ABSTRACT
Like therapy, a hypnotic induction is designed to stimulate some meaningful changes in a person’s experiential realities. In the Ericksonian approach, this involves utilizing the present realities of the client as the basis for all such changes. Thus, the Ericksonian practitioner sets out to identify the idiosyncratic values and patterns peculiar to the client system, then works to preserve these basic values while expanding the range and flexibility of their expression. This chapter overviews how this cooperation principle can be applied in the initial phase of preparing for therapeutic trance. The first section identifies questions that can be used in developing a model of how a client creates his or her world of experience, and suggests ways in which this gathered information can be utilized for a variety of hypnotherapeutic purposes, including attentional absorption, motivation enhancement, hypnotic induction, developing trance phenomena, and presenting therapeutic ideas. The second section explores how trance may be introduced into the therapeutic context.
