Milton Erickson, MD, was the worlds foremost expert on the application of hypnosis to resolving emotional problems.  Often, Erickson employed the therapeutic metaphor in order to promote the unconscious resolution of a patient’s problems.  He often did this by telling stories, that on the surface, appeared to be just a story….but in actuality nailed the crux of the patient’s psychological problems on an unconscious level.

He had polio.  He was not expected to live through the night.  The doctor told his mother this in front of him.  Now he thought that was awfully unkind to be saying to his mother and in front him him…the soon to be deceased.  He could only move his eyeballs and talk to some extent.  He got his mother to rearrange his room so that he could see out the window.  He explained that this was so that he could see the sunrise.  He stayed awake all night long staring out the window, just waiting for the sunrise.  He wanted to prove that doctor wrong.  He lapsed into a coma for awhile after seeing the first light of day.  He had done it…proved that insensitive doctor wrong.  But that was only the start of the battle….he was left with only being able to move his eyeballs and nothing else.  So, he began to learn to be a very keen observer of people….what else did he have to do??  He learned that his sister could say ‘Yes’ when she meant ‘No,’ and say ‘No’ when she meant ’Yes.’  He learned to identify each family member from the specific pattern and sound of their footsteps.   He learned how babies learned to move and walk from watching his infant sister.  Now he figured that we all have unconscious memories for learning how to move and explore the world.  Because we all had to do this, and this is just what he did.  By watching his baby sister, he re-learned what he already knew.  So after about a year or so, he got to where he could crawl.  At that point, he purchased a canoe.  On his own, he paddled the canoe 1200 miles down the Mississippi river….at times pulling the canoe behind him over sandbars while crawling.  By the end of the trip, he had gained enough physical strength to walk and carry the canoe over his head!  Later in life, he developed an active case of polio again, and was bound to a wheelchair.  Even though he was in immense physical pain, he continued to work with teaching and treating patients.  He could barely breath or talk, but continued working with every ounce of his strength.

Now, some people are kind of naive.  If you are, you may or may not be aware of it.  Others are rigidly skeptical…their first position is disbelief.  Folks are usually not fully aware of how rigid they are.  I remember I was at a workshop for the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis.  One of the presenters was talking about his experiences with Milton Erickon.  One day, Dr. Erickson told him that in order for him [Dr. Erickson] to keep teaching this individual, he [the student] would have to do something different.  He told him that he was to climb ‘Squaws Peak,’ and to go into the desert.  He was to keep looking until he found a Boojum tree.  Dr. Erickson said something like, “It’s spelled bujoom.  No, bojum.  No, bojam.  No, boojam.  No, Boojum.  Yes that’s it.  Boojum.”  And then he [Erickson] told him [the student] that when he saw this Boojum tree, he would think to himself, ‘That’s not a tree.  It’s impossible!!!”  And while he was considering that impossibility, he was to look around and identify the ‘creeping devils.’  He explained that some people don’t believe they exist, but he was pretty sure that this student might be able to find them.  So, the student went up Squaws Peak, and into the desert.  He kept driving until he saw the weirdest thing.  He didn’t even know what he was looking for.  But when he saw it, he thought, “That’s not a tree.  It’s impossible!!”  And while he felt completely confused, because this was exactly what was predicted by Dr. Erickson, he began to look around on the gound.  He saw the strangest cactus….a cactus that grew horizontally and then bent up.  He knew this must be the ‘creeping devil,’ and now knew they existed.  He could only speculate about the reasons that Dr. Erickson had him do this, although it appears plain to me.  It didn’t really matter if his conscious mind knew or didn’t know.  His unconscious mind did know….and the necessary changes were made as I could see from his current personality.

 

Now, I believe God designed us with incredibly complex minds that have self-corrective mechanisms built into them.  I believe that within each individual, there are all the resources and knowledge needed in order to resolve the patient’s difficulties.  All that’s needed is the mobilization of those unconscious resources.  As Dr. Erickson explained, “It’s not what the patient doesn’t know that’s the problem.  It’s what they know, that they don’t know they know.”  In other words, each individual has gained a great deal of knowledge about themselves and the world that they have forgotten conscious, but have not forgotten unconsciously.  When that information is utilized effectively by the unconscious mind, the individual’s difficulties can be resolved.  This can happen when a patient is asleep and dreaming.  This can happen when they are eating breakfast and staring off into space.  This can happen when they are walking down the sidewalk and seem to become less aware of what is going on around them.  This can happen at any number of times when it is most appropriate….and I have seen this happen any number of times…and delight in the surprise of patients when it occurs….