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Video of Milton Erickson at work

Ericksonian Hypnosis - An Introduction

Milton Erickson (1901 - 1980) is probably one of the most famous hypnotists who has ever lived. He gave his name to a style of therapy known as Ericksonian Hypnosis. To those who are only familiar with hypnosis from the movies or TV this will be something of a shock. There are no swinging watches, commands to sleep or indeed any explicit form of induction. Arguably it is the purest form of hypnosis becaus it just "happens" without any of the usual psychological props.

What Is Ericksonian Hypnosis?

Ericksonian hypnosis is a method of inducing and controlling trance states without any explicit authoritative commands. Instead it relies on indirect suggestions and a high degree of rapport with the subject.

Erickson's sessions would often begin with apparently simple chat or story telling as the subject relaxed. Erickson would observe the subject's reactions and tailor the indirect and embedded suggestions to the specifically. Very often they would find themselves deeply relaxed and in a suggestive state without even realising that anything had happened. They would simply be relaxed and listening as Erickson spoke to them.

To Erickson the unconscious mind was not a repressed Freudian entity but part of everyday life that was always aware. The indirect and embedded suggestions of Ericksonian hypnosis would bypass the relaxed conscious mind and slip directly into the unconscious where - if phrased correctly - they would be accepted without resistance. The style has been described as "artful vagueness".

Although Ericksonian hypnosis is famous for its subtle inductions, it does include some specific techniques. Probably the most famous of these are the confusion technique and the handshake induction.

Many of Erickson's ideas and techniques were incorporated by Richard Bandler and John Grindler in Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP).

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