Covert elicitation, change, precision.

Here is an example of working covertly. I am looking for how others are covertly using what they have learned in NLP/hypnosis. I set many different anchors in working with this person, a few of which I have marked out in what follows. I am curious as to how others are using covert skills. Let me know if you will.

This example comes from a taped transcript. I once worked with a client who was diagnosed as clinically depressed. He was 62 years old and had failed to respond to any of the treatments offered to him. the next step the people who were treating him wanted to take was to perform electric shock therapy, and this was only three years ago. As a last resort, and before he would agree to the shock therapy, he decided to seek help outside of the standard practices contained within the field of mental health. He was advised that this was not a good decision, but in desperation, he did not listen.

When he showed up at my office, the first thing I said to him was, "How do you know when it's time to feel depressed? I mean that, in every twenty-four hour period that we call a day, there must be times when you forget to remember to feel depressed. Perhaps when you are watching your favorite TV program, talking to one of your friends, taking a shower, I really don't know when you forget to remember to feel depressed, but I do know that it is impossible to maintain any one state indefinitely. Besides, in order to have felt the feelings that you were calling depression, and to even know that that was the right name for those feelings, you must have been comparing, on the inside, what you were experiencing with some other past feelings that were perhaps quite the opposite. Times and feelings that supported what was the best in your life. And as you look at that which is opposite from what you do want, you are looking at what you do want. and as you find yourself recalling those feelings that you so enjoy..."

"Me, I am different than you. Because what I had found depressing at times was trying to watch a really good movie, a big show, on a small TV set. You know that this show was designed to be bigger than life and you can't get that bigger than life feeling out of such a small image. So I went out and purchased a big screen TV. It's all much nicer now, seeing the things I do like on the large, crystal clear, perfectly focused images on a big (set anchor) screen! However, I still have that old small TV set, I just watch the news, and other things that are not my favorite things to see on that small set, and even then I turn the volume way down until I can barely hear it. But the things I do like seeing, I only watch on my big screen. Then, to top it off, I also purchased this fantastic surround sound system! I put in what I want to see, turn the volume way up, and have all of those great sounds coming at me from every direction! You really ought to try it on for yourself."

"Anyway, from this point of view, when you look back at the times when you were in that old feeling, tell me, how did you know it was time to have had those feelings that were less than what you hoped for yourself? If we put you on an alien planet, we wouldn't have to worry any longer. The things that you were seeing that were connected to... the thing that used to trigger those old feelings, well, they simply wouldn't be there, you would no longer be able to be reminded about feeling bad, and in time you would forget completely."

"But that would be impractical, sending you to another planet. Besides, by the time you got there, the whole point would be moot, it simply wouldn't matter any longer, now would it? So for the sake of being practical, and because I am a pragmatist, let us be done with this in a different way, in a way that lets you continue living on this planet. Because if you stop now and think about it, really think about it, you would find that there are many things you haven't done yet that you always wanted to do. and in order for you to begin doing those things in your future, you have to continue living... here on this planet!"

"So let us go about this in a different way. We could just slit your jugular vein (pointing to the location where he kept the picture for getting shock therapy) and the problem would simply disappear, but that is far from necessary, besides it would make too much of a mess! So let us do this instead, when in the future you are faced with the things that used to remind you that it was time to feel bad, let us just wire in something else (fire anchor). the brain has its own way of doing things, but at times it needs a bit of help getting it to do the right thing at the right time."

"I once did a workshop for single people who did not want to be single. Before I began, I lined up all of the women on one side of the room, and the men on the other. I asked the women to form a group and decide on displaying one of two states without words. The states I wanted them to choose from were times when they were wanting a man to approach them, and times when they didn't. Well, they choose to step into the state of wanting to be approached, and when they did, I asked the men what they thought. Were the women wanting to be approached or were they wanting to be left alone? 95% of the men got it wrong! The women wanted to be approached, but in the men's heads, the brain went, 'Arggggg, they don't want to be bothered.' No wonder they were still single, their brains needed to be trained in a new way."

