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Hope & Resiliency
Short, Erickson, Erickson Klein
 

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The second major point is that living requires effort. This is often overlooked in a culture of modern conveniences. In addition to being imperfect, people need to work hard in order to function well. Healthy muscles require constant exercise. Healthy brains require ongoing stimulation and effortful processing. Healthy families require constant attention and involvement. In most of his clinical work, Erickson rarely used words or phrases that implied a passive role for the patient. He found stimulating ways of encouraging patients to be actively engaged in their own healing processes. Having grown up on a farm, he fully appreciated the meaning of, "You must do your share of the work." He understood the feeling of satisfaction that comes after a hard day's toil.

Accordingly, Erickson put a great deal of time and energy into each clinical case. He kept meticulous notes, writing down everything that was said during a session. Then he planned and reviewed every word and action that might occur in following sessions and what impact it might have. In some cases, he drove to patients' houses in order to better understand the setting from which they came. What this meant was that Erickson often spent more time preparing for a session than in the sessions themselves. Erickson's opinion was that the results of each problem-solving endeavor will be proportional to the amount of effort invested in finding a solution (Hughes and Rothovius, 1996, p. 236).

In the case of the man with arthritis, Erickson put him to work first exercising his thumb. This eventually progressed into painting houses. Engaging the patient in productive effort, as small as it initially was, eventually produced a profound effect. Similarly, Erickson taught other patients with severely debilitating pain to take advantage of moments when they are feeling better in order to be productive (Erickson-Klein, 1990).

Regardless of the disability or state of health, a lack of effort results in lack of progress. Perhaps this is why many clinicians wisely avoid enabling passivity by adhering to the maxim, "Never work harder than the patient." As Erickson (1952/2001b) explains, "Whatever the part played by the hypnotist may be, the role of the subjects involve [sic] the greater amount of active functioning- functioning which derives from the capabilities, learnings, and experiential history of their total personalities" (p. 27). Because the


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