my version of Erickson’s approach
thanks to my friend, Peter Thorneycroft
In a previous post, I mentioned my favourite joke about the Ericksonian approach. “How many Ericksonian therapists does it take to change a light globe? It takes 19. One to change the light globe and 18 to explain how they think Erickson would have done it differently”. I am not the “one”, just one of the 18.
In 1977, my first visit with Milton Erickson, I would return to my motel room and write a summary of what happened that day and I decided to put these notes aside when i returned to Australia. I was inspired by my experience in Phoenix and was creative, bold, and had fun with some remarkable results. Some people would cross the road to get away from yet another sermon from me about how wonderful Erickson was and my attempt to convert them to church of Erickson. After several months I decided to read my notes, and was shocked to discover that my “original”.”innovative”, and “creative” interventions were simply a repeat of what Erickson had done. Oops.
Erickson said “Don’t try to be like me, you couldn’t anyway. Be like you. Don’t try to imitae my words. Find your own words”. A young man spent some time with Erickson, went home and dressed in purple pyjamas, sat in a wheelchair and spoke with a southern accent. Erickson was very offended.
Here are some of my reflections:-
each person is unique
learning transforms and normalises change
flexibility - “Because each person is unique, we need to tailor our approach instead of tailoring the client to fit some … theory”
listening. Erickson said that the three most important skills for us to learn are to observe, to observe and to observe.
what’s missing? is a question which can reveal a direction in therapy. My Irish ancestors say “If you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up in a different place”.
what do you like doing? leads to resourceful experiences, and we are likely to find any resource that’s missing for an individual. If we know what we are looking for [what’s missing?] and we know where to look [someone’s enjoyable activity] we gat a winning combination.
utilisation is such a relieving attitude. Instead of having to get rid or fix some problem, if we can explore how we might make use of the experience. If someone has a problem remembering, we can interest them in the benefit of forgetting - there are some things that are not worth remembering, best forgotten. If someone lacks confidence, it can be so helpful to emphasise how awful it is to have to put up with someone who ir arrogant - so confident that they are not open to new options.
I have written about my learning in an eBook.
I was intrigued by a case Erickson spoke about. A woman was playing tennis and she farted. She was so embarrassed and felt insecure because it happened without any warning so he became housebound. Erickson discovered that she was a fundamentalist Christian, so he showed her an anatomy textbook diagramme of the anus, and explained that the anus was a remarkable valve that could expel gaseous material downwards while retaining solid and liquid material upwards. He further reminded her that we are formed in God’s image, so to disrespect this would be a sacrilege. He instructed her to cook a large pot of “whistleberies” [beans] and prace around her home in the nude “Singing praise to the Lord”. I wouldn’t have the courage to do this, but I thought it may be inspiring.
