Neuro-Linguistic Programming Models Summary (14 of 14)
Trauma State
Can NLP not do its magic in such cases? Of course it can! Any proficient practitioner will simply keep interrupting the old program (meta-frame), re-enforcing new frames of dissociation, comfort, and resourcefulness, and eventually go faster than the person in out framing. When the gentleman out frames himself with pity, shame, guilt, being a terrible person, hopelessness, etc., the NLP practitioner out frames that and jumps another logical level faster than a speeding train, “And as you look at that sad pitiful wreck of a man for
the last time in your life knowing that change has begun to occur, and will continue to occur even when you don’t know it consciously, you can begin to wonder, really
wonder, about what learnings you can make from this so that you never have to repeat it, but can turn around and face a brighter future than you could have even imaged before now”
When we have a person with those kinds of rigid, limiting, insulting, and traumatizing meta-frames working with such a person becomes a frames war to the end. Who will get in the final out frame?
Our experiences result from our established frames. These meta-level frames identify our more abstract and conceptual maps of reality and our meanings about self, others, and the universe.
Submodality Failures
“Mapping over submodalities” & “submodality shifts” do not always work. In the traumatic experience, note the quality of the cinematic features of your internal
representations that cue your brain and body about how to respond.
When we code a painful memory associated, close in image and sound, bright, three-dimensional, loud, etc., we encode it with a structure that says, “Enter into that experience again and feel distressed, angry, fearful, upset, etc.”
Here the submodalities encode the higher evaluative frame that essentially gives the Behavioural Equivalent for: “Real, Close, Now, Associated.”
In this, the quality of submodality distinctions works as if “the switch” to experience. But it does not do so because “the difference that makes a difference” lies in submodalities.
If associative processing moves us to think, feel, and act as if in an experience and dissociate or spectate and the process moves us to step out and only think, feel, and act about the experience, then this submodality (i.e. associated/ dissociated, also a Meta-Program) provides an off/on distinction. Experiencing as if “in” the event; experiencing as if “out” of it. Step in, step out.
Step in and go through the trauma again and feel terrible; step out and take another perceptual position and feel more resourceful about it.
Notice that associate and dissociate not only describe a submodality, but also a Meta-Program. Consider that. How could a submodality distinction, something that supposedly exists below and under the level of the modalities also exist above them, and have a Meta relation to them?
When we think about and work with submodalities, we never actually operate at a sub-level (such doesn’t exist). We have moved to a meta-level. Thinking about,
detecting & shifting these qualities works with structure and process, not content.
Pattern: The Swish Pattern
The Swish Pattern is a useful technique to help people address an unwanted behaviour response to a specific stimulus by changing key submodalities. Compulsive or obsessive behaviours, such as an uncontrollable desire to bite your nails, smoke, eat certain foods, or habits are often linked with a trigger or cue image.
1. Have your client identify a specific behavior that he wishes to change and the cue image that starts the process.
2. Have your client identify a new self-image with the desired behavior(s) that satisfies the positive intent of the undesired behavior. Have him generate a picture of this new self-image.
Our task now is to link the cue image in step 1 with the new self-image in step 2.
3. Check the ecology of the new self-image and associated behavior(s).
Have the client assess the impact of this new behaviour on himself (what will he have to give up or take on), his family, friends, co-workers, community, etc.
4. Identify at least two submodalities that reduce the desire for the behavior in step 1 and increase the desire for the new self-image in step 2.
Ask the client to get a picture of the behaviour in step 1 and then have him adjust different submodalities and notice which ones reduce the desire for this behaviour. For example, he may find that reducing the brightness and de-focusing the picture reduces the desire for the behaviour in step 1. The submodalities should be those that vary over a continuous range e.g. brightness, size, focus, etc.
Now ask the client to get a picture of the new self-image and behaviour (step 2) and notice if the desire for this behaviour is increased as the submodalities identified in the previous paragraph are changed in the opposite direction. That is, increasing the brightness and improving the focus makes the new self-image in step 2 more compelling.
It is possible to do the Swish Pattern with an auditory or kinaesthetic cue. In this case you would use auditory or kinaesthetic submodalities. However, the process is easiest if you use a visual cue.
Remember to break state when switching between behaviours.
For the rest of the procedure, it is assumed that the critical submodalities are brightness and focus.
5. Have your client take the cue picture and make it big, bright and clearly focused. In a corner of this picture (let’s say the lower right hand corner), have your client put a small dark and de-focused picture of the new self-image and related behavior.
