Description:

Milton Erickson often advised psychotherapy students to study anthropology so that therapy could be provided from the perspective of the cultural background of the client. In the video, Erickson uses his understanding of cultural orientation when working with an adolescent where the presenting problem is a speech defect. This is a highly informative case of using strategic and systemic processes that can be applied to other presenting problems.

The case involves a 16-year-old boy whose speech was difficult to comprehend, due to his stuttering. Erickson recognized that this was not a matter of a speech impediment whereby the services of a speech therapist would be required. Rather, the boy’s stutter reflected familial expectations and pressures placed upon him which were based in his Middle Eastern heritage, and then transposed onto his life in U.S. Erickson’s use of cultural understanding and utilization methods proved successful in symptom removal.