ABSTRACT
Milton Erickson's major influence on ecosystemic therapy involves his experimentation with hypnotic techniques and his approach to resistance as an aspect of the therapist-client relationship. Indeed, Erickson's fame is significantly related to the unpredictable and creative ways in which he responded to client resistance to create conditions for change, an approach that is often characterized as "uncommon" therapy. Erickson induced a trance and suggested that get a twelve-inch tube of bamboo and substitute it for his other equipment. Members of the Mental Research Institute group extended these themes in Erickson's work, but they also recast them by linking them to new concepts, concerns, and therapeutic strategies. For example, these therapists brought a strong research emphasis to therapy, stressing the importance of studying clients and their families in their "natural" settings. Northland therapists explain that such clients are often treated by psychotherapists as lacking the skills and insights that are needed to do effective family therapy.
