If I read something that inspires me, my unconscious mind has been changed. If I have a meeting with an important person—that is, a person who is important to me—my unconscious is changed. In fact, the positive value of any psychotherapy is obviously based on the ability of a person to change, largely as the result of an encounter with another person or persons.
In my opinion, this change is accomplished most effectively and permanently when the therapist focuses on influencing his patient's unconscious patterns, which frequently include his values and frames of reference. Erickson agreed with this point of view. Toward the end of his life he developed a very effective approach to accomplish this goal—his teaching seminars.
The last time I saw him, he explained to me how this approach had developed, "I had to spend too much time on one patient. I would rather teach a lot of people how to think, how to handle problems, I have dozens and dozens of letters saying, 'You have completely changed my way of treating patients.' I get a lot of patients, but I see them less. I see more patients and I see them for shorter times.
" I questioned, "And this is the result of . . . ?" He answered, "Their coming here and letting me tell them stories. Then they go home and alter their practice." Obviously "coming here and letting me tell them stories" involved expectations and communications on many levels. For example, anyone who spent time with Erickson was likely to experience various levels of hypnotic trance. With positive expectations, in a trance, we are most open to the messages and influences transmitted in Erickson's stories. Erickson believed that if the listener "forgot" a story—developed an amnesia for it—its effect could be even more potent.
In "telling stories" Erickson was, of course, following an ancient tradition. Since time immemorial, stories have been used as a way of transmitting cultural values, ethics, and morality, A bitter pill can be swallowed more easily when it is embedded in a sweet matrix. A straight moral preachment might be dismissed, butguidance and direction become acceptable when embedded in a story that is intriguing, amusing, and interestingly told.
Toward this end, Erickson's tales utilize many effective storytelling devices, including the use of humor and the inclusion of interesting information, such as little-known medical, psychological, and anthropological
facts. Therapeutic suggestions are interspersed in stories whose content is far removed both from the patient's
concerns and the therapist's overt focus. Trance, according to Erickson, is the state in which learning
and openness to change are most likely to occur. It does not refer to an induced somnolent state. Patients are not "put under" by the therapist, nor are they out of control and directed by the will of another person. Trance, in fact, is a natural state experienced by everyone. Our most familiar experience takes place when we them include the theme of a quest. The accomplishment of one of Erickson's assigned tasks may not have the heroic drama of the Golden Fleece, but the inner drama and feelings of accomplishment are comparable.
And there is something peculiarly American about many of his stories, especially those about his family.
For this reason, Erickson has been called an American folk hero. Still, one might wonder how listening to a story, even in a hypnotic trance, can help a patient or a student. The effect, in many ways, is similar to the "glow" one may feel after seeing a good movie. During the movie, many of us enter into an altered
state of consciousness. We identify with one or more of the characters, and we leave "trance-formed." However, this feeling lasts for only a short time—ten or fifteen minutes at most. By contrast, people find themselves, many years later, referring back to an Erickson tale. Their behavior and attitudes may be permanently changed.
Erickson explained these permanent changes by the fact that they occurred in the context of "hypnosis," which he defined as "the evocation and utilization of unconscious learnings." When a therapist is able, with or without the use of stories, to help a patient get in touch with his own unutilized knowledge, that patient is most likely to incorporate these forgotten learnings into his behavior. More constructive and self-reinforcing behavior may
often result.
How is this process different from "brainwashing"? Perhaps the main difference is that without cultural reinforcement "brainwashing" tends to fade away. During the Korean War, for example, many "brainwashed" American prisoners-of-war were led to accept anti-American beliefs. In fact, thousands wanted to remain
in Communist China rather than return home. Yet after they had been repatriated, it would seem, most, if not all, returned to their former beliefs.
Erickson's interventions were more likely to lead to changes that were self-reinforcing and led to further changes. Perhaps this occurred because these changes were in the direction of growth and "opening." Of course, they were likely to be most effective and permanent in a culture that supported Erickson's philosophy —that the individual is important, that he can better himself, and that each of us has unique possibilities for growth.
Milton Erickson "My voice will go with you "
