Taproots: Underlying Principles of Milton Erickson's Therapy and Hypnosis (A Norton professional book)

"This is a valuable and well-written starting point for coming to know something about what Milton Erickson seemed to be doing. Alongside 'Pheonix' by Gordon & Meyers-Anderson this gives a very nice overview of Erickson's style, range and depth of orientation and intervention. O'Hanlon writes from experience both as a student of the man himself and as someone who has years of practising as an Erickson-inspired therapist.

He illustrates the principles discussed with examples from Erickson's clinical work and also from his own practise, although I would have liked a whole lot more of this as I found some points were briefly covered whilst others given more time and space (hence only 4 stars)and reading about how Erickson worked with people is just a pleasure...

What O'Hanlon also does, which I found extremely helpful, is summarise the various other frameworks that have been developed by Erickson's students each seeking to understand the work of this remarkable man from within their own perspective. This provides for a fascinating study of how each found both similar and yet different meanings and methods in what he did. What this might mean is that there may well be as many ways of reading and developing an ericksonian practise as there are people interested in studying his work. I suspect this would have pleased the old man no end.

Highly recommended, especially since it is an (individual's) attempt to detail the structure and orientation of Erickson's psychotherapy, not just the patterns of his hypnotic technique... remember the nut is what is inside the shell...

Gareth Evans,
Erickson-inspired Therapist"
~ Written on 2006-10-04

"I have a number of books about Milton Erickson and his wizardry. Although Taproots is not the best, (Bandler & Grinder's Patterns 1 holds that prize), it gives a concise account of the wizard's principal, known process techniques & sets down things you won't find elsewhere in a condensed accesible manner. The only reason I gave it 4, rather than 5, crowns is that I think it's a bit expensive for what it is. Paperback version please?"
~ Written on 1999-08-15