ABSTRACT
The work of Milton H. Erickson has had a significant impact on clinical practice. Moreover, this impact has compelling parallels with recent developments in our understanding of brain function in social processes. Following a model of “three-level communication,” we can see a conceptual convergence between Erickson’s hypnotherapeutic approaches and current research into nonverbal communication, semantic organization, and metaphor. Through its evolutionary history, the brain was formed by the exigencies of face-to-face communication. Erickson’s emphasis on careful observation of this communication underlines the fundamental role of interactional synchronization in hypnotherapy. Similarly, the semantic organization of the spoken word is quite different from the structure of written language, and Erickson intuitively exploited this difference. In a very real sense, his therapeutic language is part of the long tradition of oral poetry: the culturally fundamental use of the spoken word to inspire, motivate, and transform human awareness. Finally, the therapeutic power of Erickson’s stories is related to the central role of metaphor in human cognition. Current research shows that metaphor is critical to thinking in any area that is novel, complex, or emotionally significant. As such, it is clearly related to the sort of personal growth Erickson did so much to enhance. Erickson’s work provides the basis for a mutually rewarding dialogue between clinical and basic science. Both fields stand to learn a great deal from our growing knowledge of the relationship between hypnotherapy and brain function.
