Workshop 15 Handouts - The Eleventh International Erickson ...

Central Role of EXPECTATION
• My expectation has a great deal to do with it [success rate].
... I have worked with people who have failed to learn with
other people. They say, “The difference is I know you
believe.” Kay Thompson
• I’m inclined to entertain the notion that the relative efficacy
of most psychotherapeutic methods depends almost
exclusively on how successful the therapist is able to make
the methods fit the clients’ expectation. Jerome Frank
• The effectiveness of placebos results from their ability to
mobilize clients’ expectancies for improvement.
Frank and Frank
Does Expectation = Placebo = Expectation?
Freud (1960) reported
that he cured Gustav
Mahler’s sexual
impotence during a
single long walk
in a park in Vienna!
9/6/2011
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