilization of a minor problem	207	(2)
Symptom prescription	209	(9)
General application of utilization	218	(3)
Conclusion	221	(6)
About the book	221	(2)
Contraindications	223	(1)
Putting the knowledge to use	224	(3)
Appendix A Self-Development Exercises	227	(10)
Distraction	227	(1)
Partitioning	228	(2)
Progression	230	(2)
Suggestion	232	(1)
Reorientation	233	(1)
Utilization	234	(3)
References	237	(14)
Index	251