Hypnosis is a tool advancing its understandings and research, increasing its applicability to various areas and types of existing problems. From self-hypnosis to the use of clinical hypnosis for pain control, nausea relief, treating anxiety and depression crises, this technique has helped people have a different and natural solution.

But if there is a reason hypnosis has reached its current advancements, that reason is Milton H. Erickson. But Who is Milton H. Erickson? Why is he considered the psychiatrist who revolutionized clinical hypnosis? Continue reading to find these answers.

Milton H. Erickson’s History

According to the Milton H. Erickson Foundation, he was born in 1901, in Nevada, and contracted polio at 17. Because of the disease, doctors already considered he would not survive, as much of his body was paralyzed, preventing his movement and speech.

During this recovery time, he dedicated himself to communicating with body gestures, voice tones, and other non-verbal forms of communication. He began to have muscle memories, due to the activity his muscles performed. By exercising these memories, he slowly began to regain control of parts of his body, until eventually, he spoke and used his arms again.

According to close people, this experience provided a favorable learning environment for him to further develop theories about psychology, hypnosis, and people’s mental health.

By entering university, he learned about hypnosis and trance (an experience he noticed had much similarity to the learning he had acquired throughout his life due to his difficulties), which at the time was still very unknown to psychiatrists. Through his experiences and research, he managed to use self-hypnosis to relieve the pains of polio, and this helped him lead a partially normal life and grow in this field.

Academic Career

He initially graduated from the University of Wisconsin and then underwent medical treatments during his early professional work in Rhode Island, Massachusetts. 

In 1930, he went to work at Worcester State Hospital, which at the time was the most prestigious hospital for psychiatric research and training. At Worcester, he was quickly promoted from junior psychiatrist to senior psychiatrist, chief psychiatrist of the research department.

Dr. Erickson’s career, which spanned over 50 years, was dedicated to conducting extensive research in suggestions and hypnosis until he was recognized in the field of hypnosis and psychiatry. He left a legacy in the production of academic articles, having delivered over 140 articles and 5 books on hypnosis, in which he acted as co-author.

One of the books he participated in was “Medical and Dental Hypnosis, Practical Applications,” sharing authorship with two other authors.

He is recognized today as one of the world’s leading producers of hypnosis research. His importance to the development of hypnosis, psychotherapy, and psychiatry areas is incalculable.

See below a flowchart that explains his academic influence in more detail.

Academic Articles

The article “Deep Hypnosis and Its Induction” (1952), written by Milton Erickson, is considered a landmark in hypnosis writing. In contrast to many writings that existed at the time, he argues that the subject’s interpretation and experience are crucial factors for hypnosis. With his unconventional approach, he emphasizes that the client or subject is a unique person, and if the hypnotherapist wants satisfactory results, they must be guided by the factors that make that subject or client a unique being.

The article ‘Naturalistic Techniques of Hypnosis’ (1958) is one of Erickson’s greatest contributions to showing approaches to naturalistic thinking with hypnosis. In this article, Erickson places a helping situation to promote a sense of security and control. 

Meanwhile, the article ‘Utilisation Techniques’ (1959) was important for detailing the methods used by Erickson. These methods consider people’s behavior, opinions, and resistances. This also includes their inner experiences. Through these methods, Erickson was able to put people in trance in situations that were normally considered impossible. 

Foundations

In 1957, Dr. Erickson, along with some of his colleagues, founded the American Society Of Clinical Hypnosis, with him as president. He also created the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis and served as editor for 10 years. 

Ericksonian Hypnosis

Ericksonian hypnosis changed in many ways the traditional methods of using hypnosis. While classical hypnosis used to have the therapist work with initial instructions of direct suggestions on passive patients, Ericksonian hypnosis emphasizes the importance of the therapist’s relationship interaction and engagement with all the patient’s internal and experiential resources.

For this reason, Ericksonian hypnosis, instead of applying direct suggestions as traditional hypnosis did, sought to act indirectly on what he called the subconscious (considered the wise part of our mind, full of learnings and experiences that were fundamental to the patient’s improvement process. In his conception, it had the answers the patient was looking for.). This happened so there would be no conflict or resistance from the patient to access the trance state. One of his most common techniques is telling metaphorical stories that generate much identification, have much meaning, and contain personalized and “gift-wrapped” hypnotic suggestions.

It was from this approach that hypnosis was revolutionized with numerous communications, concepts, and relationships applicable to the patient. For this reason, he is recognized as one of the main health professionals who boosted the advancement of “modern” hypnosis for use in clinical cases.

Therefore, with Dr. Milton H. Erickson’s history, we can understand why he is the psychiatrist who revolutionized clinical hypnosis. His achievements and studies have an impact even today with the emergence of new understandings of the human psyche and how to trigger positive and lasting transformations through communication, hypnosis, and psychotherapy.

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