Toward a scientifically based understanding of Milton H. Erickson's strategies and tactics: Hypnosis, response sets and common factors in psychotherapy

This article updates and extends earlier efforts (e.g. Sherman and Lynn, 1990; Lynn and Sherman, 2000) to characterize Erickson's work on the basis of the scientific literature and Kirsch and Lynn's (see Kirsch and Lynn, 1998) response set theory. It identifies therapeutic mechanisms and learning processes inherent in Erickson's work that constitute 'common factors' potentially responsible for the effectiveness of diverse psychotherapeutic and hypnotherapeutic approaches. We argue that many of Erickson's creative techniques were effective in establishing a strong therapeutic alliance and engendering, fortifying and maintaining positive response sets while removing impediments to the automatic activation of positive response sets and altering or deautomatizing maladaptive response sets.