Indirect techniques

<h3>Indirect techniques</h3>

<p>Where classical hypnosis is authoritative and direct and often encounters resistance in the subject, Erickson's approach is permissive, accommodating and indirect.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_H._Erickson#cite_note-10">[10]</a></sup> For example, where a classical hypnotist might say "You are going into a trance", an Ericksonian hypnotist would be more likely to say "you can <i>comfortably learn</i> how to go into a trance". In this way, he provides an opportunity for the subject to accept the suggestions they are most comfortable with, at their own pace, and with an awareness of the benefits. The subject knows they are not being hustled and takes full ownership of, and participates in, their transformation. Because the induction takes place during the course of a normal conversation, Ericksonian hypnosis is often known as Covert or Conversational Hypnosis.

Erickson maintained that it was not possible consciously to instruct the unconscious mind, and that authoritarian suggestions were likely to be met with resistance. The unconscious mind responds to openings, opportunities, metaphors, symbols, and contradictions. Effective hypnotic suggestion, then, should be "artfully vague", leaving space for the subject to fill in the gaps with their own unconscious understandings - even if they do not consciously grasp what is happening. The skilled hypnotherapist constructs these gaps of meaning in a way most suited to the individual subject - in a way which is most likely to produce the desired change.

For example, the authoritative "You will stop smoking" is likely to find less leverage on the unconscious level than "You can become a non-smoker". The first is a direct command, to be obeyed or ignored (and notice that it draws attention to the act of smoking); the second is an opening, an invitation to possible lasting change, without pressure, and is less likely to raise resistance.

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bandler" title="Richard Bandler">Richard Bandler</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Grinder" title="John Grinder">John Grinder</a> identified this kind of "artful vagueness" as a central characteristic of their '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Milton_Model&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Milton Model (page does not exist)">Milton Model</a>', a systematic attempt to codify Erickson's hypnotic language patterns.</p>