Commonalities Between Ericksonian Psychotherapy and Native American Healing

Citation for this article: Thomason, T. C. (2009). Commonalities between Ericksonian psychotherapy and Native Aemrican healing. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 31(4), 351-362. 2 There are many commonalities between the techniques used in Ericksonian psychotherapy and the healing rituals used in traditional Native American tribes. Milton H. Erickson had some Indian heritage and may have derived some of his therapeutic techniques from his study of tribal healing practices. A review of the literature shows that both approaches emphasize symbolic healing through the use of story telling, metaphors, ambiguous tasks, ordeals, and rituals. Both approaches also use direct and indirect hypnosis to relieve psychological distress. Implications for the practice of mental health counseling are described