The work of Ernest Lawrence Rossi covers a great deal of terrain from four decades.  It includes the study of the function of dreams as a precursor to psychic growth, the compilation and editing of Milton Erickson’s collected works, and work on chronobiology and genetic functioning in psychotherapy and hypnosis.  Before now, much of it could only be obtained by gathering it from various and diverse sources.  With The Breakout Heuristic Rossi does a great service in collecting many of his most important articles and book chapters from the past forty years.

The book is divided into four sections: The Breakout Heuristic: Daily Updates of Our Brain; Dreams and the Creation of Consciousness; The Epiphanies of Therapeutic Hypnosis; and Art, Beauty, and Truth in Human Relationships.  Each is prefaced with an overview by Rossi.

His earliest papers show that a general theme has has weaved through the entire body of Rossi’s work; that humans are constantly changing themselves by interaction with their environment and through the process of self-reflection.

Throughout the introduction, Rossi mentions the human mirror neuron system and its role in the ability of people to experience elusive “eureka” or “satori” moments, or, as he terms it, the “breakout heuristic.”  As he contemplates his lengthy career, he makes an intuitive leap from his earliest ideas on the breakout heuristic from 1968 by linking them with one of his current papers that hypothesizes the use of mirror neurons in therapeutic hypnosis.  Rossi proposes that the mirror neuron system is a major step in a four-stage model of change he has elucidated in earlier work, and throughout this volume.

For those readers who are mainly interested in Rossi’s work with therapeutic hypnosis, the book certainly will not disappoint them.  His four-stage model of change is the culmination of that work.  The chapters in section three, “Epiphanies of Therapeutic Hypnosis,” elaborate on many of the themes contained within this model.  Chronobiology and states of consciousness, and its connection to human behavior and genetic expression is elaborated in several of the chapters.

It is often overlooked that Rossi is a Jungian analyst.  That he is able to bridge the gap between Analytic psychotherapy and Ericksonian approaches to hypnosis may come as a surprise to some readers.  Nonetheless, the book’s last section features an elaboration on his four-stage model of change as applied to Jungian analysis.  The chapter entitled, “Creativity and the Nature of the Numinosum: The Psychosocial Genomics of Jung’s Transcendent Function in Art, Science, Spirit & Psychotherapy,” is mesmerizing in its scope and thematic inclusiveness.  The section concludes with a dialog between Ernest Rossi, Katherine Rossi and Jungian psychologists, Marian and Ross Woodman entitled, “Blossoms in the Fire.”  Reading it allows one a simultaneous understanding and appreciation for the experience of the breakout heuristic among like-minded therapists. 

The Breakout Heuristic is a welcome volume to anyone interested in Rossi’s chronobiological and psychobiological hypotheses of psychotherapy.  It can be seen as a complimentary volume to his earlier works, The Psychobiology of Gene Expression (2002) and The Psychobiology of Mind-Body Healing (1993). Many of the referenced sources in those titles are available together here for the first time.  Likewise, the overview of his ideas will interest those who are adherents of the naturalistic, or Ericksonian form of hypnosis. Chronobiology in hypnotic states and its connection to early growth genes and neural growth can be seen as a natural extension of Rossi’s work with Milton Erickson.  First time readers will also find this book a fascinating introduction to Rossi’s ideas.

Mostly, The Breakout Heuristic is inspiring reading.  Though firmly grounded in a biological model of psychology, and at times difficult to comprehend, a joi de vivre runs through all of his writing.  Rossi conveys a sense of wonder at the creativity involved in simply being human.  For this alone, The Breakout Heuristic is a worthy edition to any clinician’s bookshelf.

References

Rossi, E. L. (1993). The psychobiology of mind-body healing: New concepts of therapeutic hypnosis. New York: W.W. Norton.

Rossi, E. L. (2002). The psychobiology of gene expression. New York:  W.W. Norton.

This review was originally published in The Australian Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, May 2008, 38 (1), 95-96.

Visit the Author’s Web Page at: http://chicagopsychology.org/shoye/