The client should be associated in the cue picture (i.e. can not see himself in the picture, he is looking through his own eyes), while the picture of the new self-image must be dissociated to be motivating and attractive. An associated picture gives your client the feeling that he has already made the change, and therefore it will not be motivating for him.
6. Have your client make the cue picture smaller, darker and de-focused as the picture of the new self image gets bigger, brighter and focused. Continue until the cue picture is a small dark, de-focused picture in the lower right hand corner of a big bright, focused picture of the new self-image.
7. Have your client take a moment to enjoy this new self-image and the resources that he now has available to him.
8. Break state. Have your client repeat steps 5, 6 and 7, but this time have him do step 6 faster.
It is important to break state after step 7. We want to create a compelling direction from the cue picture to the new self-image. If we did not break state, then we would set up a cycle where the new self-image leads back to the cue picture.
9. Have your client repeat steps 5, 6 and 7 until he has done it at least 7 times and step six takes a fraction of a second to complete.
This is why it is called Swish Pattern in less time than it takes to quickly say swish, the client has completed step 6. Speed is essential in step 6.
10. Test and future pace . Have your client think of the cue. Does he now think of the new self-image and related behaviors?
Phobia Cure
The brain learns thing fast, not slow. Richard Bandler often uses the analogy that if you were to watch a movie, one frame a day for five years, you’d never get the plot. The brain is this way. It requires the rapid sequencing of the frames to get the idea. The phobia cure needs to be done fast to be effective. What follows if the technique as it exists for the cure of a phobia with a visual trigger- seeing a spider, or a snake, an elevator, or your in-laws: =)
This is a technique that is best done with a pro, as it requires that you stay focused and on track. It’s possible that you can go through this yourself, but you’d do much better with a trained pro to guide you through who can use your non-verbal feedback to determine how best to tweak the process to you.
A quick note- before doing the Phobia Cure, go through the Outcome Frame, make sure you address the other issues that may connect with your phobia.
The Technique
1. First, imagine a big theatre, you’re sitting in a seat near the middle, and on the screen is a still, black & white photo in which you can see yourself in a situation just before you had the phobic response.
2. Next, imagine you are floating out of your body in the movie theatre, and up into the projection booth. From here in the projection booth, you can see the screen, and you can see yourself sitting down there in the seat in the middle of the theatre. Notice what colour your shirt or blouse you are wearing down in that seat.
3. Now, turn that still snapshot up on the screen into a black & white movie, and watch it from the beginning, to just beyond the end of that unpleasant experience. When you get to the end, I want you to stop it as a slide, and then jump inside and run the movie backwards. You will see everything happening in reverse- people will walk backwards, things will move backwards, just like rewinding a movie, except you will be inside the movie. Run the movie in reverse in colour, and take only one or two seconds to do it.
4. Now think about what is was that you had a phobia of, see what you would see if you were actually there. How does it feel different?
5. Now you might wonder if this change will hold the next time you are really presented with the situation… so go test it out. Use good common sense- if your phobia was of snakes, then go find a snake in a pet shop to play with, not a cobra or rattler.
Agreement Frame
This pattern creates a common or joint outcome that both parties in a conflict or negotiation can agree to:
Practice Example:
1. Specify a situation where you are negotiating between two people.
2. Ask each for their outcome and backtrack .
3. Find a common outcome that both can agree to.
4. Use CONDITIONAL CLOSE , below, to deliver.
5. If there are objections:
A. Ask each what their idea or objection is intended to accomplish. Go meta to that (…and what will that get for you?) until you arrive at an outcome each can agree on.
B. Ask each what will happen if they don’t reach an agreement. Use this option if the parties are being uncooperative or argumentative
Conditional Close
This frame helps you determine from the outset what issues need to be satisfied before a solution can be finalized.
Practice Example:
1. ‘A’ makes proposal to ‘B’.
2. ‘B’ raises an objection.
3. ‘A’ backtracks ‘B’s objection.
4. Make the conditional close:
If I can satisfy your objection, then you would agree to ‘X’, is that correct?
5. If no, go back to step 2 and ask for all objections, then follow through the steps again.
6. If yes, have fun!
How To Work With Submodalities
SubModalities: like to dislike script
1. Can you think of something that you like but wish you did not? Good, what is it? As you think about that, do you have a picture?� (Elicit the SubModalities.)
2. Can you think of something which is similar, but which you absolutely dislike. For example, ice cream and yoghurt. (Elicit the SubModalities. The location should be different!)
3. Change the SubModalities of #1 into the SubModalities of #2.
TEST: Now, what about that thing you used to like?
How is it different?
SubModalities: belief change script
1. Can you think of a limiting belief about yourself that you wish you did not have? Good, what is it? As you think about that belief, do you have a picture? (Elicit the SubModalities.)
