Milton H. Erickson

Milton H. Erickson (1902 - 1984)

Born in Aurum, Nevada and raised in Wisconsin, Erickson became interested in hypnosis after witnessing a demonstration by Clark Hull. He was so impressed that he met with and hypnotized Hull after the show! He taught himself hypnosis from that point on.

Erickson had a great understanding of the human mind. While a Psychologist and a Psychiatrist, he received his most important training at a younger age. He explains in this quote taken from “Dr. Erickson's Personality and Life” by Jay Haley - 1967:

"I had a polio attack when 17 years old and I lay in bed without a sense of body awareness. I couldn't even tell the position of my arms or legs in bed. So I spent hours trying to locate my hand or my foot or my toes by a sense of feeling, and I became, acutely aware of what movements were. Later, when I went into medicine, I learned the nature of muscles. I used that knowledge to develop an adequate use of the muscles polio had left me and to limp with the least possible strain; this took me ten years. I also became extremely aware of physical movements and this has been exceedingly useful. People use those little telltale movements, those, adjustive movements that are so revealing if one can notice them. So much of our communication is in our bodily movements, not in our speech. I've found that I can recognize a good piano player not by the noises he makes, but by the ways his fingers touch the keys. The sure touch, the delicate touch, the forceful touch that is so accurate. Proper playing involves such exquisite physical movement." -

Milton H. Erickson essentially revolutionized the field of hypnosis. While here are those that promote and teach a pure Ericksonian technique, lements of Erickson’s wisdom are present in almost every hypnotists style hese days. While a proper discussion of Ericksonian techniques are beyond he scope of this book (there are, in fact, entire books written on the subject Check the bibliography).