The African Violet Story — And Why Milton H. Erickson Never Manualised His Work
If you are familiar with this story – and with the tremendously rich therapeutic work of Milton H. Erickson – you might not want to read this at all, and that is completely fine.
But if you are not, let me introduce you to it.
Before we arrive at the story, we need to acknowledge something essential. In a time when everything rightly revolves around evidence-based practice, structure, and manualisation, it is worth understanding why Erickson never manualised his own method. His refusal was not an oversight – it was a direct expression of his philosophy of psychotherapy.
There were several interlocking reasons – theoretical, clinical, and deeply personal – that made manualisation incompatible with his approach.
1. Erickson believed therapy must be individualised, not standardised
Erickson held the belief, that every person’s history, personality, unconscious patterns, strengths and resistances were utterly unique.
A fixed manual would have violated his belief that the method must fit the person, not the other way around. He famously said: “Each person is a unique individual. Hence psychotherapy should be formulated to meet the uniqueness of the individual’s needs.” A manual, by definition, generalises. Erickson refused to generalise.
2. He relied on utilisation — responding to what the patient brought to each and every session
Erickson’s most defining feature was the utilisation approach: using whatever the patient presented — symptoms, language, beliefs, and spontaneous behaviours – as the vehicle for intervention.
Utilisation cannot be pre-written.
It requires improvisation, deep observation, flexibility and responsiveness in the moment.
You cannot manualise improvisation.
3. Erickson used strategic creativity as a therapeutic tool
His interventions were often metaphorical, paradoxical, linguistically complex, symbolically tailored, behaviourally precise.
Because they were so creative and idiosyncratic, any manual would have removed their power, made them formulaic, and encouraged imitation rather than authentic therapeutic artistry.
Erickson did not want people copying his techniques.
He wanted people to develop his flexibility.
4. He believed therapy was an art form, not a procedure
Erickson saw psychotherapy as closer to jazz improvisation, poetry, or dance, than to a technical protocol.
His work was deeply relational and experiential.
Manualising it would have flattened the nuance and artistry he considered essential.
5. His methods were tied to his own personality and life experience
Erickson’s therapeutic style grew from his extraordinary observational skills, his personal disabilities, his mastery of language, his unusual life experiences, his hypnotic ability, his deep intuition.
These were non-replicable. He knew no manual could help someone else “be Erickson.”
He did not want people imitating him poorly.
6. He believed manualisation encourages rigidity
Erickson saw rigid methods as the enemy of therapeutic progress.
He often criticised therapists who relied on formulas, rote scripts, standard techniques.
He wanted clinicians to stay awake, curious, responsive, and adaptable — not to follow instructions. Manualisation would have led to the very rigidity he spent his life dismantling.
7. His students later manualised parts of his work — and he disliked this
After Erickson’s death, others (e.g., Bandler & Grinder with NLP, Rossi with hypnosis) systematised elements of his approach.
Erickson himself repeatedly said that he doubted anyone truly understood what he did, and attempts to formalise it missed the essence.
He believed manualisation misunderstood the spirit of his work.
8. Erickson wanted to preserve the freedom of the therapist
He saw the therapeutic encounter as a living system.
Manualisation would have made it mechanical, predictable and limited.
Instead, he encouraged therapists to cultivate attentiveness, creativity, intuition, responsiveness and therapeutic presence. These cannot be put into a manual.
This brings us to one of Erickson’s well-known teaching tales – a story not about treating ‘depression’, but about facilitating healing in a depressed person in the most person-centered way possible. Because, in his view – and mine as well – human suffering can be described and categorised through predictable patterns — but healing it deeply, and in a truly person-centred way, is only possible through real person-centredness, not the spoken or superficial kind.
The African violet – A Teaching Tale about Milton H. Erickson
Back in the 1950s, Milton Erickson, the godfather of hypnotherapy, talked to one of his clients, a Detroit physician, who asked him for a favour.
