Emcc Conf 2009 Ppt Monika Verhulst

EMCC 16TH ANNUAL COACHING & MENTORING CONFERENCE

Ericksonian Hypnosis - A Constructivist Approach in the Coaching Practice

Monika Verhulst

Atalante – Coaching Professionals


Agenda

Hypnosis – A brief history Stage Hypnosis… … vs. Physiological data Constructivism: the thinkers The Ericksonian approach in the coaching practice Hands on !

For each slide see comments in note page

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Hypnosis – a brief history

An ancestral practice

Ancient Egypt (3000 BC) : first writings Shamanism The Kings thaumaturges (from 11th C.) Henry IV (1553-1610) “heals”

tuberculosis Paracelsus (1493-1541) first uses

magnets with patients

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Hypnosis – A brief history

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Mesmer and the “animal magnetism” (1779)



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James Braid and the invention of “Hypnosis” (1841)

Hypnos – the Greek God of Sleep

Hypnosis is a state of “nervous sleep”.



Hippolyte Bernheim : “Psychotherapy ” is “healing by means of words” (1882)The hypnotic state is the result of a psychological stimulus (as opposed toa physiological stimulus). Suggestionsused in the hypnoticstate have thera-peutic value

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Charcot, Breuer, Freud and the treatment of Hysteria (1889)

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The hypnotic state is a pathological phenomenon,closely linked to hysteria



Milton H. Erickson (1901-1980): psychotherapy by a new view on Hypnosis

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“We do not judge that this or that thing is necessarily disturbing. We can only wonder what use can be made of it.” Milton H. Erickson (1985).


Stage Hypnosis…

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Stage hypnosis: hands on !

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PUSH THE WALL !


… vs. Physiological data

Physiological effects of Hypnosis : Brain waves

Beta waves : state of wake

Alpha waves : relaxation, hypnosis,First phase of sleep

Theta waves : deep sleep

Delta waves : state of coma

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The two hemispheres of the human brain LH “auditive-temporal” brain, linear and abstract thinking, analysis of

concepts, sequential thinking, implementation of rational decisions RH “visual-spatial” brain, global, parallel and practical thinking,

creativity, representation of self, linguistic capacity is limited, intuition

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Hypnosis is based on the activation of the brain’sright hemisphere


… vs physiological data: hands on!

The Dilemma

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The effect of Hypnosis on different individuals

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“ And what if Hypnosis has no effect on me?”


Constructivism: the thinkers

Ancient Greeks : Heraclitus: “Everything

flows, nothing stands still.” (6th C. BC)

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Protagoras “Man is the measure of all things.” (5th C. BC)



Copernicus (1473-1543): Instrumentalism and Knowledge“There is no need for these hypotheses to be true, or even to be at all like the truth; rather, one thing is sufficient for them – that they should yield calculations which agree with the observations.”

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Giambattista Vico (1668 -1744)

“The true itself is fact” “The criterion and rule of the true is to have made it. Accordingly, our clear and distinct idea of the mind cannot be a criterion of the mind itself, still less of other truths. For while the mind perceives itself, it does not make itself.”



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George Berkeley (1685-1753): the Empirics and “Idealism”

“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a

sound ? ”

“To be is to be perceived or to perceive.”



Constructivism and the theory of knowledge

Ernst von Glasersfeld (1917): “knowledge” merely is the result of a process during which an individual organises and structures the information gathered by means of his or her perception.

“Reality as such reveals itself to us only at the moment where our constructions fail.”

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Cybernetics of the 2nd order, radical constructivism

Humberto Maturana: (1928) “if the organization of a thing changes, the thing changes”(Autopoiesis)

Francisco Varela (1946- 2001) The embodied mind

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Constructivism: the thinker (…and the application) Hands on!

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Constructivism: the thinkers (…and the application)

Palo Alto, MRI (1959) Gregory Bateson, Jay Haley, John Weakland, Paul Watzlawick Don Jackson early studies of Milton Erickson’s methods

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The Ericksonian approach in the coaching practice

Ericksonian Hypnosis : a constructivist approach

Erickson : “whatever the behavior offered by the subjects [sic] it should be accepted and utilized to develop further responsive behavior." (Milton H. Erickson, 1952)

The essence of the therapeutic strategy is to make as many different suggestions as possible, so that at least one may be accepted by the client’s unconscious mind. (if you are unable to create responsive behaviour, do something else. Anything else!)

François Roustang: “hypnosis is a state of being intensively awake”.Hypnosis draws on all the possibilities of human existence, and in particular on the feelings enacted in our bodies.

