Milton H. Erickson: biography of this researcher of hypnosis

A summary of the life of Milton H. Erickson, psychiatrist famous for his hypnosis methods.

Milton Hyland Erickson was a renowned American psychiatrist and hypnotherapist who, despite having suffered terrible Pain throughout his life, did not prevent him from having an outstanding professional career.

He went down in history for revolutionizing the conception of the subconscious, as well as using hypnosis as a therapeutic tool within a serious clinical context.

As a sign of a prolific life, he founded several organizations focused on the study of hypnotherapy, making his mark in the fields of psychiatry and psychology. Let's take a closer look at his life through this biography of Milton H. Ericks. biography of Milton H. Erickson in summary form.

Biography of Milton H. Erickson: who was this psychiatrist?

Milton is known for having perfected hypnotic techniques beyond a purely psychoanalytic context, being able to be extrapolated to other currents of psychiatry and psychology. Among his most notable milestones in life are the founding of organizations such as the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, as well as participating in the creation of other institutions such as the American Psychological Association and the American Psychopathological Association.

Early years

Milton Hyland Erickson was born on December 5, 1901 in Aurum, Nevada, USA.. His family consisted of his parents, seven sisters and one brother, all of whom migrated to Wisconsin to work on a family-owned farm.

His childhood was not a bed of roses. Even as a young child Erickson suffered from various illnesses that caused his health to be severely weakened. In fact, in his adulthood Milton H. Erickson would admit that he barely remembered his early years, and that much of his recollections could be encompassed within a kind of "self-hypnotic trances".

At the age of 17 Erickson contracted poliomyelitis, a disease which, with the medicine of the time, could be considered a "self-hypnotic trance".polio, a disease that was barely treatable with the medicine of the time, claiming the lives of many people. Polio left him with severe sequelae, losing much of his mobility to the point that his doctors thought he would not survive. However, this experience would prove to be fundamental for the development of his career, marked by a strong tenacity and the fight against adversity.

Bedridden with the disease, barely able to move or speak, Erickson began to realize the power of body language to communicate with others. In addition, Milton H. Erickson claimed that it was at this time that he began to have what he called "body memories" of movements that, before he lost mobility, he could do with ease.

To cope with the illness, Erickson began to use his own memories, concentrating on these body memories, and gradually regained control of his body to the point where he could speak and move with ease. to the point where he could speak and move his arms normally.

His doctor advised him to exercise his upper body strength and Erickson followed his advice, taking it very seriously. So seriously that, in order to recover as soon as possible, he planned to make a journey of no less than 1600 kilometers by canoe, with the intention of strengthening his body intensely and being able to attend university.. After this dangerous feat Erickson was able to walk again with the help of a cane, and attend the University of Wisconsin to study medicine and psychiatry.

Academic training and contact with hypnosis

Studying in Wisconsin, Milton Erickson began to document the effects of suggestion on patients.. It was only a matter of time before he discovered hypnosis, a field relatively unknown even to psychiatrists and, perhaps because of its mystical appeal or an interest in discovering more about it, he began to delve deeper into the subject.

The then student of medicine and psychiatry would come to realize that he could use self-hypnosis as an effective he could use self-hypnosis as a way to combat the pains that polio had caused him. that polio had caused him, which were terribly intense. Thus, by means of auto-suggestion, Erickson was acquiring a better quality of life for a while, which motivated him to further perfect his knowledge in this field.

At the age of 30, he had already gained a certain fame within American psychiatry. His work on hypnosis and his especially remarkable way of applying it in therapy earned him a great reputation, which allowed him to practice as a psychiatrist while teaching at several universities.This allowed him to practice as a psychiatrist while teaching at several universities.

Beginning of private practice

In 1948 Milton H. Erickson moved to Phoenix for medical reasons, since he could enjoy a healthier climate in that city. Unfortunately, within a year he was a year later, he was forced to provide therapy from his own home, as his physical condition worsened and he ended up having to use a wheelchair. and he ended up having to use a wheelchair and was in constant pain.

To combat this discomfort, Erickson himself used self-hypnosis techniques every morning that reduced the intensity of his pain. Thus, he was able to cope with the tasks of his daily life adequately. It is thanks to the use of these techniques and his strong tenacity that Milton Erickson continued to perfect his knowledge, making great advances in psychiatry.

One of the great contributions of this time was founding the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis in 1957, serving as its president for several years.serving as its president for several years. In addition, he founded the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, which was the first publication in the United States to treat the subject of hypnosis in a serious way, being Erickson its editor for a decade.

