After nearly 40 years, I am finally getting around to writing about my approach to hypnosis - my intpretation of Erickson's approach after my learning with him and applying what I learnt in my practice and teaching.
The tentative title is "learning humanising hypnosis - a common everyday approach after Erickson"
I'll post a section each week and invite you to comment, offer ideas, opinions ... and specially to make use of anything that you read here.
I expect it to be published by the end of the year, and I'm enjoying the process and relief that it is finally hapening.
Bill O'Hanlon has kindly agreed to write an introduction, so that wll follow later. For the moment, here's the introduction ...
Introduction
Hello and welcome. My name is Rob McNeilly and I wanted to say something about the context, of where this book came from.
Firstly, I like this approach and i notice that others who have learnt it like it. It tends to create an experience of possibility and flexibility in clients, and this allows a smoother, respectful, and often a quicker resolution of their suffering. As a side benefit, we have the benefit of being part of creating an increased personal and professional satisfaction. If we work in a fish market, sooner or later we will smell of fish, and if we work with flowers …
Secondly, I notice that we all feel more alive when we are contributing to something greater than our own petty ego. As a child I loved our family pets - dogs, cats, chickens, even a cockatoo, When I was in medical practice, the experience of seeing a baby come into this world, a small child getting over an illness, a man or woman begin to heal after an injury, an old person find that they are going to survive a crisis or die peacefully - so many experience like these were nourishment for my soul.
Thirdly, I have always liked exploring. As a teenager I was interested in Yoga, The Rosicrucians, the origin of the universe, anything on the fringe of the usual. Jay Haley said that hypnosis hangs out with marginal people.
Perhaps most importantly, I learnt to love freedom and expansiveness. When a teacher says that a child will never make it; when a doctor uses his authority to restrict someone in their care by telling them that they are going to die in 3 months, that they are incurable or that they will always be mentally ill … something fires up in me and makes me hopping mad.
When a teacher encourages a child to expand their view of what may be possible; when a doctor uses their authority to have the possibility of reducing their suffering or even being cured … my heart lifts.
Heinz von Foerster’s ethical imperative to always act to increase options resonates with who I am.
A woman wanted help because she was feeling increasingly shy with other people. After several sessions she was feeling more confident. As she was leaving, she confided that after her first child she was had a psychotic breakdown. When I asked what she meant by that, she said that she had lost touch with reality. She had no family support including from her husband and she became totally overwhelmed. I reminded her about a commotion during our first session with fire trucks and police cars where a house had burnt to the ground. When I told her that it was cased by an electric blanket catching fire, and regretted that it hadn't blown a fuse, she became interested. When I asked her if she had had a psychotic breakdown or blown a fuse, she became very thoughtful. She then said that she was angry that she had been given the burden of “psychotic breakdown” and looked pleased and optimistic when I asked her about what she might do if she felt overwhelmed in the future. She seemed relieved when she said she would blow a fuse. I didn’t see her again, so i don’t know if she blew any more fuses or had more “psychotic breakdowns” but from her response to our short conversation i am confident her future was more within her influence.
Happy reading,
Rob
Complex and insightful. True to what you have been teaching all along. Thanks for inviting me to come along on the ride to see the world with new eyes.