My Voice Will Go with You: Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erikson

I read about Erickson as the pioneer of NLP, and his work in hypnosis and psychotherapy and was intrigued. This book is a great introduction to Erickson. His style of communication which involves the use of skilfully vague language patterns, rapport skills, and conversational hypnosis techniques, forms the basis of the Milton Model in NLP.

These stories are case studies, people with all sorts of problems, and very interesting solutions, and great stories.

This guy is a genius. From bedwetting to alcoholism, to repression, I was particularly inspired by a very short story about the Turmahara Indians, and how knowing and thinking about their special abilities can increase your energy levels. If it works for me, it might work for you.

There was one story about how he treated one woman who was sexually unresponsive, and through using his storytelling method caused her to have an orgasm in his office without touching her! Before reading this book I had not realised how easily influenced we can be by indirect suggestion, and how powerful his techniques are.

Essentially this is a book of anecdotes, with the author who is himself a psychiatrist giving an explanation of the methods and techniques being used by Erickson.

Apart from the therapeutic benefits, if you read this book you can really improve your communication and storytelling skills if you follow the principles used here, so I would recommend this book to aspiring story tellers.

Think of Erickson as someone who was a master of effecting life altering personal change by being able to communicate on a deeper level. Applied to yourself you can most likely imagine the effect you can have on yourself and others and how you can win friends and influence people by learning this skill.

For more case studies, check out Conversations with Milton H. Erickson Vol 1 by Jay Haley. You might find situations in there that relate to issues in your own life. In fact, use the look inside feature and check out the index. I found the chapter on public speaking and performance anxiety quite helpful. Also, check out the Patterns of... Erickson book by Richard Bandler, which gives a a complete analysis of Erickson's induction methods.

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An easy read; well written; an excellent resource for training therapists and health professionals and those that have been in the business for sometime.

This book is full of gems. Every story can be viewed on so many levels. You can discover skills and techniques and ideas from the stories while absorbing and enhancing your natural ability to share the right story with the right person at the right time in the right way to make a difference to so many people's lives.

I discovered this book after reading a book on how the 'Milton Model' can be used in NLP. Although perhaps primarily aimed at therapists, I found the stories very readable and along with the commentaries, perfect examples of the power of language. It seems to me that Milton Erikson had a phenomenal insight into human behaviour and much can be learned from these, 'teaching tales.'

Undoubtedly one of the best books I've read on Milton Erickson.

All the short stories are well written, vivid and always make a point. Aesop would have been proud.

It is not a technical manual, more like an analogy or an allegory.
I'd read it all over again easily.

Don't often leave reviews but this book is well worth every penny. As a hypnotherapy student there are mountains of (great) theory and scripts, but to have actual condensed case studies from the master is both inspirational and essential for understanding everything else written about him. Brilliantly presented in a way that can be read as a recreational text, and as you would expect each case seems to instantly commit itself to memory.