Lets get physical

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Milton Erickson (some of you may recognize him) had a habit of instructing
(demanding) clients perform some task (some called it ordeal) before
consenting to treat them. Such as climb Squaw Peak, a mountain near Phoenix.

I have yet to discover in any of my reading, how Milton framed these
requests.

I have heard that they were merely compliance tests and maybe also prepping
the client for success by physically engaging them in the process.

I have heard from other sources that Milton, as a master of metaphor, also
used 'physical metaphor ' and that those tasks (ordeals if you will), were
elaborate metaphors, delivered outside of Milton's physical presence, and
often were all the therapeutic intervention the client needed.

Some of the stories of Milton's work seem to support that latter view.

Have any of you who actually practice, constructed 'physical' metaphors,
and if so how useful have you found them to be?

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[Poodle]

Bandler went to Phoenix to "study with" Milton and was TOLD to hike up Squaw Mountain. Richard replied to the effect: 'It's 120 degrees in the shade out there old man. How about I push your wheelchair outside and you can wheel yourself up to the peak.' I believe the subject matter was dropped at that time.

I would NEVER make something physical be the "ordeal" without express written permission from my client's physician. Most of us are not medical doctors, therefore, making money the ordeal makes much more sense IMHO.

Pood :)

[Terry]

To me, the word "Metaphor" means simplifying the explanation of a state or condition. to explain it without knowledge of detail....
Someone with a mental problem described as "depression" will say they feel tired, something which would also be true if they went for a long walk, so to suggest that they take a long walk, and at the end of that walk describe how they feel as compared with how they feel when "Mentally tired", would lead,suggest, and elicit information that might not otherwise be made available to the therapist, so YES I would use such if nescessary just as I would use any other means of getting in the back door to find important information I needed to help the client....
One of the finest therapies you can offer a person confined to a wheelchair, is to use the imagination to go for a long long walk, and observe as various muscles become tired and stop functioning after a time. Now I do need to say that it is possible after such an exercise that the wheelchair may become a useless decoration if I do it...:D
No, I am not joking completely. I have a prospective client who cannot walk because of damage to the ear, and the sense of balance, and not because of any damage to muscles. As she imagines walking, she will be using a "lost" sense of balance, which may return without any direct suggestion from me, and without such indirect suggestion would be scoffed at by the subconcious, since medical investigation negates such a return, and after all, doctors are an authority figure aren't they? Now of course that may not work, but certainly is a valid method of treatment for this particullar client, though perhaps not pertinent to the question of actually demanding a physical proof of belief. Got to say though, if Milt asked that of me, I would tell him where to go, and think much less of him, so it is my thought that such was never the intent....