Ericksonian Hypnotherapy

Milton H. Erickson started practicing hypnosis in the 1920's. What he has achieved with hypnosis has stunned the scientific community - often to the point where they claimed that these results were impossible. Yet, he countered all the challenges from the medical and scientific community with the only thing that counts in medicine: results. His clients all got better. They got rid of problems other therapists weren't able to free them of. They enjoyed life again.

What's different about Ericksonian hypnotherapy from traditional hypnotherapy is a rather indirect approach - the language is skillfully vague. Instead of saying: "Close your eyes and go to sleep when I count to three", an Ericksonian hypnotherapist would say things much more indirect, for example: "And while you sit on that chair and listen to the sound of my voice, you can start to notice that every so often, your eyes blink like they do normally, because that's what eyes do. And you may notice that you can start to blink more often, because when your eyelids feel heavier, that's what you do naturally, and if you don't want to blink, that's fine too, you can do what you want while your eyelids get heavier and heavier, for example you can close your eyes at any moment that you see fit."

There is a lot more to this little hypnotic induction that meets the eye - it's not just that it's more "carefully" worded, there are a lot of very specific hypnotic language patterns involved, that are based on simply physiology.

One thing that should be said about Ericksonian hypnosis is that it works in live situations, where the hypnotist can observe the hypnotic subject. The hypnotic induction is then done in accordance wih the visual feedback the hypnotist gets from the hypnotic client. So just reading a "Erickson script" to a client of yours wouldn't really make any sense, because Erickson came up with the hypnotic induction and the hypnotic suggestions, stories and metaphors during the sessions, and they were different for each individual client, just like each individuals fingerprints and personalities are different.

Richard Bandler and John Grinder, the founders of NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) studied Dr. Erickson's methods and developed the "Milton Model", which became a core part of NLP. You can read their Book on that subject.

The best course to master Ericksonian Hypnotherapy right now is a course called "Conversational Hypnosis". I've reviewed this course and you can read the Conversational Hypnosis course review by clicking on the link now.

In 1953 the AMA attempted to strip Erickson of his license to practice as an MD. Why? Because he was using hypnosis, and the AMA didn't want MDs to use hypnosis on their patients.

So they scheduled a committee meeting where Erickson had to show up and defend his case. But instead, Erickson hypnotized the board members to let him keep his license, and let him keep his hypnosis practice. A great example of conversational hypnosis!