On the Therapeutic Importance of (Sometimes) Being Shocking By Rubin Battino and Michael F. Hoyt
The Milton H. Erickson Foundation Newletter Case Report Vol. 41 #2
On the Therapeutic Importance of (Sometimes) Being Shocking
By Rubin Battino and Michael F. Hoyt
In 1973, Ernest Rossi published “Psychological Shocks and Creative Moments in Psychotherapy,” five cases in which Milton Erickson safely and successfully used “shock therapy” to facilitate creative moments.
Rubin Battino: I was so impressed by a case involving two very prudish university professors who had been unsuccessfully trying to have a child, that I dramatized it as “Procreative Shock Therapy” (Battino, 2008).
Here are two “shock” cases of our own, with commentary:
Case One: “You Are the Stupidest Smart Person I Know”
Battino: I had seen Jason, an out-of-town client, a number of times at long intervals. While he appeared to get what he came for, he would return with a similar complaint of self-sabotage and things going wrong. When he recently scheduled a session, he told me he was losing another job. It seemed tiresome, “more of the same.” I decided to meet via FaceTime and to use shock therapy to “jolt” him out of self-sabotaging. When we spoke I told him this:
Jason, I believe the only thing that will help you at this time, maybe the last time we get together, is shock therapy. You are undoubtedly the stupidest smart person I know, or maybe just the smartest stupid per- son. You are a real fuck-up, someone who knows how to convert opportunity after opportunity—things which you have earned—into shit. Just close your eyes now and listen. [He did so easily since he had gone into trance many times before with me.] Continue breathing eas- ily while I shock the shit out of you. Just listen.
It’s true, many things in your past—like relations with your father—influenced you to be a fuck-up. Here you are— still fucking up—when you have achieved many things. There may be only one thing left to help you get rid of all that shit that you believe controls your life.
You have one chance to stop sabotaging your life and career. It’s something very simple, and you know it: L-O-V-E. That’s it, LOVE. It’s the love you have for your wife and the love she has for you. Being a fuck-up is eroding your life. She depends on you, she loves you, and you love her. This is it. You have one chance now. Stupid Jason is going to stop being a fuck-up and eroding the love in his life.
And you know, Jason, I love you because I know that somewhere in you there is love and the ability to give up all of that screwed-up behavior. You can feel that, can you not? And, to remind yourself that love is there to guide you whenever a fuck-up situation arises ... I want you to hold two fingers together now, and that is your signal. Any time there is danger of fucking up, just think about Marilyn and love; Marilyn and love.
That’s it. Just L-O-V-E. You can take a deep breath or two now, blink your eyes, and come back to this room. Thank You. Send me an email some time. And that’s it for now. Love. I smiled, then disconnected from FaceTime. With Jason I used oxymoronic re- framing. I called him “stupidest smart” and “smartest stupid.”
I waited four months to follow up, then got in touch to ask how he was doing. He had a new job and was finishing up obtaining a license in a different field. He had also been seeing a local psychotherapist.
Case Two: “The Kick of Approval”
Michael Hoyt: I saw Richard intermittently. We met when his first marriage was ending; then later, when he was dating and when he met a woman and was going to get married. Much later, he came to tell me that they had married and were happy. But near the end of the meeting, he hesitated. He said he had met a very attractive woman through work who was flirting with him, and he was tempted. He looked at me, smiled, and said, “What do you think?” I looked back and said, “RICHARD, ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND!?” He looked startled, then laughed and said, “I didn’t think you’d give a thumb’s up.” We shook hands. That was our last session.
About three years later, I went to a movie. I got there early and went for a walk. I heard someone say, “Hey Michael!” It was Richard. We chatted. I said, “What- ever happened after our last session?” Richard smiled. He took out his cellphone and showed me some pictures of his wife and two young children. “I owe you a big thank you. I remembered what you said when I needed it. You gave me the kick of approval.”
I’m not saying that therapists should swear and curse at clients, but Richard and I knew each other well and I don’t think it would have had much impact had I said something anodyne.
Authors’ Comments:
As Dan Short (2020) said about shock therapy, “Erickson would strategically create experiences that communicated therapeutic ideas and that were delivered in an emotionally provocative manner. As observed by William James (1902), “Emotions that come in this sudden explosive way seldom leave things as they found them.”
“Shock” methods should be used carefully. Be smart and do no harm (Hoyt & Bobele, 2019). As Jay Haley (Crenshaw, 2004) said when asked how he knew to use a certain intervention at a certain time, “You wouldn’t use it on someone it wouldn’t work on!”
References:
Battino, R. (2008). That’s right, is it not?: a play about the life of Milton H. Erickson, M.D. The Milton H. Foundation Press.
Crenshaw, W. (2004). Treating families and children in the child protective system. Brunner-Routledge Publisher.
Hoyt, M.F, & Bobele, M. (Eds.) (2019). Creative therapy in challenging situations: unusual interventions to help clients. Routledge.
James, W. (1902). The varieties of religious experience. Harvard University Press. Rossi, E.L. (1973). Psychological shocks and creative moments in psychotherapy.
American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 16, 9-22.
Short, D. (2020). From William James to Milton Erickson: The Care of Human