Compound Suggestions (lead, then pace)
Ericksonian Hypnotic Language Patterns A compound suggestion is made up of two statements. First, a statement that makes a suggestion, second, a statement of fact to cover up the suggestion… a statement with which it would be really hard to disagree. “NLP is the best model of communication in the entire world. It is important to communicate effectively, isn’t it? …
Switching the Referential Index (the I-you switch)
Ericksonian Hypnotic Language Patterns The language pattern “Switching the Referential Index” is a sentence or paragraph in which the speaker switches of whom they are referring from themselves (“I” or “me”) to “you.” That’s why it can easily be referred to as “The I–You Switch.” The beauty of this language pattern is that it is a very common turn of …
Using Death as an Advisor
Neo-Ericksonian Philosophy In the series of books by Carlos Castaneda regarding the teachings of Don Juan Matus, a Yaqui Indian Medicine Man, the author introduces us to the concept of using Death as an Advisor. This teaching has been on my mind a lot recently because it seems death has been all around. From the unimaginably horrific fires that killed …
Cause and Effect
Ericksonian Hypnotic Language Patterns The Cause-Effect pattern is another marvelously simple-yet-effective pattern. Those of you who have studied Sleight of Mouth with me will know what I mean when I say that a cause-effect is part of a normalized belief structure. So what we’re doing is suggesting a new belief to the client. These are very much like implication and …
The Funny thing about Therapy
Dave Dobson was one of my main influences in the field of hypnosis. His methods, termed “Other-than-Conscious Communication,” were similar to Milton Erickson’s in a variety of ways but also differed in one notable way, Dave’s purposeful use of humor. Now, don’t get me wrong, Erickson had a famous sense of humor as well and was known to employ it …
Download Doug O’Brien’s paper,
“Be your Best with Self Hypnosis”