Constructing Therapeutic Metaphors and Stories: Betty Alice Erickson, M.S., L.P.C., L.M.F.T
Constructing Therapeutic Metaphors and Stories: Betty Alice Erickson, M.S., L.P.C., L.M.F.T
Constructing Therapeutic Metaphors and Stories: Betty Alice Erickson, M.S., L.P.C., L.M.F.T
A therapeutic story:
1. Has a goal defined by the therapist
a. Clients may choose another goal
b. Clients may alter your goal to their own goal
2. Carries a message incorporating that goal
a. May be about you or others
b. Must be true
c. It can be something heard or read.
3. May have other material to distract
4. Is often fun
5. Teaches and instructs
6. Normalizes the situation
7. Has been used by people since the beginning of time
We all have a wealth of therapeutic stories available in our hearts, our minds and our
memories.
Betty Alice Erickson
Workshop FH 8Anecdotes & Metaphors: Easy, Effective and Engaging page 2
Language
Language can:
Connect with others
Communicate as well as form thoughts
Reinforce self-image
Create others images of us
Nurture our unconscious perceptions of our self,
o our past, present and our future
o of the world
These perceptions are often non-productive
They are almost always strongly defended
Language includes:
Word choices
Syntax
Sequencing in the sentence and the conversation
Tonal quality and emphasis
Facial expressions and body language
Communications we dont fully understand consciously
The unconscious:
Is wiser than the conscious
Understands the meanings as well as the words
Has each persons overall welfare as the goal
LANGUAGE
Language includes word choice, grammar, sequencing, voice tone and emphasis,
expressions, body languageand communications that we dont understand
consciously.
Each person has their own language. Value-loaded words are excused by the
conscious, but heard by the unconscious. .
We dont really know what the internal experiential learnings of any person are
sometimes they dont even know. Responses are built on those internal
experiences and definitions.
PRINCIPLES OF SUGGESTION
Many of these suggestions combine methods of creating directly indirect and or indirectly
direct ideas, suggestions, injunctions and commands for the subject. The more that can be
included in a particular frame, the more likely the hypnotist is to create the wanted
outcome for both. --- Indirect commands allow the hearer to do it his way, to
accept or reject, to feel his own sense of independence even as he pleases the hypnotist.
Tone of voice, the emphasis, the sequencing of the suggestion all give direct but
indirect messages.
o And now you can close your eyes any time you want, now.
o As you listen without even having to hear, you know youre understanding
o There are ways, different ways, ways youve not even thought of, so many
ways for you to feel really comfortable,
Confusing instructions are often enough to let the subject know he is choosing.
o You can remember to forget and forget to remember as you remember to
forget.
o As you sit here, understanding what you understand you dont understand,
and understanding what you do understand, and we both understand that
you understand far more than you consciously understand you understand.
Anecdotes and metaphors allow utilization of what the clients offer. It gives
options of:
Re-defining truthfully
o In more pleasant, and helpful ways
o In more global or more specific terms
o In different and more useful ways
o In whatever ways broadens your and the clients thinking
Utilization is:
o Using the patients world and languagehis terms, his meanings, his goals,
his wants
o Using the patients own experiential learning as the base for his productive
goals
The most effective communication with that person always meeting him in his
own world and using that world for his betterment.
Betty Alice Erickson
Workshop FH 8Anecdotes & Metaphors: Easy, Effective and Engaging Page 6
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