The ABCs of Trance

Watch Erickson guide a student into deep trance using only memories of learning to write the alphabet — revealing how trance states are embedded in all learning. (Module 14)

Hand Levitation

Erickson's banter with a student becomes a subtle hypnotic induction (“Do you think you’re awake?”), then gently lifts one of her hands into an awkward posture, giving a series of relaxation suggestions. Soon her eyes close and the arm stays up, even if she tries to lower it. (Module 10)

Awakening From the Neck Up

 A mesmerizing demonstration of hypnotic techniques, including dissociation and hand levitation, where a subject is asleep from the neck down but alert above — offering profound insight into hypnotic phenomena and it’s use in controlling pain. A 8 min clip of this demonstration is on the front page.  (Module 17)

Inducing Group Trance

After a remark that throws the room a bit off, Erickson casually invites the class to “Close your eyes … Now you know why you’ve been sitting there yesterday and today … ” and draws them into a rapid group-trance demonstration before discussing how easily and naturally focused attention can be induced. (Module 4.)

The George Stories

A high achieving perfectionist doctor with compulsive issues rising from childhood shame wants to stop wetting his pants. He is given a bit of ordeal therapy involving salt pills, and gallons of lemonade. The remarkable results are only the beginning of his healing journey. (Module 8)

 Going Into Orbit

Erickson joins a psychotic sailor’s delusion — then gently leads him back to Earth. A radical, step-by-step strategy for dealing with fixed delusional beliefs, large or small, without confrontation. (Module 13)

 The Case of “Big Louise”

To reform a violent woman who attacked police and smashed hospital wards, Erickson staged a theatrical mirror of her own behavior. She transformed and eventually became head of the hospital laundry. (Module 9)

 Prescribing the Symptom

An OCD wife who re-checks burners 30 times is given the task to now time-stamp five-lever tests every hour, all week. The burden kills the compulsion. (Module 18)

 “Joe, I Want You to Have a Bad Dream”

Rather than fighting hallucinations, Erickson prescribes nightmares — using them to reveal hidden family trauma. A powerful example of permissive, indirect healing. (Module 13)

The Homeliest Bucket
of Lard

To help a suicidal young woman, Erickson starts by naming what no one else would: the truth about her appearance. His honesty becomes the foundation of her transformation. (Module 16)

Trusting Your Unconscious

Faced with an arrogant genius, Erickson simply lets his own unconscious do the therapy — entering trance himself during sessions. The patient is humbled and healed, not by Erickson’s cleverness, but by unconscious rapport. (Module 4)

Action as Therapy

The woman who always started things and never finished them finds healing not in talking, but in completing — first an Afghan, then dresses with her daughters. Therapy ends with a new pattern of doing, not analyzing. (Module 3)

You Already Know

Erickson often told patients they already had what they needed — they just didn’t know they knew. Over and over, he proves that healing is rediscovery, not repair. (Module 13)

Hypnosis Is Not a Cure

 Instead, it’s a “favorable climate for learning.” Through layered stories and gentle confusion, Erickson shows how to use trance not to control the mind, but to free it. (Module 17)