Meta Model

Along with language and communication, we have generalizations and miscommunications due to our own representations and personnel understandings according to our own unique experiences. In therapy we therefore need to have a facility for understanding and working with language to make it comprehensible in such a way that is meant by the speaker; in turn we have the meta model. The meta model is a systematic way of learning what the speaker intends by her communication, and provides a hypnotherapist with the knowing of what to say next to gain the information needed.

This system of the meta model was originally configured by Richard Bandler and John Grinder (Original developers of Neuro Linguistic Programming, "NLP") after their studies of Milton H. Erickson, Frederick S. Pearls, and Virginia Satir, because of the unique ability these therapeutic magicians had of helping their clients achieve positive results.

Below, the reader will find a summary overview of the general miscommunications we receive along with the type of questions necessary to provide the listener and often the speaker with new, and fuller understandings.

To begin we will start with the purpose behind the meta model:
1) - to learn what is going on now'
2) - to learn the persons goal, eg: "What do you want?", "What is the desired outcome?"
3) - to learn what is stopping them from achieving their end result,
4) - to learn what is needed to get from the present state to the desired outcome, and
5) - to learn how they will know once they have attained the desired outcome.

There are generally three classes of miscommunication within our everyday language, and these are "distortions, generalizations, and deletions";

Distortions are shifts in our data intake so that we can understand it, and cope with it.
Generalizations are what you would expect in a person who takes a part or component of her model of the world and lets that represent an entire category from which the part was taken.
Deletions happen when we selectively attend to one aspect of an experience and exclude the others.

Below is a summary overview of the types of responses and the questions one would ask to recover the missing information.

Distortions:
a) - Nominalizations - eg, "we lack communication", response - "who's not communicating?".
b) - Mind Reading - eg, "you have a problem with authority", response - "how do you know...?"
c) - Cause Effect - eg, "you make me angry", response - "how do I make you angry?"
d) - Complex Equivalent - eg, "her smile means she likes me", - response - "has anyone ever smiled at you that didn't like you, or, how does her smile mean she likes you?"
e) - Presuppositions - eg, "if you knew the importance of school you would study harder", - response - "what makes you think i don't know the importance of school?"

Generalizations:
a) - Universal Quantifiers - eg, "all, every, never, no one, etc", - response - "all?, never?"
b) - Model Operators - eg, "should, shouldn't, must, etc...", - response - "what would happen if you did, or what would happen if you didn't?"
c) - Lost Performative - eg, "It is bad to judge", - response - "who says it is bad to judge, or how do you know?"

Deletions:
a) - Simple Deletions - eg, "I am uncomfortable", - response - "you are uncomfortable about what/whom?"
b) - Comparative Deletion - eg, "good, better, best, worst, most least, etc" - response - "Better than whom, or compared to whom or what, etc?"
c) - Lack of Referential Index - eg, "they don't listen to me", - response - "who doesn't listen to you?"
d) - Unspecified Verb - eg, "you don't care about me", - response - "how specifically do I not care about you?"

The above information can best be extended upon through Bob Bodenhamer, and Michael Hall's most wonderful book "The User's Manual for the Brain: The Complete Manual for Neuro-Linguistic Programming Practitioner Certification"

email: dr_frank@hypnoticadvancements.com

Mailing address:
Dr. Frank Valente Ph.D.(c)
Hypnotic Advancements
3126 McCarthy Court
Mississauga , ON
Canada L4Y-3Z5

© 2004, Dr. Frank Valente Ph.D.(c)

If your experience with hypnosis is limited or you simply want to accelerate the effectiveness of your hypnosis sessions, and improve your life beyond perceptible measures, just click the link below for your free demonstration with this new state of the art program.

Back to “Hypnotic Language & more Secrets of Hypnosis”