2. Can you think of a belief which is no longer true. For example, perhaps you used to be a smoker. Someone who was a smoker, used to believe they were a smoker, but now they no longer believe that. Or someone who used to own a new 1985 car, believed that they were a new car owner, but now they no longer do. Do you have something like that which used to be true for you, but no longer is? Good, what is it? As you think about that belief, do you have a picture?� (Elicit the SubModalities.)
3. Change the SubModalities of #1 into #2.
TEST: Now, what do you think about that old belief?
4. Can you think of a belief which for you is absolutely true? Like, for example, the belief that the sun is going to come up tomorrow. Do you believe that? (Or, the belief that it’s good to breathe.) Good, what is it? As you think about that belief, do you have a picture?” (Elicit the SubModalities.)
5. Can you think of a belief that you want to have, which is the opposite of the belief in #1? Good, what is it? As you think about that belief, do you have a picture?
6. Change the SubModalities of #5 into #4.
TEST: Now, what do you believe? Why do you believe
you have this new belief?
Submodalities checklist
Visual
1 2 3 4
Where is it (anchor)
Associated / Dissociated
Black/ White or Colour
Size of Picture?
Bright or Dim
3D or Flat?
Focused or Defocused?
Framed or Panoramic?
Movie or Still?
Movie-Fast/Normal/Slow
Auditory
Location
Direction
Internal or External?
Loud or Soft?
Fast or Slow?
High or Low? (Pitch)
Tonality
Timbre
Pauses
Tempo
Duration
Uniqueness of Sound
Kinaesthetic
Location
Size
Shape
Intensity
Steady
Movement/ Duration
Vibration
Pressure/Heat?
Weight
Submodalities checklist
Visual
1 2 3 4
Where is it (anchor)
Associated / Dissociated
Black/ White or Colour
Size of Picture?
Bright or Dim
3D or Flat?
Focused or Defocused?
Framed or Panoramic?
Movie or Still?
Movie-Fast/Normal/Slow
Auditory
Location
Direction
Internal or External?
Loud or Soft?
Fast or Slow?
High or Low? (Pitch)
Tonality
Timbre
Pauses
Tempo
Duration
Uniqueness of Sound
Kinaesthetic
Location
Size
Shape
Intensity
Steady
Movement/ Duration
Vibration
Pressure/Heat?
Weight
Submodalities checklist
Visual
1 2 3 4
Where is it (anchor)
Associated / Dissociated
Black/ White or Colour
Size of Picture?
Bright or Dim
3D or Flat?
Focused or Defocused?
Framed or Panoramic?
Movie or Still?
Movie-Fast/Normal/Slow
Auditory
Location
Direction
Internal or External?
Loud or Soft?
Fast or Slow?
High or Low? (Pitch)
Tonality
Timbre
Pauses
Tempo
Duration
Uniqueness of Sound
Kinaesthetic
Location
Size
Shape
Intensity
Steady
Movement/ Duration
Vibration
Pressure/Heat?
Weight
Swish pattern big picture
KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL SWISH PATTERNS
Swish patterns are for the purpose of creating momentum
toward a compelling future.
The Swish Pattern installs choices for a new way of life rather
than to change or remove old habits.
DOING A SWISH PATTERN
1. Get the picture that represents the habit or situation you would like to change. (When you think of________, do you have a picture?”)
2. Get a picture of the type of person you would like to be. (“How would you like to be instead? When you think of that do you have a picture?”)
3. Change the visual intensity of the desired state (brightness, size, distance, etc.) for the most “real” or most positive Kinaesthetic.
4. Bring back the old picture (#1), NOW STEP INTO THE PICTURE, fully associated.
5. Now insert in the lower left hand corner, a small, dark picture of the desired state.
6. Simultaneously, have picture of current state rapidly shrink and recede to a distant point while dark picture explodes into full view. (This can be accompanied by either an internal or external SWIIISSH sound, but is not necessary—speed is!)
7. Repeat #6 a minimum of five times. Enjoy the results!
NOTES TO KEEP IN MIND
a. Be fully associated in old pattern.
b. Have detailed sensory-specific representations in the desired state.
c. If client is associated in final picture = OUTCOME
d. If client is disassociated in the final picture = DIRECTION (This is usually preferred to create a compelling future.)
e. Make sure to have a break state between each Swish Pattern so as not to loop them. Close eyes during each step of process and open them between steps.
