STEPHEN R. LANKTON

Stephen R. Lankton, (born 29 May 1947) MSW, DAHB is the current editor of the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis (2005–2015).^[1] He is a recipient of the “Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Psychotherapy”^[2] and the “Irving Sector Award for Advancement of the Field of Hypnosis”.^[3]
Lankton served as a Fellow and Approved Consultant of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis; a Fellow and Approved Supervision of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. He is a Diplomate and Past-President of the American Hypnosis Board for Clinical Social Work and a Diplomate of the American Psychotherapy Association.
An LCSW psychotherapist in private practice in Phoenix, Arizona, Lankton conducts workshops internationally (24 countries). Lankton speaks at major universities, national therapy organizations including the AAMFT, APA, ITAA, Erickson Foundation, Networker, AGPA, etc., and state professional organizations for social worker, psychologists, hypnosis, and psychiatry. He is a Faculty Associate at Arizona State University. He is the Chair of the Arizona State Board of Behavioral Health, as well as a member of the Arizona Board of Behavior Health Examiners (2012-2015), and an Appointee to the Arizona State Board of Behavior Health Examiners Social Work Credentialing Committee (2008–2014).
He was the Editor of the Ericksonian Monographs series of books from 1985-1995. His major publications include Practical Magic;^[4] The Answer Within;^[5] Enchantment and Intervention In Family Therapy;^[6] and Assembling Ericksonian Therapy;^[7] and others translated into 7 languages.
Lankton trained under Milton H. Erickson, M.D. from 1975 to 1979, and his efforts at promoting and interpreting Erickson’s approach to hypnosis and therapy at the highest academic levels resulted in the inclusion of chapters in several scholarly publications edited by other luminaries in the field. These include his chapters in the Oxford Handbook of Hypnosis;^[8] The Handbook of Clinical Hypnosis;^[9] and Handbook of Family Therapy Volume II;^[10] Social Workers’ Desk Reference;^[11] and The Handbook of Innovative Therapy;^[12] and several others.
He served as a behavior science expert in corporate consulting projects that have included the IRS, Xerox, American Express, New York State Tax and Finance, NY Welfare Department, Nortel, and other fortune 500 companies. He co-authored the Xerox 1990's Document Engineering Methodology^[13] that promoted behaviorally-driven document-centered information engineering.