The confusion technique untangled: its theoretical rationale and preliminary classification.
This article examines the historical development of Milton H. Erickson's theoretical approach to hypnosis using confusion. Review of the literature suggests that the Confusion Technique, in principle, consists of a two-stage "confusion-restructuring" process. The article also attempts to categorize several examples of confusion suggestions by seven linguistic characteristics: (1) antonyms, (2) homonyms, (3) synonyms, (4) elaboration, (5) interruption, (6) echoing, and (7) uncommon words. The Confusion Technique is an important yet little studied strategy developed by Erickson. More work is urged to investigate its nature and properties.
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D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D003221:Confusion / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D006990:Hypnosis / Q000379:methods*; D013404:Suggestion