SubModalities Swish Pattern Script
1. Elicit Present State or Behaviour: How do you know it’s time to __________? (EG: Feel bad.) When you think of that ____________ (State or Behaviour) do you have a picture?� (Break State)
2. Elicit Desired State: How would you like to (feel/act) instead? When you think of that ______________ (State or Behaviour) do you have a picture?
3. If desired, assist client in adjusting the visual intensity of the Desired State for the most positive kinaesthetic.
4. Good, now step out of the picture, so you see your body in the picture. (Break State)
P.S.
.
D.S.
5. Good, now can you take the old picture and bring it up on the screen? Make sure that you are looking through your own eyes.
6. Good, as you have the old picture on the screen, can you see the new picture in the lower left hand corner, small and dark? Make sure you see your body in the picture.
7. Good, now have the picture explode big and bright, and have it explode up so that it covers the old picture, while the old picture shrinks down and becomes small and dark in the lower left hand corner, and do that as quickly as sssswishhhhh.�
8. Good, sssswishhhhh.
9. Now, clear the screen.
10. Repeat steps 5, 6, 8, and 9 until the unwanted state or behaviour is not accessible.
11. Test and future pace.
Reconstructing Into Values
Turn problem into opportunity
Future Now Dipole
Imagine the problems in future
Communicating From Vision Down
Look at common goals and future for couples
Reprocessing
Recode a scenario for a better result
Think Physiology
Physiology is a term in NLP to describe the study of all of our bodily functions.
Physiology of Excellence
Modelling excellence in others and utilising it in yourself and others. Anything you can do I can model and do also. On the principle that If you think that you look good then you feel good. If you feel good then you get good results. Holding a physiology, mental syntax and your beliefs in the +ve with the certainty of a well defined outcome.
Active Ingredient For Reprocessing
Focus, state shift, distraction, cognitive, pacing and recovery
Timeline Therapy and Reprocessing
Since Sigmund Freud called it “angst” (which relates to anxiety and fear), Anxiety has been one of the most commonly heard complaints by therapists and councillors. If it persists over some time, Anxiety can interfere with work, relationships and even your sleep. If Anxiety reaches the stage of panic then it can be really disabling.
Emotionally, the basis for Anxiety is Fear, but unlike Fear, which relates primarily to the past, Anxiety is a future oriented emotion. So, Anxiety is basically Fear of the future. The procedure for treating Anxiety is as simple and easy as any other NLP or Time Line Therapy® technique. The process can be done by children as young as age 3 and adults as old as 90 years. Simply put, we treat Fear first and then Anxiety. The two emotions are, however treated differently.
Using Time Line Therapy, Fear (related to the past) is treated in the same way as any other negative emotion — it is released using the process for releasing negative emotions. Anxiety, though relating to the future can also be released using Time Line Therapy®, although the procedure is different. Simply put, the client is asked to imagine floating above his Time Line and to go to a point above and after the “successful completion” of the event. In virtually every case, the Anxiety disappears at that point.
Time Line Therapy is so effective in treating Anxiety, that it has been used by the British Military’s Warrior Project for PTSD, and by Russian Psychologists to treat the soldiers traumatised in the Chechen war. Here is an excerpt from a Russian web site with the study that included Time Line Therapy®. The results included, “Solving of individual problems of participants-decreasing of anxiety and depression, reestablishment of the cycle ‘sleep-awaking’…”
“Psychotherapy and psychological help was based on Five-steps model by N. Peseschcian- 10h. There was used: First interview, specially selected Eastern stories, that give intuitive dimension to consulting, Time-Line Therapy, techniques of empty chair and non-finished letter, that help to part with lost relative, ask to forgive. …” “Group training was counted on 20 days (2 days, 10h. a day). The quantity of participants was more than 20 persons.”
3 more thoughts:
- Can You Do It?
Some people worry about whether they can go deep enough to get results. Time Line Therapy is designed to work in the lightest level of trance, and without hypnosis. Going deeper doesn’t make it work faster or better. With the Time Line Therapy® technique, going deep isn’t required, and that really reduces up the time taken. - Time Line Therapy techniques are “content-free.”
You don’t have to relive the events, or to even know the content of the event that created the negative emotion or the limiting belief. It’s just a matter of allowing your unconscious mind to locate the original root cause in your past. Your unconscious mind already knows where the cause is located. Not having to consciously know, analyse or revisit the content of what happened speeds up the process and is particularly beneficial to those not wanting to re-experience events which might have been uncomfortable, unpleasant or even traumatic. - The results of Time Line Therapy™ are not temporary.
The negative emotions or limiting beliefs are released once and for all. They are not just buried. So, you can begin your new life today!
Responding to Deletion
Meta model deletions are how we pay attention to some parts of our experiences and not others. Really, we ignore or selectively attend more than we actually delete them, but hey, that’s what NLP- Neuro Linguistic Programming calls it.