"So what I did was to teach the brain -- when this happens (pointing to the location where this man kept the picture he used to let him know it was time to feel depressed), feel this (firing off the anchor I had set for what he wanted to feel). But that wasn't enough. I wanted to make sure their brains got this, not only here, but also out there where things have a way of popping up that don't fit what we might perceive here. But I wasn't sure how to do it. After all, there were so many different people who made up the group. I needed to find a way that would fit each of them -- into the future."

"How might you have done this if you were me? When you get into the car, you automatically step into the state where you keep all of the skills you use to drive a car, but not only one car, but any car you get into. Even if you get into a big truck, a tractor trailer, you may not yet know how to automatically drive it, but the basis for being able to drive it, the skills that you have learned (fire off anchor) are there. Even though you might not be able to successfully drive everything you get into at first, in the end, as in everything else you have ever learned to do, your ability to adapt to the differences that can exist - can... and... will prevail!"

"When I was done with the singles workshop, the men wanted to go out and test the new states their brains had learned to respond with in the face of the things that used to trigger off the old response they used to have. And when they returned, about two weeks later, for the first time, they communicated to me how surprised they were to have (fire anchor) gotten the results that they wanted for themselves. But then again, if you think about it, we go along in life believing in and wanting one thing. But in time, who we are changes, yet we may never realize just how much we have changed."

"I remember when I was young, I liked roller skating so very much. But as time went on, I had lost interest in roller skating. It wasn't like I thought about it. One day someone asked me if I wanted to go roller skating and I said no. It was at that moment that I realized that I was (pointing to his location of the old problem) no longer into roller skating. I wondered for a moment when I had changed my feelings about the whole thing. But that didn't last long, because I became distracted instead by what I wanted to do (firing off anchor for new state), and went off and did it."

"By the way, in the future, before you let me know how well you are doing, I want you to do me a favor. I want you to... have you ever... it's kind of hard to..."

"When I was a small child, I went to a psychiatrist. I was forced to by the courts. They said I was a problem child. But I knew better, as I saw it I was just having fun breaking the rules - rules that were designed to have me conform to someone else's acceptable way of being. Anyway, the psychiatrist took out these blocks, some were round, some were square, while others were shaped like triangles. Then he took out this thing and said, 'Which ones go in which holes?' I mean, really! I said to him, 'You made it this far in life and you can't figure out this one for yourself?' I think he was getting annoyed at me, but he kept on plugging away.

"Next he took out these ink blots and said, 'Look at them one by one, and as you do, tell me what you see.' I looked at each of them in turn and said, 'They look like someone spilled some ink on each of them, then proceeded by folding each of them in half, thus forming the ink into different shapes.' He said, 'No! Tell me what they remind you of, the first image that appears in your mind.' I replied, 'A real mess! That is what they remind me of. It's as if some student got caught playing around with ink, and to get out of trouble said the first thing that came to mind. Something like, 'Look here, I am not playing around with ink. There is more here than meets the eye. All you have to do show these to people, tell them to say what they see, and you can figure them out.' Yeah, right!'"

"Well, this psychiatrist was now beside himself, saying that I wasn't responding the way I was supposed to respond. Can you imagine, a field that has figured out how everybody is supposed to respond! And when you don't respond the way they want you to they say you are abnormal, or something like that! I guess you could say that I figured out, at a young age, to stay away from people obsessed with the meaning of ink blots, or anybody who thinks you should be what they want you to be."

"As far as I am concerned, I have my own mind, my own life, and I will do with it what I will while accepting the consequences for my behavior. I only had to burn my hand on the stove one time to know I didn't like the result. I didn't need someone to tell me that one. Besides, without having burnt myself on the stove, I wouldn't have understood fully the meaning of the words, 'Don't play with fire, or you'll get burned.' As with everything - that kind of experience can be chalked up to, well, er, experience!"

"Now, go out and experience! I'm getting tired of sitting here talking to you. I am ready to go and do something else. Besides, you don't need my help, what you need is to realize, like I did when I was ten years old - don't waste your money with shrinks, the only thing they shrink is your savings account, they're very good at that. Why not take some of that money and have some fun with it? Now go... while you still can! I am getting hungry - and with all of the books I have been reading that relate to African cultures - some having been cannibalistic in nature, one never knows... where it might take me. Enough now, get out of here."

Carmine Baffa, Ph.D.