Adapted from © 2004 Dmitri Bilgere www.dbweb.org/guts
Milton Ericson was one of the true greats of hypnosis. Here are some of his basic principles of therapy (compiled by I don’t know who, and edited by me) along with a few of my own. These are useful beliefs to have when you are facilitating Process Work.
Armed with these beliefs, we are better, more flexible and compassionate facilitators:
• People operate out of their internal maps, and not out of sensory experience. Meet the participant at his or her model of the world. Don’t try to force your model on the participant; it won’t work.
• People make the best choice for themselves at any given moment. Respect that.
• Respect all messages from the participant.
• Teach choice; Never take attempt to take choice away.
• The resources the person needs lie within him or her.
• The person with the most flexibility will be the controlling element in the system. That person needs to be you, the facilitator.
• A person can’t not respond.
• If it’s confusing or too big, do it in pieces or scoops.
Here are a few other beliefs I’ve found useful to work from:
• Everything a person describes is part of him or her.
• The participant is always telling you the truth about his or her psychological space, though perhaps on a metaphoric level.
• Everything a participant says is useful—it’s just a matter of figuring out how to use it.
• “The intensity of your feeling is not the measure of reality.”—Richard Bandler. Just because you feel a person needs something doesn’t mean he or she does. Always ask: How do you know that is the right thing to do? Ask the participant.
• There are no stupid people, only people who believe they are stupid.