Source: Richard Bandler & John Grinder

Select the stimulus or situation, and go to the third (dissociated) perceptual position.

Run the movie once normal and then backwards.

Run the movie again in black and white.

Move into 1st position, run the movie backwards in full color.

Repeat until the person is desensitized.

Optional: Enhance the procedure with strategies such as sub-modality modification.

Re-associate, do an ecology check via future pacing. Consider additional work as needed to support continued success.

Eliminate unrealistic, habitual fears (such as the fear of flying) that can limit people’s lives. It can even help with trauma recovery, reducing or eliminating symptoms of post-traumatic stress. This is also known as the visual-kinesthetic dissociation pattern. It uses dissociation, moving you to a vantage point as a spectator, to alter your reaction to the problem stimulus. Fears, also known as phobias, can be irrational and bother people for years without letting up. Psychology has various ways of working with these phobias, and medication sometimes resolves them. In one documented case, trauma to the front of the brain even got rid of a fear of social activity. But we don’t recommend hitting anyone in the head; they could end up with a phobia of you.

Getting rid of phobias is important because phobias prevent people from doing things they need to do. Also, people with anxiety can have slower reaction times when they are supposed to deal with a threatening situation. At first, that sounds strange, because you would think anxious people would react very fast to a threatening situation as a top priority.

With too much anxiety, however, mental processing can end up being slower than normal. This means they may not handle fearful situations well. That can amplify their fear, creating a vicious circle. NLP has come to the rescue for many people with phobias. Researchers have learned that virtual reality can create the same fears as a real situation, but NLP practitioners have been using the imagination therapeutically from the beginning, and your imagination is free—it even comes with its own software. In this pattern, you will use the third perceptual position and some basic steps from a new discipline: Time Line Therapy. Keep in mind to be cautious. This pattern is designed to be easy on people. However, if you suspect that the person has a mental disorder, have them evaluated by an appropriate specialist to determine if this pattern will cause destabilization. It is possible that, in extreme cases, its focus on a negative memory could be re-traumatizing.

Step 1: Select the stimulus or situation, and go to the third (dissociated) perceptual position. #

Have the person select a stimulus or situation that they react to with excessive anxiety or fear. Have the person imagine sitting comfortably in a movie theater, about to watch some video of their life. Have them imagine that the video is searching backwards for a point just before their first experience of fear pertaining to the situation. The primary purpose of this step is to help them experience what it was like not to have the problem. That is the value of using the third perceptual position (dissociated, watching from the position of an objective observer). This can be used to create a valuable resource state. Although it is not necessary, this step may also help them pinpoint how the reaction pattern began.

Step 2: Play the movie normally once, then backwards. #

Have them watch the situation play out from this dissociated position. Then have them run the movie backwards to the point where it started.

Step 3: Replay the film in black and white. #

Now have them change the movie from color to black and white and run it again. This time, when it ends, have them freeze the image and fade it to black, the way some movies end.

Step 4: Move into position, and run the movie backwards in full color. #

Now have the person move into the first position (seeing through their own eyes). Tell them to experience the movie first-hand and in full color, but backwards to the beginning of the clip.

Step 5: Repeat until the person is desensitized. #

Repeat these steps until your client no longer has a fearful reaction. To summarize the steps, get them back into the movie theater, run the movie backwards, switch to black and white, and run the movie forwards. Finally, switch to the first position in full color and run the movie backwards to its starting point, where it freezes frames and fades to black.

Step 6: Optional: Enhance the procedure with strategies such as sub-modality modification. #

If this basic version of the method is not successful enough, you can modify it with strategies such as additional dissociation. For example, you can have the person move into the projection booth and watch themselves sitting in the theater watching the video. You can also use other sub-modalities. As you know, people vary as to which sub-modalities have the greatest impact. Another strategy with this pattern is to trigger a resourceful state and maintain it while watching the video from a dissociated position. You might trigger the state by thinking of a time when you felt very secure and confident. If the memory or stimulus is extremely triggering, you can “code” the memory by turning elements of it into symbols or outlines so that your body is not imagining the actual stimulus to respond to. You can also “humorize” the memory by changing elements to make them ridiculous. For example, you could turn an intimidating person into a little bunny with a party hat and give him a child’s voice. Consider doing a Swish pattern in addition to the phobia curing pattern if necessary.

Step 7: Re-associate and conduct an ecology check using future pacing. #

Consider additional work as needed to support continued success. Once the phobia is gone, they can think about the situation, bring them back to the present, be aware of their surroundings, and check the ecology. How does your client feel that they will be without this reaction now that they can feel what it’s like to be unafraid? What images of the future do they come up with? You may need to work with parts if the person does not feel fully aligned with this success. That will help prevent them from sabotaging their success, and it will also help them come up with more effective and creative ways to live without this phobia.