His client knew that Erickson had a speaking gig scheduled in Milwaukee, the same city where the client’s beloved but severely depressed aunt lived.
His client was worried, so he asked Erickson if he would look her up and see if he could help her in some way.
Erickson agreed, so one day he knocked at the door of the lady.
The door opened.
There she was an old rich lady withering away.
The aunt was 53 years old and was living alone in a great big house with a great big yard.
She was unmarried, had no children and no friends, and with that, no one to share her immense wealth with.
Erickson found out that she was an active and proud Christian who was active in her local church community in the past. Still, these days, she barely attended any of the services anymore, and when she did, she did not talk to anybody there.
The only people in her life were her housekeeper and her maid who came each morning to do the housework, prepare the meals and wash the dishes.
After the introduction, Erickson demanded that he be given a tour of the house because he wanted to inspect the house to get a clearer picture of her.
She reluctantly agreed.
All of the blinds were closed.
The house was dark and deprived of colour.
It was gloomy, and you could see that the owner of the house was not happy.
The last room the old lady showed Dr Erickson could not be more different; it was full of light and filled with three gorgeous adult African violets, which were in full bloom.
There was even a fourth spot where the old lady had planted a leaf to grow into the fourth flower.
Standing in the flower room, Erickson felt compelled to talk:
“I can see what your problem is”, he began.
“What do you mean?” said the old woman obviously confused.
Erickson turned towards her and looked her deep in her eyes and said:
“You are a bad Christian”.
He hit a nerve, and the depressed woman, visibly insulted by the psychiatrist finally managed to speak up:
“What do you mean?”
“Here you are with all this money, time on your hands, and a green thumb. And, it’s all going to waste” Erickson explained.
“In accordance with your family’s wishes, I’m going to give you some prescriptions. I want those prescriptions carried out so I will give them to your housekeeper tomorrow morning.
The Prescription
Have your housekeeper buy an adult African violet of every hue that you do not own.
Buy fifty potting pots
Buy a supply of soil
But two hundred gift flowerpots
My orders:
Every time a baby is born to a member of the church, send the baby an African violet.
Every time a baby is christened, give them an African violet.
Every time a church member gets sick, give them an African violet.
Every time a girl announces her engagement, give them an African violet.
Every time a couple gets married, give them an African violet.
Every time there is a church bazaar, donate twelve to twenty of your African violets.
Each time one of those events happens, have your handyman drive you to the homes of the people who are affected by these happy or sad events.
Bring them a plant and your congratulations or condolences and comfort, whichever is appropriate to the situation”.
After that advice, Erickson left and never spoke to the older woman again.
20 years later, Erickson told this teaching tale to a group of his students; he pulled out an old yellow Milwaukee newspaper article with the headline:
“African Violet Queen of Milwaukee Dies… Mourned by Thousands”.
The formerly depressed and suicidal woman died fulfilled with countless friends of all ages mourning the passing of their special friend.
One of his students raised his hand and asked Erickson, “Why did you have her give out plants instead of treating her depression?”
After pausing for what felt like an eternity for Erickson’s curious students, he finally replied, “I looked around her house, and the only sign of life I saw were those African violets. I thought it would be easier to grow the African violets part of her life than to weed out the depression“.
If you ever find a moment of time and openness, I wholeheartedly recommend these two books. They open up a fascinating new world — nothing less than that.
My Voice Will Go With You: The Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson
Author: Sidney Rosen
Publisher: W. W. Norton
(A collection of Erickson’s teaching tales, illustrating how metaphor, story, and subtle intervention can reshape the mind).
Ericksonian Approaches: A Comprehensive Manual
Authors: Rubin Battino & Thomas L. South
Publisher: Brunner-Routledge
(A structured yet flexible guide inspired by Erickson’s principles, offering practical ways to integrate creativity and utilisation into clinical work)
Aliz Ovlachi - Clinical Psychologist & Author 