The Collected Papers of Milton H. Erickson on Hypnosis

Abstract

Samuel Gaunitz

E. L. Rossi (Ed.): New York: Irvington Publishers, Inc. 1980, vol I-IV, 1908 pp.     

Reaction to Gunnison's Article on the Similarities Between Erickson and Rogers

Rogers and Erickson had no direct contact with each other's work. Whatever similarities exist developed independently. Rogers stresses his reliance on an intuitive relationship to the client's inner core and discusses the basis for this intuition. He also relies on a fundamental directional tendency which exists in every person. He trusts the client to choose his or her own goals. In these respects he sees some similarities between himself and Erickson, confirming Gunnison's points and going beyond them.     

Erickson and Rogers: The Differences Do Make a Difference

The author extends an earlier discussion by Gunnison (1985) of the similarities between Milton Erickson and Carl Rogers by citing several important differences in their respective counseling approaches. The implications of these differences to the continuing evolution of counseling theory and practice are briefly discussed.     

Teaching Elder: Erik H. Erickson

A renowned child psychoanalyst, Erik H. Erikson (1902–1994) is perhaps best known for his work on developmental theory (Childhood and Society, 1950) and his studies of the lives of Martin Luther (Young Man Luther, 1958) and Gandhi (Gandhi's Truth, 1969). Twice he found himself intensely engaged in the role of teacher – once as a young artist who had been called by a friend to help in the progressive school formed for the children of Sigmund and Anna Freud's patients in Vienna (1927–1932), and years later (1960–1970) as a tenured professor at Harvard. This essay describes Erickson's teaching experience in both settings and suggests some of the reasons he was honored by Harvard in 1980 as a “humane teacher.” Implications from Erikson's educational practice are drawn that demonstrate how Erikson moved beyond the rote memorization and authoritarian educational practice he experienced as a youth. The essay suggests Erikson's teaching stance at Harvard fits the author's theological tradition's use of the term “teaching elder.”     

Carl Rogers: Body‐Centered Counselor

The fundamental construct of C. R. Rogers's (1961, 1980a) person‐centered approach is organismic experiencing. This thesis is examined in the context of person‐centered theories of personality and counseling. Similarities between Rogers's thinking and that of W. Reich (1942, 1945), pioneer in body‐oriented psychotherapy, are identified. Rogers's activities as counselor are shown to be body‐centered.     

Denigrating Carl Rogers: William Coulson's Last Crusade

This article reviews William Coulson's assertions that Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow, and he initiated the humanistic education field, that Rogers repudiated his philosophy late in life, and that they owe the nation's parents an apology. The author argues that these charges are groundless and self-serving and provides examples and quotations from Rogers's later writings to show how Rogers remained constant to his basic person-centered beliefs until his death.     

Encountering Carl Rogers: His Views on Facilitating Groups

Carl Rogers's views on facilitating groups are presented as expressed in a telephone dialogue seminar with graduate students in the Counselor Education Division at North Texas State University.     

Elton Mayo and Carl Rogers: A Tale of Two Techniques

This article examines the simultaneous appearance of nonauthoritarian interviewing and nondirective counseling, two highly similar methods introduced by two different people, Elton Mayo and Carl Rogers. The similarities and differences between the methods and their developers are evaluated against the historical context in which they appear.     

Comment — Carl Rogers and postmodernism: continuing the conversation

This paper continues the conversation about the relationship between Carl Rogers and postmodernism initiated by Harlene Anderson and taken up by Maryhelen Snyder. The view adopted here is that postmodernism is undertheorized and there is a need to unravel definitions and concepts which arise from a conflation of social constructionism, post–structuralism and Rogers' existential humanism. It is argued that person–centred principles lie at he heart of therapy and should neither be neglected nor taken for granted.