Re:Information-Gathering... when is it enough?

Great questions, here goes:

"I'm fairly certain that his "intake" was very flexible, ongoing throughout the therapy, different for and tailored to each client;"

-- this is correct.

"I am still wondering if you are aware of any consistent approaches, guidelines, or thinking about his information gathering."

-- the one consistency is that Erickson would try to put himself into the client's world (I guess you would say he did this phenomenologically) and garner a sense of how he would have gotten that way...that lead his inquiry. In addition, of course, is the psychosocial wisdom of what sorts of development and block to development might have contributed to the problem. This guided his assessment and intervention...and could keep changing as more subtle info was gained.

"When was enough information enough (besides "never")?"

-- at the end of therapy!

"What "intake" information would Erickson typically seek (symptoms, early history, family system, level of acculturation, current developmental stage, etc.)?"

-- Yes he would take all of this in one way or another...but ~not~ history info that was likely to have little bearing on the problem. For instance, there was no need to get a list of all the medical procedures someone had in childhood for the preseneting problem of nail biting (unless there was some clue that it was related to medical procedures). He was not guided by some theory that events like birth or potty training held the seed of understanding a client, so he didn't persue these when they didn't seem relevant.

"How would he seek it (face-to-face interview, introductory letter, phonecall, etc.)?"

-- any communication the client offered...usually face-to-face. But he showed us letters and would quiz us as to what we had sussed from the letter about the clients diagnosis, presenting problem, and so on.

"What would he do to garner this information (trance induction, behavioral interviewing, family members, etc.)?"

-- again, yes all the above. But usually he didn't ask to use more than he was given. If a couple came, he used them...if not, he usually did not call for the missing mate. Sometimes, however, he would - in cases that seemed to primarily revolve around the couple's perceptions or interactions.

Replies:

More Information..., by Jim Stephens, 11/13/03 Re:More Information..., by Steve Lankton, 11/19/03

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