Uncommon Therapy: The Psychiatric Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D. by Jay Haley

Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #38877 in Books
Published on: 1993-04
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
313 pages
Customer Reviews

Milton Erickson, Where are you now that I need you?
Extremely interesting portrait of Milton Erickson highlighted by many case studies that are fascinating. Very informative and enjoyable. For those of you who have an interest in psychology and are tired of reading variations of the same idea, give Dr. Erickson a shot. His methods at times are hilarious, yet effective. Entertaining, informative, enlightening. I hope he takes my insurance.

A Useful Book
Uncommon Therapy is a good survey of Dr. Milton Erickson's approach to therapy. The book consists of stories from Erickson's case files along with an explanation of the approach that Erickson took. This book is potentially useful for anyone who has problems and wishes to solve them as the techniques could be applied on a personal level. The people who should be interested in reading this book are the professionals who wish vary their and customize their approach to their patients.

My interest in the book was to find out more about Erickson and his therapeutic techniques that I could apply in my own life. It succeeded in satisfying both my aims. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book.

Early Roots Of Cognitive Therapy Still Relevant
Uncommon Therapy is an introduction to the therapy work of famed Medical Hypnotist Milton Erickson. It is more readable than many of Erickson's writings. Haley also adds some of his perspective to the art of therapy.
This book and others like it were written before Cognitive Behavioral Therapy became the dominant therapy in Psychology. They can still contribute insights to therapists seeking a broad background for practicing psychotherapy.
Graduate students and therapists in research settings should definitely read this book to help keep alive a more comprehensive approach to cognitive therapy than is promoted by formulaic cognitive and behavioral therapies that were largely forced on Clinicians by insurance companies pushing science-based, effective therapies; a good outcome for most consumers seeking psychotherapy in most settings.
Haley, using a family life cycle approach (e.g. courtship, weaning parents from children, the pain of old age) uses Erickson's case studies to illustrate Erickson's approach. Nowadays it comes across as proof by anecdote. Experienced therapist do however, have examples of cases that were resolved quickly when the client restructured his/her view,
Erickson's approach contibutes best by showing how a therapist can creatively propose an alternative constuction of a problem posed by the client and by inventing strategies for change. Erickson's own writings have many more detailed examples of cases.