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The Milton Model

The document describes the "Milton Model" hypnosis technique developed by Milton Erickson. It involves using vague, indirect language that allows the listener to unconsciously interpret and apply the suggestions in a personalized way. This facilitates a "Trans-Derivational Search" state where the mind searches memories to resolve unusual situations. Examples are provided of language patterns Erickson used to make suggestions without direct commands, allowing for change without resistance.

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Carloseduardo Santosamorim
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449 views8 pages

The Milton Model

The document describes the "Milton Model" hypnosis technique developed by Milton Erickson. It involves using vague, indirect language that allows the listener to unconsciously interpret and apply the suggestions in a personalized way. This facilitates a "Trans-Derivational Search" state where the mind searches memories to resolve unusual situations. Examples are provided of language patterns Erickson used to make suggestions without direct commands, allowing for change without resistance.

Uploaded by

Carloseduardo Santosamorim
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Milton Model

I remember a friend telling me about a hypnosis training he had attended.

The trainer was talking about his work with Milton Erickson, who is considered by
many to be the grandfather of hypnosis. He had the ability to look into your eyes and
communicate with a deep part of you, almost as though he was speaking directly with
your soul.

“There is a part of you that has been taking care of you, for many years. It is the part
of you that keeps your heart beating, that digests your food, that blinks your eyes, and
it knows much more about you than I ever will. And your unconscious knows exactly,
now that I am speaking to it and it can respond in the most appropriate way for you.”

And with that comment he closed his eyes and felt the most incredible deep sense of
being understood and acknowledged at a very deep level, and as that feeling welled
up and a tear formed in his eye, he realized that this experience would make changes
that ripple out into the future.

“Because I want that part of you to know, that I know, just how hard it has worked for
you, and I want to thank that part of you directly, because I know that for you to
change, your unconscious is going to help you out quite a bit.”

And after that, my friend said that an hour had passed by the time he had opened his
eyes again, and although he didn’t’ remember much of what was said, he had the
distinct feeling that allowed him to know, for the first time in a long time, that things
will be changing for the better.

He said to me, “The feeling is like hope, yet it goes beyond that. It is a kind of deep,
inner knowing, and even if you don’t understand it fully at the time, that other-than-
conscious part of you knows how and when it is being communicated with and can
powerfully assist you. Now I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty good to me,
doesn’t it?”

I could tell that my friend had indeed learnt a lot and made some real progress at that
training, and was glad to have recommended it.

This is the Milton Model' which uses artfully vague language patterns.

The language employed allows the listener to insert his/her own meaning as it relates
to the situation they're facing, in order to give the communication concrete meaning.

Often a person will do a Trans-Derivational Search (TDS) so they can give a meaning
to this artfully vague language. TDS is a specialised trance state that the mind enters
in order to search through its memories for a certain experience or set of experiences
or to resolve an unusual situation.
The ease with which TDS is initiated and deepened in order to affect a person's
internal representations, makes the Milton model a very sophisticated method for
changework, influence or persuasion.

The following model can be used equally for "waking" (uptime) and "sleeping"
(downtime) hypnotic trances:

Cause - Effect "because..."; "makes..."; "if.. then" "as... then" The implication or
direct statement that one thing caused another: "because you are listening carefully,
you can enjoy ever deepening comfort and relaxation"

Complex Equivalence "that means..." Two things, or their meaning, are equated as
being synonymous: "you're relaxing now, that means that you are going deeper and
deeper into trance"

Mind Reading "I know that you're..." Claiming to know what a person is thinking,
feeling or experiencing without any external evidence: "I know that you're learning
things now"

Lost Performative "its a good thing..." Value judgements which delete the person
whose judgement is being given: "and it's a good thing you're learning things now'

Modal Operators of Necessity/Possibility "can..."; "will..."; "may..."; "must...';


"have to..."; "should..." Words that imply what is necessary/possible: "and you can
allow that to happen"

Universal Quantifiers (Generalisations) "all..."; "always..."; "never..." "every...";


"none..." An absolute generalisation: "you have all the knowledge you need'

Nominalisations - "combinations"; "learnings...'; "understandings..." A process (i.e. a


verb) that has been turned into an event or a thing (i.e. a noun). This covers any noun
that does not name a physical object: "all the /earnings and understandings you have
about your ability to comfortably go deeper"

Unspecified Verbs - A process that has been incompletely described: "you can learn"

Lack of Referential Index - "one can..." A phrase that has deleted the subject of a
verb: "one can learn"

Comparative Deletions - "more ... ", "less..."; "better.." A phrase offering a


comparison but omitting the object being compared: "learn even more"

Tag Questions - "...can't you"; "...haven't you"; "... isn't it" A question added to the
end of a phrase: "and you've learned many things in the past, haven't you?"

