Rossi, E. L. (2007). The breakout heuristic: The neuroscience of mirror neurons, consciousness and human creativity.  Phoenix, AZ: The Milton Erickson Foundation Press.

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. » Read the rest of this entry «

The connection between hypnosis and creativity was extensively explored since the mid 1960’s, but it has largely fallen to the wayside since the beginning of the 1990s (Council, Bromley, Zabelina, & Waters, 2007).  A small body of research has been done in connection with the application of hypnosis to enhance creativity in subjects (Council, et al, 2007). This paper will present a brief overview of some of the research and theoretical work done by various authors over the past 50 years.  Two major definitions of hypnosis in relation to the creative act will be investigated, as well as the literature involving creativity enhancement.

Hypnosis and Creativity Research

Operational definitions of creativity vary between researchers (Shames & Bowers, 1992; Weisberg, 2006).  Essentially, four areas, as espoused by Rhodes, are emphasized: product, process, person and press (as cited in in Shames & Bowers).   Process is the internal, subjective experience of the creator, and is emphasized in hypnosis and creativity research (Shames & Bowers).  Why single out process only? Much of the theory of hypnosis and creativity has been an extension of the psychoanalytic theories of personality (Lynn & Sivec, 1992; Shames & Bowers).  The idea of regression is considered both an element of psychoanalytic theory and hypnosis (Bowers, 1967; Shames & Bowers). » Read the rest of this entry «