ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Dr. Rosen discusses how his own atheoretical approach to hypnosis was echoed by Erickson and how they both dealt with whatever material that arose and encouraged the emergence of the material without trying to put it into any one theoretical package. They believed that abstract theories were a way of limiting people, putting them in boxes, and inhibiting the material that emerged in therapy. And yet what Rosen and Erickson did, was rarely done without a purpose. In fact, goal-directedness may be the most important characteristic of both their life and work. Since what is essential for cure is re-association and the reorganization of ideas and understanding, and that there is no easily codified guide to Erickson’s, Dr. Rosen suggests therapists should use their own free associations and ideas and share them with their patients, following their own curiosity instead of trying to achieve a predetermined goal. See where your curiosity leads you, rather than forcing a theoretical framework on the client.
