ABSTRACT
Regardless of whether people use the term “psyche” or “body” to refer to the human organism, few would challenge the assertion that the complexity of this organism goes far beyond their powers of description. Milton Erickson sometimes also used greetings of only a few sentences in length instead of the hypnosis-based treatment which his client was expecting, and the outcomes of these interventions were very similar to those in the story about Naaman and Elisha. Body language, the voice and the manner of speaking can have an enormous impact on the meaning expressed by a greeting. The voice can also be used to foster positive expectations. When the mind sends greetings back, it typically does so inconspicuously – for example, by reducing the frequency of symptoms.
