Tools I Use When Diagnosing Specific Metaphors

I’ve been asked about the diagnostic tools I use when diagnosing specific metaphors for clients with deep issues that are effecting many areas of their life.

One thing to understand about these particular clients is they do not come to me instead of their GP or before trying everything the NHS or health professionals can give them. They come to me after everything else has NOT WORKED for them.

Admittedly, my typical client in this bracket is on no drugs at all when they come and see me – having given up using them because the drugs were not curing anything, just hiding the symptoms behind a numbed mind. This might mean they are in some way more resolute than the norm. However, now they have come off the drugs that kept their mind sedated but without the symptoms, those symptoms of panic, general anxiety, worries, flashbacks, and depressingly negative thoughts have returned. But this time they want to try an alternative to drug-therapy. These clients have often tried Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) but found they were among the high percentage for whom CBT is ineffective.

It does seem the NHS may be pretty impoverished if the only choices they have for people like this is either to see a psychiatrist – who only gives drug-therapies; or a psychologist – who these days only offers CBT. See this article in the Times Online: Therapies That Help Are Being Ignored

By the way, I don’t have anything against CBT. I learned the principles of CBT over a decade ago and taught it within the Coping With Stress courses I developed. However, I found (as does everyone else who uses it with clients) not everyone is able to use the tools effectively so I continued my search for tools that would help those people.

The diagnostic tools I use with these particular clients… There are two.

One uses ideomotor responses and the other Voice Technology. An ideomotor reflex is an unconscious movement or physical response. Examples would be a nervous eye twitch, or when someone tries to look and sound happy but their sad eyes give them away. Ideomotor responses are often used in Hypnosis to gain insight from the person’s subconscious mind by asking for (or suggesting) an involuntary physical response which would indicate a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer from the subconscious mind.

I set up a suggested involuntary response while the person is completely awake and conscious and use this to get 'yes' and 'no' answers without having to put my client into any kind of trance. The results can be surprising to the conscious mind! Yet, when the client goes along with the metaphor the subconscious has indicated, then (within minutes and without the conscious mind having to believe in the metaphor) real healing and progress is made.

Such is the power of the subconscious mind. In these sessions the client's own subconscious mind takes control of what work we do and which therapeutic methods are most appropriate – making progress even quicker. There are no psychological ‘models’ to get in the way, and I find the client’s mind often creates new ways to integrate many therapeutic methods (combinations of NLP, Time Line Therapy, EMDR, etc.) to produce outstanding results.

The other diagnostic method, Voice Technology, was devised by the founder of Thought Field Therapy, Dr Roger Callaghan, so clients can get the same help over the telephone. You know that a lie detector will measure your pulse, sweating, and voice patterns (these are all ideomotor responses) to establish if you are lying or not. This is because emotions and thoughts in the subconscious often have an ideomotor effect on the body and your body cannot help but change in ways which can be measured! These ‘signals’ may be too subtle for normal detection by our eyes and ears, but if we can find a way to ‘tune in’ to them we can measure truth from deception, yes from no.

Voice Technology is a way of tuning in to those subconscious signals – via the voice over the telephone. And once calibrated, we can start the diagnosing of metaphors (and other things) via a different (but just as precise) ideomotor response mechanism.

So does that answer the question of what methods I use for diagnosing the metaphors my clients use for their own healing - or have I made it as clear as mud? Let me know.

Be well

Colin :-)

Self Awareness IS the Foundation

Hi

What do we stand for, what do we value, and what type of person we aspire to be?

Self awareness is a great starting point for developing self esteem and building confidence. Self awareness may also be the foundation that needs to be rebuilt if our personal development seems to take a backward step at any point.

Personal Values for Self Improvement

Self awareness can help us to know where we are now, so we can make better decisions on where we want to go next. In other words, if we have no self awareness then we are lost!

Before we decide upon what we want, we should first ask ourselves 'what do I value in life?'.

Usually, we do not realize what we value until it is gone. Sometimes familiarity with something, or someone, decreases the value we once saw there. It is prudent therefore, to decide upon what we value before we lose it forever.

Self awareness success tool:

Ask yourself - what do you value and why?

Then,

Priorities your top twelve

We can often tell what a person values by how much time they give to it; so how much time do you give to the things you value?

Now you can use this list as a guide to action in the future, and to help you prioritize your goals.

There is an old saying that goes 'If you want something, you must first give it away'. What this is saying, is that if we want to be appreciated, then it is no good taking others for granted. If we want to be popular, then we need to ask ourselves, do we recognize others?

If you value a quality - give it away!