Classical Hypnotic Phenomenon 1

The papers of this volume are illustrations of Erickson’s early work on classical hypnotic phenomenon such as amnesia, age regression, automatic writing, and literalness as well as the mental mechanisms involved in Freudian “psychopathology and dual personality.” In this clinical research Erickson frequently was responding to the Zeitgeist that surrounded him in his professional appointments in the 1930s and 1940s. Many of his colleagues and coauthors such as Kubie, Hill, Houston, and Shakow at this period, were either psychoanalysts or strongly oriented towards Freudian concepts. While Erickson was able to use hypnosis to validate certain psychoanalytic conceptions of psychodynamics, he never identified himself as a partisan of any psychoanalytic school. Indeed, he often described what he felt was a premature limitation and rigidification of our understanding of human nature in the belief system of most “true believers” of any “school.” History has certainly proved him wise in adopting this attitude.