Stories for the Third Ear

Since earliest history teachers have enthralled their listeners with stories speaking to the third ear of the unconscious in the language of dream and metaphor. In this tradition, Milton Erickson used anecdotes as metaphor to effect what often seemed like magic cures.

While building upon this narrative tradition and Erickson's work, the stories presented here are not anecdotal. Rather. these imaginary fables take the reader into the world of lost children and green dragons, of princesses and gardeners, of secret rooms and elephants who can't cry. Such metaphorical tales evoke but do not literally reproduce the circumstances of the client's life. During hypnotic trance, clients seem to accept what these stories imply about their problems and consider new solutions within the framework of their own lives.

The book includes a step-by-step preparation for clients' receptivity to the stories, describing how rapport can be established and resistance lowered during the initial sessions of hypnotherapy. Then the stories are set within their original clinical context, so that we can comprehend their powerful impact on the course of therapy. These case histories illustrate storytelling with a wide range of clinical dysfunctions, including, among others, borderline personality disorder, bulimia, anorexia nervosa, substance abuse, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and phobia. In addition, the metaphorical stories transcend the therapeutic setting to give a poetic perspective on common human dilemmas. These stories will encourage therapists to trust their own creativity and intuition, to tell their own stories in their own way to the "third ear."