In Ericksonian hypnotherapy there is pre-supposition that the client has a conscious and an unconscious mind. Of course this is only a model, but nevertheless a useful working model for therapy. This model has evolved from the early Freudian concept of the unconscious being a seething pit of repressed memories and experiences revolving around sexual development, to the more humanistic perception of the unconscious mind being a reservoir of resources and skills to be nurtured and treasured. Ericksonian hypnotherapy sees the unconscious as having several functions. One of the functions being the role of security guard. In this role the unconscious holds back some experiences and memories to protect the client from pain. While these experiences and memories may be negative, they are not necessarily caused by early sexual development as in the Freudian model. Another of the unconscious mind’s functions is to store and sort positive experiences and memories. It is from this “store” that the therapist takes his ideas for therapeutic interventions. A third function of the unconscious is to oversee the body’s autonomous processes and healing mechanisms. Ericksonian therapists prefer talking to the unconscious mind rather than the conscious mind because we believe that it is more

The unconscious mind is not only easily influenced by suggestion, be it direct or indirect, it is also easily influenced by the merest implication. Trainee hypnotherapists need to be mindful of every word and gesture when working therapeutically with trance. A simple pause in the wrong place can reverse the meaning of a suggestion. So integrity, respect for the client, and self-awareness are essential. Likewise the unconscious mind can only make decisions on the raw materials that it has available to it. Given no guidelines, structure or suggestions on where to find these materials it will pick whatever seems relevant and appropriate to the context. So just “trusting the unconscious” doesn’t guarantee that it necessarily chooses what is beneficial or therapeutic for the client. Trainee therapists need to learn about the power of context and how that “frames” the therapy. If one is working in a very open-ended way it can be wonderful, I do work that way myself, but I’m always mindful of where I may be leading the unconscious mind indirectly when trusting it to find its own resources or resolutions to problems. Trusting the unconscious is dangerous if the therapist has not been trained to be mindful of

A patient needs to trust you before sharing personal information. One way to develop this trust indirectly is for you to share personal experiences in an informal and friendly way, this builds rapport. It is unwise to share information about any personal problems that you may have as this will reduce your patient’s confidence in you. However, you can share personal strategies or resources used to overcome a problem. Towards the end of the information gathering stage it is always useful to go over the important points raised. You can build rapport by re-capping on the information shared and reflecting back your own understanding of your patient’s problem. Some patients will want to know why they have their problem. Your job is to help your patient overcome their problem and this is often done without really knowing why the problem started. If your patient insists on knowing “why”, then first consider whether there is any possibility of identifying the real cause, but this is not always possible or necessary. Your patient should be reassured that overcoming the problem is the primary concern and that identifying the reason why they have it can be addressed later. After summarising, identify outcomes that your patient wants from therapy. Sometimes your patient’s outcomes are not the same as your own. You can