A funny thing happened on Erickson's way to his License Hearing

Although I forget the source for this story perhaps someone else will and if so please provide it as this is a true story although my particular recall of it may not be accurate as to all that I shall relate here.  It goes like this and I trust that the irony of it all shall tickle your "funny" bone in a similiar fashion as it did for me.

At a time when it was not permitted to practice hypnosis in medicine by his country's Medical Association

Dr. Milton Erickson practiced it in a way that I suspect he hoped would not come to the attention of the Association.  I believe he had good reason to feel this way as I understand that his method was so indirect that for the main part he even avoided using the term hypnosis in referring to his methods.  In any event, the Association did learn of it and scheduled his appearance before their licensing to be heard on the charges against him and for any arguements or defense he might choose to proffer as to why they should not suspend or revoke his license.

Now as fortune would have it and as the day came to be for the hearing, it happened chance that the good doctor did find himself on the same plane going to the venue for the hearing as were the Chairman and another member of the Hearing Committee/Board.  And the three did engage in some amount of conversation during the trip they were sharing together and I shall leave you to your own imagination or further research as to whatever references or records might exist as to what transpired in those dialogues.  My sense of what transpired is that essentially he hypnotised both esteemed medical practitioners, as did he also the rest of the hearing comittee/board later.  As a result of whatever he did say, surfice it to say this grand master apparently managed to hypnotise a few individuals who supposedly had great resistance to hypnosis and the result of doing that was that his license was not pulled: and the following year, 1955, the Association approved hypnosis for use in medicine in England.  And shortly thereafter the US AMA also followed suit and made the same allowance.

The irony and paradox of all this almost brings me a belly laughter and should it occassion even a smile for some one of you then with that I am very pleased.