Professional Documents
Culture Documents
can give the patient the simple task of writing the word
"father" on a piece of paper and then have him crumple it up
and throw it in the wastebasket and this action can produce
pronounced effects. (p. 45)
There would seem to be several factors involved in
Erickson's success in getting suggestions followed. One
factor is Erickson's sureness.... Often the patient will be
encouraged to follow Ericson's suggestions to prove him
wrong. Erickson also encourages patients to follow his
directions by emphasizing the positive aspects of the
patient's life so that they are pleased to cooperate with
him.... Besides this context, he makes suggestions which
the patient can easily follow and, in fact, emphasizes how
the patient is doing this anyway. (p. 46)
Typical of Erickson's directives to patients is his
accepting the patient's behavior, but in such a way that a
change is produced.... Typical of Erickson's directives to a
patient is that given to a patient who came to him reporting
that he was lonely and had no contact with other people. All
he did was sit alone in his room and waste his time.
Erickson suggested he should go to the public library where
the environment would force him to be silent and not have
contact with others. At the library he should waste his time.
The patient went to the library and, since he was an
intellectually curious fellow, he began to idle away his time
reading magazines. He became interested in articles on
speleology, and one day someone at the library asked him if
he was interested in exploring caves too, and the patient
became a member of a speleological club which led him into
a social life. (p. 46)
A common Erickson technique is to have the patient not
only go through his symptomatic behavior, but also to add