Milton H. Erickson (
1901 -
1980) was a psychiatrist regarded by many as the foremost practitioner of medical
hypnosis in his time.
He was founding president of the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis, as well as a fellow of several APAs: The
American Psychiatric Association, The
American Psychological Association, and The American Psychopathological Association.
He was noted for his often unconventional approach to psychotherapy, such as described in the book
Uncommon Therapy by Jay Haley; for his extensive use of therapeutic metaphor and story as well as hypnosis; and for coining the term
Brief Therapy for his approach of addressing therapeutic changes in relatively few sessions, often as few as a single session.
External links
- The Erickson Foundation is part of an international organization that carries on his work and promotes the Erickson approach to therapy. It has a biography of Erickson available here written by Haley.