Later years

Milton H. Erickson's physical condition worsened over the years. Nevertheless, he continued to have a truly active professional life. In fact, in the decades after his beginnings as a private therapist he was the author of hundreds of articles and five books on clinical hypnosis and its application.. Among the most notable books are Hypnotic Realities (1976) y The February Man (1989), published posthumously.

He did not withdraw from academic life, continuing to give seminars and travel around the world. As his health deteriorated, he continued to receive his students in his own home and, in fact, a few days before his death he was still working with his students at home.. As a teacher and therapist he was widely respected within the psychiatric community.

One of the aspects that made him especially respected was that he was able to treat very serious cases, which no other therapist could solve. This made that several of the techniques proposed by Erickson were transferred to other types of therapy, making that his influence continues to be present in the field of psychiatry.and his influence is still present today.

Milton Hyland Erickson died in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, on March 25, 1980, at the age of 79, shortly after inaugurating the Milton Erickson Foundation and in the midst of preparations for what was to be the largest gathering of psychotherapists to date, the conference "The Evolution of the Psychotherapy".

Theory and Hypnosis

Erickson insisted a lot on the role of the unconscious.. However, his way of understanding it is not similar to that of the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, but rather sees it as a reservoir of personal resources to solve the problems of each individual on his or her own.

As we have been commenting, Milton Erickson's approach to psychotherapy was very unconventional for the time, even for the hypnotherapists themselves.even for the hypnotherapists themselves. His method is so special and striking that it has been constituted as a branch independent from the rest of the disciplines that use hypnosis, being called "Ericksonian hypnosis".

The most traditional hypnosis was based on the idea that we can communicate with the subconscious mind in specific moments. These moments are called "trance states" and that is why most conventional hypnotherapists try to induce them in order to speak directly to their patients' subconscious. In this way they can apply suggestions and, based on their psychotherapeutic vision, provoke a change in the behavior, emotions, and emotions of their patients, bring about a change in behavior, emotions and thoughts..

This was not the view of Erickson, who believed that the subconscious mind was always listening and, therefore, it was possible to communicate with it even when the subject was not in trance. Thus, all their therapeutic techniques were aimed at reaching that part of the mind, indirectly and without arousing resistance in the patient.

Traditional hypnotherapists used techniques such as relaxation or deep inductions to weaken patients' defenses and thus induce them into the trance state. In contrast, Erickson used other tools such as, for example, speaking to clients using metaphorical stories, which at first glance might seem irrelevant.which at first glance might seem irrelevant, but actually contained hidden hypnotic suggestions that had an impact on their subconscious.

Confusion

Among the tools used by Milton H. Erickson in his therapy, confusion is one of the most famous ones.. It consisted of using apparently meaningless stories, or using other resources intended to confuse the patient's conscious mind. Thus, Erickson was able to introduce his patients into a trance that was not as intense as that of other hypnotherapists by suggesting them without their being aware of it.

Among the techniques within the confusion, the handshake induction is very outstanding.. Erickson developed a technique that allowed him to generate confusion in patients simply by giving them a handshake. This seemed harmless and allowed him to introduce a deep hypnosis to the patient, which from his point of view allowed him to work on their mind.

Surprising as it may seem, this method worked very well for Erickson, so much so that even his own acquaintances were apprehensive about shaking his hand to prevent him from hypnotizing them. Other therapists saw that this technique was so useful that they incorporated it into their therapies.such as the founder of neurolinguistic programming, Richard Bandler.

Erickson also made use of confusion through words, using techniques such as the false dilemma. In this tool, the patient is presented with two options that are convenient for the psychiatrist but that give the individual the impression that he or she has the ability to choose how the psychotherapy will proceed, which greatly facilitates the therapy itself and its results.

Bibliographical references:

• O'Hanlon, W.H., (1993), Deep Roots. Principios Básicos de la terapia y de la hipnosis de Milton Erickson, ed. Paidós Terapia Familiar, Spain.
• Robles, T. (1991), Terapia Cortada a la Medida. Un Seminario Ericksoniano con Jeffrey Zeig, ed. Instituto Milton H. Erickson de la Ciudad de México, Mexico.
• Rosen S., (1991), My Voice Will Go With You. The didactic stories of Milton H. Erickson, Ed. Paidós, Argentina.
• Simon, F.B., Stierlin, H. and Wynne, L.C., (1988), Vocabulario de Terapia Familiar, ed. Gedisa, Argentina.
• Zeig, J. (1991), Entrenamiento en Hipnosis Ericksoniana, ed. Centro Mexicano de Programación Neurolingüística, Mexico.
• Zeig, J. F., (1992), Un Seminario Didáctico con Milton H. Erickson, ed. Amorrortu, Buenos Aires.