Uncommon Therapy

The girl rejected this idea as impossible. Then she thought of it as a somewhat amusing but crude fantasy. Finally she decided to do it. She was in a mood for a last fling anyhow.

On Monday she went to work dressed in her new outfit and with her hair done. She went to the water fountain, and when the young man approached, she filled her mouth with water and squirted it on him. The young man said something like "You damn little bitch." This made her laugh as she ran, and me young man took after her and caught her. To her consternation, he grabbed her and kissed her.

The next day the young lady approached the water fountain with some trepidation, and the young man sprang out from behind a telephone booth and sprayed her with a water pistol. The next day they went out to dinner together.

She returned to Erickson and reported what had happened. She said she was revising her opinion about herself and wanted him to do a critical review of her. He did, pointing out, among other things, that she had cooperated well with him, that she had dressed badly before but now dressed well, and that she had previously thought she had a dental defect instead of an asset. Within a few months she sent Erickson a newspaper clipping reporting her marriage to the young man, and a year later a picture of her new baby.

This case demonstrates an approach that appears to be outside the stream of traditional therapy. It is not typical of any therapeutic school, including hypnotherapy. Yet it is typical of Erickson's work, and I think it developed out of his hypnotic orientation. Just as a hypnotist typically accepts the resistance of a subject and even encourages it, Erickson accepted the way this girl dealt with him and encouraged it - but in such a way that change could take place. This girl defined herself as going downhill and heading for the end of the road. Erickson accepted this and encouraged it, only adding that she should have one last fling.

The girl was also hostile to men and would not make an effort to be nice to them.

Erickson accepted this behavior, and essentially arranged that she spit on a man.

Yet the consequence was, to her, quite unexpected. His way of motivating her to do what he asked, and his way of handling her resistance, was an approach characteristic of hypnosis. However, be brought the social setting into play. Instead of having her follow directions deliberately and then have a spontaneous happening by herself, be had her follow directions and then have a spontaneous happening because of the response of someone else.

There are, of course, other aspects of this case uniquely Ericksonian. His way of turning a symptom into an asset is typical, and so is his willingness to intervene, bring about a change, and disengage himself so the patient can develop independent of him, while he checks to be sure the improvement continues. There is also his use of whatever is available in the social context of the person. Not only did he have a fashion consultant and a hairdresser he could make use of, but the one man on this girl's horizon was immediately included in her future.

Another case example illustrates Erickson's use of directives to help a young