Frequently Asked Questions from fellow GPs

What exactly is NLP?

Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) was co created in the 1970s by Dr Richard Bandler

Neuro- The Nervous system through which experience is received and processed through our five senses- Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic, Olfactory, Gustatory

Linguistic- Verbal and non verbal communication systems through which neural representations are coded, ordered and given meaning

Programming -The ability to organise our communication and neurological system to achieve specific desired outcomes

Neuro

Everyone of us are unique in the way we experience the world. The external world is far too rich in information for us to “take in” all of it. So the brain uses our five senses- seeing hearing, feeling, smelling, and tasting (called representational systems) to allow in some information and leave out the rest so we can understand/ make sense of the external world.

What makes us unique is the distinctive way we each use our senses to filter. We all have a preferred way of filtering for example, may be predominantly visual or auditory or kinaesthetic.

Thinking back to medical school you may have noticed that you preferred to listen to a physiology lecture on Action Potential rather than read about it in Ganong. Or you may have found it easier to understand the mechanics of the shoulder joint in Anatomy from feeling it using the skeleton rather than hearing someone describing it in a lecture. You may prefer audio books to reading.

The information that is filtered through is then internally processed (re-presented) and hence translated into corresponding sensory representations that form a map of the original external world (territory)

So our map is how we perceive the world. Yet we forget that the map is not the world, just a filtered representation of it.

This filtering mechanism uses Universal Modelling Processes – Deletion, Distortion, Generalisation to filter out the information in the outside world .The process by which we filter is more specific still. Each representational system is further composed of smaller units called Submodalities. Examples of Submodalities of Visual Representational system are- colour/brightness/degree of focus/size of image(s).

Linguistic

Your distinctive filtering process that leads to your representation of the world is revealed in your verbal and nonverbal communication. You may describe an experience in the outside world using words that reveal how you filtered. For example, if you may use predominantly visual words as you describe an event revealing you filtered through predominantly the visual aspects of that event. This information you have revealed can then be used by an NLP expert to understand how you experience the world and then use this information to communicate with you on your wavelength.

There are several other filters – your unique Metaprograms (how you prefer to make decisions), your unique anchors, your values, beliefs.

Programming

You have been programmed by your life experiences to have the specific filters that you have. . Once we have a structured filtering process we maintain this model and continue to live our lives through it.

In your life your filters may be working for you to achieve your desired outcomes or they may be limiting you in your life.

NLP shows you how you can become aware of your filters and then re-program in a way that allows you to live a richer life, whether that means better time management or stress management.

Particularly for us Doctors, NLP can enhance the way we communicate as we become aware of “how” our patients communicate and then use this information to build powerful rapport with them by then communicating on their wavelength.

NLP is a powerful tool for doctors because of the way it increases our understanding of our own filters as well as our patients’ filters. We then have a choice of changing our filters in a way that enhances our lives .We also have techniques we can use with our patients to become aware of their filters(meta model) and enable them to choose if they want to change them.

Example: Why I used to get fined for my tax returns

I used to get fined for late tax returns

As soon as the return arrived in the post I could almost hear a voice reminding me how bad I am at accounts. I would imagine the process of completing it as a huge and overwhelming task, and quickly become very stressed – too stressed, in fact, to do the return. I put it off, again and again; until I was fined, forced to do the return, and realised it was far easier than I had imagined.

The task itself was easy. The problem arose from my own internal representation of the task, the self-reinforcing internal state it created, and the behaviour resulting from that state.

As a GP I have used NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) techniques for the past eight years, with encouraging results. For example, I have learned most patients have the resources they need to make significant lifestyle changes within themselves. They really can feel fully motivated to lose weight, and to lead healthy lives, if we teach them how to use those resources effectively.

By addressing the subconscious drives determining whether or not patients take action we can gain a better understanding of how patients can help themselves gain more control over their own health.

The key to success with NLP techniques is to understand that everyone can consciously create an Internal Representation that leads to the action or outcome we want. These days I create an image of the Tax Return in its envelope, completed and ready to go, which gives me a sense of achievement, As a result I feel great, and can’t wait to get the job done.

For our patients the goal is to help them create an Internal Representation that is motivating, and to practice doing so regularly. This helps them feel positive and encourages them to take actions that will change their condition.

What can I do with NLP?

Dr Bandler, the creator of NLP says NLP is about freedom

So, you can do anything you like with NLP, essentially to live the way you want.

Most doctors come to the NLP trainings to learn how to manage time better, to communicate more effectively with patients and colleagues, to feel more enthusiastic at work, to feel happier, to feel more confident or assertive at work.

In the process of training, they would discover that they have been running a strategy to procrastinate, or realise they have a limiting belief that has been holding them back in their full enjoyment of their work. Some doctors have uncovered the psychological programmes they have been running all their lives, that have lead to self sabotage. They then learn how to replace them with more resourceful strategies

Others have learnt how to use NLP strategies to motivate their patients to lose weight, or nudge them out of stuck states

The question is how would you like things to be for you?

How can I use NLP more often?

I find the most benefit from NLP is gained by ‘being NLP’ .Specifically, by allowing the skills to really get into the muscle

Learning NLP is a bit like learning to drive a car. When I passed my test I have "conscious competence" of my skills. Had I not practised by driving after the test I would never have developed the "unconscious competence” that allows me to drive from London to Ipswich without really remembering much of the journey afterwards

A taster of NLP is great to gain understanding of their subject. However, for the skills to really "get into the muscle" this requires practise. This is why the 3 day and 7 day NLP courses exist as we assess you to ensure you have the NLP skills without even thinking about it

Opportunities to use NLP are everywhere.

