Milton H. Erickson, M.D. was one of the most influential post-war hypnotherapists. He wrote several books and journal articles on the subject. During the 1960s, Erickson was responsible for popularizing a new branch of hypnotherapy, which became known as Ericksonian hypnotherapy, eventually characterised by, amongst other things, the absence of a formal hypnotic inductions, and the use of indirect suggestion, “metaphor” (actually they were analogies, rather than “metaphors”), confusion techniques, and double binds. However, the lack of resemblance between Erickson’s methods and those of traditional hypnotism led some of his contemporaries, such as André Weitzenhoffer, to seriously question whether he was actually practicing “hypnosis” at all, and the status of his approach in relation to traditional hypnotism has remained in question.

Erickson had no hesitation in presenting any suggested effect as being “hypnosis”, whether or not the subject was in a hypnotic state. In fact, he was not hesitant in passing off behaviour that was dubiously hypnotic as being hypnotic.

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