In my original Foreword to this volume I expressed the opinion that, with Milton Erickson, Ernest Rossi “has done the best job to date in clarifying Erickson’s ideas on the nature of hypnosis and hypnotic therapy, on techniques of hypnotic induction, on ways of inducing therapeutic change and of validating this change.” Many books have been written about Erickson’s approaches to therapy in the 33 years that have passed since this book was published, yet I will still stand with that opinion. On reading or re-reading this book and others, edited by or co-written by Ernest Rossi we cannot fail to be impressed by Rossi’s ideas, about the Utilization Approach and the development of new frames of reference, for example. These ideas have become so accepted in different approaches to psychotherapy that they seem to have been obvious and to have existed forever. We are especially struck by Erickson’s incredible, sometimes exquisite use of words. As Paul Watzlawick has noted Erickson “heals with words.” —Sidney Rosen, MD Contents The Utilization Approach to Hypnotherapy The Indirect Forms of Suggestion The Utilization Approach: Trance Induction and Suggestion Posthypnotic Suggestion The Problem of Pain and Comfort Symptom Resolution Memory Revivication Emotional Coping Facilitating Potentials: Transforming Identity Creating Identity: Beyond Utilization Theory? About the Authors: Milton H. Erickson, MD, was an American psychiatrist who specialized in medical hypnosis and family therapy. He was founding president of the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis and noted for his approach to the unconscious mind as creative and solution-generating. Ernest L. Rossi, PhD, is an internationally renowned therapist, teacher and pioneer in the psychobiology of mind-body healing. The author of more than 24 professional books, Dr. Rossi worked with Milton Erickson for eight years and co-authored three classic volumes on therapeutic hypnosis with him. Rossi has also edited four volumes of Erickson's Collected Papers and four volumes of Erickson's Seminars, Workshops and Lectures. He has been conducting research in the psychosocial genomics of ultradian rhythms and their relation to mind-body healing and psychotherapy for over three decades.
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