When you ask a teenager “How was your day?” there is probably a lot he has deleted with his “Good” answer. Also lots you have deleted in the question itself. Open questions are like that.The millions of sights, sounds, smells and feelings in the external environment and our internal world would overwhelm us if we didn’t delete most of them. Deleting enables us for instance to talk on the phone in the middle of a crowded room. We tune in to what is important like hearing our name mentioned at a party.
Limiting Choices
We are also deleting information when we think of ourselves as having limited choices. We often overlook problem-solving strategies that recover deleted choices. Our habits and ways of doing things hide other options. I often hear people say “I’ve tried everything and nothing works” A little digging reveals two things they did half-heartedly.
Meta Model Deletions and Misunderstandings
It is easy to misunderstand someone’s communicating when you don’t understand what he or she has left out. If a child says she is hurt and won’t elaborate, you don’t know whether to call an ambulance or give her a hug.
It is also difficult to get your intended meaning to the other. Have you ever said something like “Can you please fix this report?” meaning to correct spelling mistakes and they have made it an extra five pages or some such?
Negative Feelings
We remember the things that are important or significant to us. Out of all the millions of experiences in the 10 or so years of childhood, most people will remember half a dozen clearly.
If someone said to you “I will give you a million dollars if you can prove to me you had a happy, exciting, miserable or boring childhood” most could find some very convincing stories. Unfortunately many people use this absolutely extraordinary and powerful capability to make themselves miserable.
Unspecified Nouns – Who or What
Unspecified nouns are nouns (the person/being or thing part) where you don’t know who (NLP calls this a lack of referential index) or what they are talking about.
Unspecified Verbs – Understanding the Process
Unspecified verbs are verbs (the doing part) in a sentence that don’t fully describe the action taking place. They don’t give enough information to let you know what is going on for them. People usually fill in the gap with their own experience – called mind reading.
Simple deletions
Simple deletions are where we leave out or lose part of the meaning. You can notice them in sentences with it and that. Also when referring to missing descriptions (adjectives) – as in “Please give me the report.”
Comparative deletions
Comparative deletions are where we make a comparison but don’t explain what we are comparing. There is some kind of standard involved.
Ly Adverbs – Obviously this is Useful
Ly Adverbs are words with an “ly” on the end, like unfortunately. These are sneaky things, because the judgment underneath slips under our radar. We tend to accept the sentence without questioning whether it is true.
Persuasion By Chunking Up/Down
In NLP we have something called “Meta Programs.” These are filters that determine how you perceive the world around you. They have a major influence on how you communicate with others and how you behave.
There are many types of Meta Programs (about sixty), but some are more powerful than others. The one I like to talk to you about today is called “Specific/General” (or Abstract).
In order to persuade the most people, we need to give the specific details and to also give the big picture of whatever it is you’re selling: a product, a service or an idea.
One way of doing this is to use a technique called “Chunking.” With chunking we ask ourselves three types of questions to get the specifics and the big picture.
Here they are:
- CHUNK UP (to the general): What is this an example of? How can this change people’s lives? How can this change a community?
- CHUNK DOWN (to the specific): What is an example of this? What is the process? How is it made? How did it originate?
- CHUNK SIDEWAYS (to the abstract): What is this like? What metaphors come to mind?
I’m looking at a red bandana/handkerchief on my desk. Let’s say I want to sell red bandanas. I’ll ask the chunking questions:
1. CHUNK UP…“What is this an example of?” It could be a type of tool that I should always have in my possession? “How can this change people’s lives?” A bandana couldn’t really change people’s lives, but it could save them as a tourniquet perhaps or if a person is stranded somewhere, he or she could use it as a signalling device.
2. CHUNK DOWN… “How is it made?” I would find out how many cotton threads there are and how that is superior to others. I would find out how they were manufactured and include that information. “How did it originate?” Here I might include a brief story of how the cowboys and gold miners in the Old West started to use them.
3. CHUNK SIDEWAYS…”What is this like?” I might use a metaphor saying a bandana is like an old friend always ready to help you out when you need him. Or a tool you should always keep handy.
Once I had all this information and wanted to create an advertisement, I might use one of the copywriting formulas like AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action), PPPP (Promise, Picture, Proof, Push) or AHEXBA (Attraction, Hold Attention, Excite, Belief change, Action).
If I were giving a presentation, I’d put each chunk on a separate slide.
So, think about your product, service or idea. Apply the three chunks to make your offer more specific, more general and more abstract and watch how much more persuasive your message becomes.