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Basic assumptions : The problem is the client’s best solution so far The client’s conscious mind may be an obstacle to the creation of

new, more helpful realities and solutions The coach therefore talks to the client’s conscious as well as the

unconscious mind The client’s unconscious mind has positive intentions The client’s unconscious mind is creative The client’s unconscious mind has its own resources to create new

solutions To access the unconscious mind, the coach uses different tools (trance

is not a condition)

The coach’s task is to help the client’s unconscious mind to generate new and creative solutions and realities

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Basic mechanisms of Ericksonian Hypnosis in the coaching practice

Unspecific language Confusion Suggestions Metaphors, anecdotes Reframing Ordeals Paradoxes Double binds Prescription of Symptoms

Multilevel communication(implying mind & body)

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Hands on !

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The Ericksonian approach in the coaching practice Unspecific language :

Erickson: “your unconscious mind can think of many different new ways”

Coach: “once you have resolved the problem, figure out, for a little while, how it will be.”

No specification of problem, no specification of solution, nonverbal response from client might be sufficient.

Confusion : Erickson: starts his therapy session without looking at the patient. He

gives a confused anecdote from a man who came to him for treatment. Erickson ends the anecdote with a sudden glance at the patient while saying “he accepted the help I offered” (multilevel confusion, implying body and mind)

Coach: “how is change not changing you into a un-changed person?”

“saturate” the analytical left hemisphere of the brain in order to let the right hemisphere work and create new ideas (N.B. the unconscious mind does not understand negative statements)

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Suggestions : Direct/indirect suggestions Erickson while inducing a catalepsy: “and your thoughts…, as light as

the air…, lift up…, lift up…, to new knowledge.” (Double communication) Coach to a HR manager who thinks that the coaching is on a bad track:

“I really appreciate your confidence. It is essential for the success of this coaching. Thank you very much.”

“any answer which we promote, as it becomes partly true through our promoting of it, becomes partly irreversible” (Gregory Bateson, 1987).

Metaphors, anecdotes: Erickson: “My friend Jo always says: look at the world as if you were on

the top of a mountain.” (Double communication) Coach to a client who likes to read books: “and now, how would you like

to start the new chapter you are going to live! ”

metaphors structure reality at a preconceptual, a preverbal and an unconscious level (Bateson, 1991)

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Reframing: Virginia Satyr to a patient with a floor cleaning obsession : “Each time you

see the carpet with those shoe prints, you know that your beloved ones are with you.”

Coach: … your reframes??

Reframing at the level of the context / the values

Ordeals : Erickson : “Go and climb up Sqwah Peak, and think of your problem all the way up.

Then come down again and think how it has changed.” (multilevel communication)

Once pacing and leading is secured, prescription of special assignments to the clients, even though they might not understand them on a conscious level.

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Paradoxes: Erickson as a boy: helps his father to bring a calf into the stable. Coach at the end of a coaching “This is not the end of the coaching.”

(multilevel communication)

Creating an illogical situation, but without imposing a bind.

Double binds : Coach, to a client who is worried about the approaching end of the coaching, and whose situation is getting suddenly worse after initial improvement : “Once you are better off again, we can agree on two further sessions.”

the client’s only way out of the situation is to get better. The double bind can only be solved at a higher level through a Change 2.

Symptom prescription : “How are you going to cope when you fail next time?” (multilevel communication)

Take off pressure to succeed each time, and focus on the way to get back on the track

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Hands on !

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Bibliography

Bateson, G. (1987), Innocence & Experience, New York, B&N Farelly, F., Brandsma, J. (1989 rev.), Provocative Therapy, New York, Meta Publications Godin, J. (1992), La nouvelle hypnose – vocabulaire, principes et méthode, Paris,

Albin Michel Gumin, H. (ed. 1992), Einführung in den Konstruktivismus, Zürich (CH), Piper, vol. 5 Rossi, E. (ed. 1980), Milton H. Erickson, The Collected Papers of Milton H.

Ericson on Hypnosis, Vol. I – IV, New York, Irvington Publ. Roustang, F. (1994), Qu’est-ce que l’hypnose ?, Paris, Ed. Minuit Roustang, F. (1990), Influence, Paris, Ed. Minuit Selvini Palazzoli, M. et al. (1978), Paradox and Couterparadox – A New Model in the

Therapy of the Family in Schizophrenic Transaction, New York, Jason Aronson Watzlawick, P. Weakland, J. (1977), The interactional view, New York, Norton Watzlawick, P. (ed. 1981), L’invention de la réalité – Contributions au constructivisme,

Paris, Ed. Seuil Watzlawick, P., Beavin, J., Jackson, D. (1962), Pragmatics of Human Communication,

New York, Norton Winkin, Y. (ed. 1981), La Nouvelle Communication, Paris, Ed. Seuil Zeig, J. (1980), A teaching seminar with Milton H. Erickson, New York, Routledge

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Emcc Conf 2009 Ppt Monika Verhulst

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