Pacing Current Experience - The process feeding back to the listener truisms about
his/her on-going sensory experience: "as you sit there, listening to the sound of my
voice..."
Conversational Postulate - A question that grammatically demands a "yes/no"
response but is requesting an action: "Could you look up for a minute?"

Double Binds A statement or question offering an illusion of choice: "Do you want
to go into a deep trance now, or would you prefer to go into the right level of trance in
your own time?"

Extended Quotes (Stacking Realities) - Chaining a sequence of "contexts" tends to


overload the conscious mind so the statement can reach the unconscious. It also
distances the speaker form the quote: "My sister's friend told her that her brother had
been to see a show in which the presenter mentioned that Richard Branson had told
him..."

Presuppositions - The linguistic equivalent of making assumptions "You are


discovering many new things"

Ambiguities • Phonological - homonyms create mild confusion and hence trance:


"here (hear) now, what's going on?"

"duck" can be used as a verb or a noun


"sail/sale, bite/bight" etc

"The peasants are revolting"

• Punctuations! - a run on sentence: "use your head... right into trance novel'
Where the last word of one sentence is the same as the first word of the next.

• Syntactic - the syntax is not immediately clear: "Hypnotising hypnotists can be


tricky"

"They are walking dogs"

• Scope - the scope of the context is unclear: "Speaking to you as someone fascinated
by hypnosis..." "I want you to draw a picture of yourself in the nude" "Speaking to
you as a child"

What follows is a collection of language patterns used by Dr. Milton Erickson.


With each of these examples a person can make suggestions with out giving a
commanding order.

For example if the command were to "Consider why you want to do this." If said as a
direct command it would create a great deal of resistance, but you could say "I'm not
entirely sure how well you can consider why you want to do this." Thus working the
command into a sentence which does not offer the listener a chance to reject it.

- A friend once NEVER told me to...


- After you come to...
- After you've...
- And the more you (X) the more you (Y)
- As you...
- ...by just noticing.
- ...in a way that meets your needs.
- A whole new way of thinking just opened up...
- All that really matters...
- All that's really important...
- Allowing yourself to just naturally..
- Almost as if/as though/like...
- And (Name), you know better that anyone that....
- And as that occurs, you really can't help but notice...
- And creating change like this...
- And do you notice the beginning of...?
- And I think you're going to enjoy being surprised that...
- And I want you to notice something that's happening to you.
- And I wonder if you'll be curious, as you notice...
- And I wonder if you'll be curious about the fact that you...
- And I'd like to have you discover...
- And if you wish...
- And it appears that already...
- And it's very rewarding to know that...
- And like magic...
- And maybe you'll enjoy noticing...
- And so it has been done...
- And sooner of later, I don't know just when....
- And that growing realization...
- And that's just fine/all right/okay...
- And the awareness that you've gained today...
- And the genuine desire to really CHANGE once and for all...
- And the ways in which you'll surprisingly be using these learnings...
- And then, now you'll discover...
- And while you continue...
- And while you wonder that, I want you to discover that...
- And would you be willing to experience... ?
- And you begin to wonder when...
- And you can be pleased...
- And you can really use it...
- And you can wonder what...
- And you can wonder...
- And you will be surprised at....
- And your unconscious mind can enable you to...
- And, in an interesting way, you'll discover...
- Another part of you can take care of you comfort...
- As that suggestion finds it's mark...
- At first..., but later...
- At times like this, some people enjoy...
- Before you (name outcome) you can always simply (another or related
- outcome)...
- Can you notice...?
- Continue by letting your unconscious...
- During this relaxing yet profound process...
- Enable a particular resource to surface...
- Even though you THINK it would've been hard...
- Find that these changes positively in your future...
- Give yourself the opportunity to see if....
- Have you begun to notice that yet?
- I don't' know if you're aware of these changes, and it doesn't really matter.
- I want to remind you of something that you probably already know, which is...
- I want you to enjoy this experience.
- I wonder if you'd like to enjoy...
- I wonder if you'll be interested, in learning how, to...
- I wonder if you'll be pleased to notice...
- I wonder if you'll be reminded...
- I wonder if you'll be surprised to discover that...
- I wonder if you'll decide to. ..or...
- I wonder if you'll enjoy ho naturally, how easily...
- I wonder if you've ever noticed...
- I would like you to appreciate the fact that...
- I would like you to discover something...
- I'd like you to begin allowing...
- I'd like you to let yourself become more and more aware of....
- In all probability....
- If you could...
- It is easy isn't it...
- It may be that you'll enjoy...
- It may be that you're already aware of...
- It's so nice to know...
- It's going to be a pleasure to ...
- It's so easy, wasn't it?
- It's very positive and comforting to know....
- Just using the natural processes of your mind...
- Keep changing in your life just like this...
- Kind of like...
- Maybe it will surprise you to notice that...
- Now I'd like you to have a new experience.
- Now of course I don't know for sure what you're experiencing, but perhaps
- you're...
- Obviously, naturally, convincingly, now...
- One of the first things you can become aware of is...
- One of the things I'd like you to discover is...
- Perhaps beginning to notice...
- Perhaps even taking a special kind of enjoyment (in your ability to)...
- Perhaps noticing...
- Perhaps sooner than you expect...
- Perhaps you wouldn't mind noticing...
- Remember to forget to remember...
- So just let it happen...
- So now's the time...
- So that it's almost as if...
- That ongoing commitment to change...
- The learnings that are taking place...
- The really important thing is just to be fully aware of...
- The stuff reality is made of...
- This makes sense like anything else in your life that you have totally
accepted...
- Very likely...
- What's important, is the ability of your mind to...
- When would NOW be a good time...
- While another pare of you really works to create this CHANGE NOW...
- While you go to the proper level...
- While YOUR UNCONSCIOUS continues to CREATE EVEN MORE
POSITIVE
- CHANGE like this.
- With you permission...
- Wondering whether you unconscious will carry out this change or your
conscious
- mind will...
- You already know how to...
- You don't need to be concerned if...
- You'll be fascinated and feel a strong compulsion to...
- You might be fascinated and feel a strong compulsion to...or to...
Extra Language Patterns Blueprint

