Integrating Erickson's Approach

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Abstract
More than any other psychotherapist, Milton Erickson epitomizes the flexibility needed to do most skillfully what he feels is necessary for any psychotherapy: first, meet the patient at the patient's level and gain rapport; second, modify the patient's productions and gain control; third, use this control to help the patient change in a desirable direction. Several adjectives often used and misused to describe Erickson are discussed; how they sometimes apply, sometimes do not. His concepts of hypnosis and the unconscious are briefly set forth. Four major and seemingly divergent frameworks for formulating and treating human behavior are presented. My thesis is that, semantics considered, they may often be saying the same thing. The semantics is yet of vital importance, as each framework carries its own different all-important pragmatic implications for how one should work. Erickson is again notable in his uncanny ability to function within all of these modes, and possibly others, with great skill, and the flexibility which allows him to adapt totally to each patient's own individualized system. Finally, a personal experience of my own is recounted, with a speculative hint on how it might shed some light on the mechanism of how this amazing psychotherapist might do his magic.

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