Language: We words we use influence states and when we consciously direct specific state inducing words, we can create very resourceful states I anyone, from stuck patients to difficult colleagues.

Rapport: Once we identify HOW someone filters information and HOW someone communicates, we can build powerful rapport with anyone, simply by communicating on their wavelength. They say the most successful person in a tam is the one with the greatest flexibility. With an understanding of NLP, you learn HOW you filter and how to identify other people’s way of filtering. You can then consciously choose to communicate information through their filters

Meta model: The Meta model incisive outcome focused questioning techniques are very powerful to nudge our patients out of stuck states. I use them often in surgery for the following patient situations:

• TATT
• Never sleep doctor
• Don’t eat a thing, I can’t lose weight doctor
• You’re the doctor
• Yes but, No but …

So, imagine you have a stuck patient in front of you. From their non verbal and verbal communication you elicit their strategies for staying in a stuck state. Then you would adjust your verbal and non verbal communication in a way that is on their wavelength, and then using Meta model questioning techniques you would get them to consider possibilities they haven’t even considered before.

You would do all this automatically and change gear smoothly, adjusting to each individual situation, without being consciously aware you are doing it.

How can I take charge of my future independence?

How would you know when you are in charge of your independence?

The focus of successfully achieving your outcome, is knowing your outcome as if you already have it.

Specifically, what would you see, hear and feel when you are in charge of your independence

One of the powerful benefits of NLP is that it gives you a greater sense of control in your life.

This is because you gain a greater understanding of your unique filters … your belief systems, your Metaprograms, your core values, your preferred representation system. Then, with your greater awareness of HOW you process information, you can direct these internal resources to the successful achievement of your outcomes. You also gain a greater understanding of other peoples processing and preferred filters. So you gain a sense of control in directing your communication with anyone too

How can I integrate the two clinical services which I manage?

How would you know when you have successfully integrated the two clinical services?

The focus of successfully achieving your outcome, is knowing your outcome as if you already have it.

Specifically, what would you see, hear and feel when you are in charge of your independence

With NLP, you gain a greater understanding of your unique filters … your belief systems, your Metaprograms, your core values, your preferred representation system. Then you direct your internal resources to the successful achievement of your outcomes

How to help my patients

NLP is a powerful tool for us doctors because of the way it increases our understanding of our own filters as well as our patients’ filters. We then have a choice of changing our filters in a way that enhances our lives .We also have techniques we can use with our patients to become aware of their filters(meta model) and enable them to choose if they want to change them.

Taking the example of overweight patients or patients trying to stop smoking, “stuck” patients ….

Once we have an understanding of HOW our patients mentally process information, their strategies to become motivated in one situation and demotivated in another, we can then take control of the consultation and communicate information to them on their wavelength, through their unique filters. This is done by using language techniques, non verbal communication as well as the Meta model incisive questioning techniques to move them forward

This also works very effectively with anxious patients as well as patients with limiting states… “Tired All the Time”, “Pain everywhere doctor” patients

See “What exactly is NLP?” for more on our unique filters

How can I pull myself out of my personal crisis and regain my motivation to do things I want to do?

We say in NLP ‘If you keep doing what you always did, you will keep getting what you always got’

The first step is to identify the structure of your personal crisis.

We all have unique filters which determine our experience of a situation and our response.

What I teach is how you can use NLP to identify your unique way of filtering…. Your unique core values, your belief system, the structure of any self sabotage.

We would then replace them with more resourceful strategies and filters that work for you.

As a GP, when I first became a GP in 1998, I was full of enthusiasm and loved my job. After 2 years I noticed a loss of motivation and that’s when I started learning about NLP.

Having then become aware of my own limiting beliefs and also about how I was letting eternal situations affect my state, I learnt strategies to have a greater sense of control over any situation and hence feel my enthusiasm back.

How do I live a life without being afraid of making a mistake all the time?

We say in NLP ‘If you keep doing what you always did, you will keep getting what you always got’

The first step is to identify the structure of the fear of making a mistake

We all have unique filters which determine our experience of a situation and our response.

What I teach is how you can use NLP to identify your unique way of filtering…. Your unique core values, your belief system, the structure of any self sabotage.

We would then replace them with more resourceful strategies and filters that work for you.

As a GP, when I first started in 1998, I used to have a fear of complaints. Apparently every GP gets one in their life time so I was constantly worrying about it, along with working quite defensively. This made me feel a loss of a sense of control which made me quite stressed.

When I learnt NLP I understood the structure of my thinking patterns and how some of them were quite limiting. Once you understand the structure, you can change it to a much more resourceful pattern of thinking and this is what I did.

So having become aware of my own limiting beliefs and also about how I was letting external situations affect my state , I learnt strategies to have a greater sense of control over any situation and hence feel a sense of ‘I can handle anything that comes my way’

The key is to understand your ‘programming’- your patterns of thinking and behaviour and then know how to change this to be more resourceful for you

How to get through next week!

The question already implies a loss of a sense of control. A study on healthcare workers showed that low self esteem, stress and burn out was closely linked to a loss of a sense of control in our lives

The first step to feel a greater sense of control in your life is to become aware of your own unique way of filtering. By filtering I mean the unique way we all process and integrate information .See ‘What is NLP?’ to understand more about filters

Once you know how you filter, process and also about how your unique way of communicating, you can then use NLP techniques to ‘reprogramme’ your filters in a way that is resourceful for you