What are the motifs in Uncommon Therapy: The Psychiatric Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D. by Jay Haley?

Control is a recurring idea in the book. Therapy is typically initiated when someone has a strong desire to gain control in a set of circumstances. The patients are often but not always the one who actively seeks the therapy. Normally, there is something about the patient's life that is problematic and possibly out of control. The therapist views himself as providing intervention. In fact, this is the terminology specifically used throughout the book, "therapeutic interventions."