Emphasizing the positive

Emphasizing the Positive - Erickson was dyslexic as a boy, and was both colour blind and tone deaf throughout his life. He claimed that these sensory 'disabilities' helped him to focus on aspects of communication and behavior which most other people overlooked. This is a typical example of emphasizing the positive.
Erickson would often compliment the patient for a symptom, and would even encourage it, in very specific ways. In one amusing example, a woman whose parents-in-law caused her nauseous feelings in the gut every time they visited unexpectedly was 'taught' to puke spectacularly whenever the visits were especially inconvenient. Naturally the parents-in-law would always sympathetically help her clean up the vomit. Fairly soon, the annoying relatives started calling in advance before turning up, to see if she were 'well enough' to see them.
The subject of dozens of songs, 'emphasizing the positive' is a well known self-help strategy, and can be compared with 'positive reformulation' in Gestalt Therapy.