Truisms about Sensations - "Most people experience one hand to be warmer than
the other." "Most people enjoy the warmth of a summer's day." "Many people feel
good, as they recognise certain facts about themselves."

Truisms utilising Time - "Sooner or later, your eyes will close." 'As soon as you're
ready you can go into trance now...."

Not Knowing, Not Doing - 'And there's no need to talk or move or make any effort."
"You don't even have to think about that now."

Open-ended Suggestions - "We all have potential we are unaware of, and we usually
don't know how it will be expressed." "He doesn't know what he is learning, but he is
learning. And it isn't right for me to tell him, 'You learn this or you learn that!' let him
learn whatever he wishes, in what ever order he wishes."

Covering all Possibilities of Responses - "Soon you will find yourself really
understanding this. Perhaps that will happen quickly, or perhaps it will take longer
and perhaps you will not think you understand anything at all. Let that be your sign
that you're learning at the deepest unconscious level!"

Questions to Facilitate New Response Possibilities (TDS) - Focus Attention "How


do you know when you are truly motivated?" Facilitatinq Internal Change "And what
will be the effective means of improving now? Will it be because you simply
remember to do all those little things you need to first because they make the big tasks
really easy?"

Compound Suggestions - Yes Set "The sun is shining, its warm, it is such a beautiful
day, let's go swimming." Associations "With each breath you take you can become
more aware of the natural rhythms of your body and feelings of comfort that
develop." Opposites "As the door closes feel yourself going even deeper into trance
now."

Negative - Tag Questions - "And you can, can you not?'; "You can't stop it, can you?"
"Why not let that happen?"

Negative - Until - "You don't have to sign the contract until you are ready." "You
won't do it until you've seen how easy it is."

Shock, Surprise - "Your sex life... (Pause) just what you need to know and
understand about it... (Pause) Secretly what you want... (Pause) is more important to
you."

Implication and Implied Directive - If you sit down then you will learn this more
easily." "If... then" statements
Binds and Double Binds - Approach - Avoidance "Would you like to sign the
contract now or later?" Conscious - unconscious "Your unconscious is the storehouse
of all your memories, skills and resources, so your unconscious mind knows more
than your conscious mind does, and if your unconscious mind knows more than your
conscious mind does, then you really know more than you think you do."

Multi-Level Communication (What is a Meta for?) - As the Unconscious mind


responds strongly to symbolism, very often an anecdote or seemingly unrelated story
can be used to get the point across. A Metaphor can be used directly and indirectly
and is a specialised form of language pattern all of its own. Briefly an easy metaphor
can be constructed using an isomorphic structure: that is elements in the metaphor
represent and mirror events being experienced by the person in the real world. An
example of a metaphor for getting the best out of people can be taken from Dr. Milton
Erickson's work: "One day an unknown horse strayed into the yard of the farm where
I lived as a child. No one knew where the horse came from, as it had no markings by
which it could be identified. There was no question of keeping the horse - it must
belong to someone. "My father decided to lead it home. He mounted the horse and led
it to the road and simply trusted the instinct of the horse to lead itself towards its
home. He only intervened when the horse left the road to eat grass or to walk into a
field. On these occasions my father would firmly guide it back to the road. In this way
the horse was soon returned to its owner. The owner was very surprised to see his
horse once more and asked my father, `how did you know the horse came from here
and belonged to us?' My father replied, `I didn't know, the horse knew! All I did was
to keep him on the road.'"

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