Magic in Practice (2nd ed) Read online

  Support for the second edition

  ‘This second edition of Magic in Practice is a remarkable achievement. It is a dynamic, highly readable, well-referenced, practical guide to using Medical NLP in consultations, brought to life through the inclusion of numerous and wide-ranging fascinating case studies, all rooted in real life practice.

  ‘It incorporates new and exciting material drawing on the latest findings from neuroscience and also on the experiences of a vast range of healthcare professionals who are further developing the applications of Medical NLP in their work.

  ‘Since being trained by in this field more than a decade ago, I have used Medical NLP skills on a daily basis in my clinical work as a way of creating more powerful, rewarding consultations with patients. This new edition of the book is already energizing my work further, inspiring me to develop my skills to another level.’

  Dr Arti Maini, General Practitioner, London, UK

  ‘I would say the first edition of Magic In Practice gave us tools to better look after our patients and improve beyond the bare numbers. This second edition moves the game on, using better and more powerful concepts. Every healthcare professional should read this.

  ‘We are in a position of great privilege where the needy seek our help. We owe it to them to maximize our impact on their wellbeing. For any treatment to work, one needs the patient to have belief that the intervention will work.

  ‘These tools have made a big impact both clinically and beyond in both my professional and personal life. The more naturally they are used, the more effective they become. Since becoming a doctor, they are the most useful skills I have learnt. To improve oneself is a time-limited choice, so use your time wisely.’

  Dr Khalid Hasan, Consultant Anesthiologist, Birmingham, UK

  ‘Ever since I first attended a Medical NLP course run by Garner, I knew that his approach to wellbeing would change the way I practice.

  ‘I have worked as a consultant psychiatrist for many years and can truly say that his approach has helped me become a holistic therapist in every sense of the word…. I approach my patients in a completely new way and ‘listen’ to them in a way I never imagined possible.

  ‘I was so pleased to see a second edition of Magic in Practice. It is a well-crafted, clear and informative companion to my everyday practice.

  ‘It will undoubtedly change the way you work and the way you ‘see’ your patients. The way you approach health, healing and ‘dis-ease’ will become richer, and the way you help your patients will never be the same.’

  Dr Leon van Huyssteen, Consultant Psychiatrist, London, UK

  ‘One of the most exciting things for me as a physician is to see patients I have been treating for years have their lives transformed using the techniques described in this book.

  ‘They are now far too busy enjoying life to come and see me and I am so grateful to Garner for equipping me with the skills to do this.’

  Dr Liz Croton, General Practitioner and GP Trainer, Birmingham, UK

  ‘The authors are shamefacedly altruistic in this second edition where their personal insights and sensitivity to the experiences of patients and clients are neatly woven throughout the text.

  ‘The healing value of Medical NLP to the patient, client and practitioner is articulated in such a way that the reader wants to learn more, develop skills and an array of tools they can access during any consultation or meeting to enhance the patient/client experience.

  ‘Many of the tools discussed within the book have wider application: the support of anxious learners and novice practitioners, and, as such, the book should be on the reading list for all those involved in care of others who are keen to ensure the wellbeing of those they care for and optimize their own ability to be effective and sensitive care givers.

  Sandra Bannister, Director of Undergraduate Programmes, School of Health Sciences, University of Stirling, UK

  ‘This excellent and thought provoking second edition of Magic In Practice explores, among other things, the paradox of seemingly increasing ill health, or at least the reduced sense of well-being, despite the impressive technological advances made in medicine.

  ‘Although remarkable progress has been made in our understanding of, and the ability to manipulate, the genome, the metabolome, the microbiome etc, many people’s illnesses and symptoms leave the medical profession baffled. The authors explore the underlying causes of this phenomenon and offer practical solutions.

  ‘It is an impressive piece of work, exploring and linking the mind, the body, their interaction and encompassing a study of human behaviour in relation to health outcomes. This book is an essential read for anyone involved in healthcare, and will benefit the patient and practitioner alike.’

  Dr Shahid A Khan, Consultant Physician & Adjunct Reader, Director of Clinical Studies, St Mary’s Hospital, London, UK

  Those who say it can’t be done should not interrupt the person doing it

  –Ancient Chinese proverb

  Magic in Practice

  Introducing Medical NLP:

  The Art and Science of Language

  in Healing and Health

  Garner Thomson

  with

  Dr. Khalid Khan

  Introduction by

  Dr. Richard Bandler

  Co-creator and Developer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming

  Second Edition

  Revised and updated

  Contents

  Title Page

  Acknowledgments

  Comments on the Second Edition

  Foreword to the Second Edition

  Foreword to the First Edition

  Overview

  Chapter 1 Towards Healing and Health: a solution-oriented approach

  Chapter 2 Stress and Allostatic Load: the hidden factor in all disease

  Chapter 3 Avoiding Compassion Fatigue: the dark side of empathy

  Chapter 4 Words that Harm, Words that Heal: neurolinguistics in the consultation process

  Chapter 5 Primes and Priming: the secret world of indirect influence

  Chapter 6 Structure, Process and Change: the building blocks of experience

  Chapter 7 Taming the Runaway Brain: three thinking tools

  Phase 1: Engagement

  Chapter 8 The Rules of Engagement: managing first impressions

  Phase 2: Alignment

  Chapter 9 The Uninterrupted Story: beyond the 18th second

  Chapter 10 The Clinical Questioning Matrix: eliciting quality data

  Phase 3: Reorientation

  Chapter 11 Accessing Patient Resources: the potential for change

  Chapter 12 The Symptom as Solution: when the body speaks

  Chapter 13 A Different Kind of Reason: entering the patient’s world

  Chapter 14 Getting to Where You Want to Go: directions, outcomes and goals

  Chapter 15 Thinking in Time: temporal language, permanent change

  Chapter 16 Medical NLP Algorithms for Change: steps to transformation

  Chapter 17 Hypnosis in Healing and Health: the language of influence

  Chapter 18 Coherence, Chaos and Octopus Traps: the presenting past

  Chapter 19 From ‘Functional’ to Functioning: restructuring dysfunctional states

  Chapter 20 Working with the Glyph: the shape of the unconscious mind

  Chapter 21 Re-patterning and Future-Pacing: making and maintaining change

  Chapter 22 Making Something of Your World: small changes, big returns

  Chapter 23 Nine Minutes and Counting: fast-tracking change

  Chapter 24 Communicating for Life: the way forward

  Glossary

  Appendices

  Appendix A In the Eye of the Storm: activating
the Relaxation Response

  Appendix B The On-line Brain: cross-lateral exercises

  Appendix C Medical NLP Algorithm: managing pain

  Appendix D Strategies: the sequencing of experience

  Index

  Copyright

  IMPORTANT NOTE

  All diagrams, models, patterns and quotations relating to Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)—including, but not confined to, the NLP information-processing model, eye accessing cues, submodality distinctions and phobia cure pattern—appear in this book with the express written permission of Dr Richard Bandler. This, and any other information relating to NLP and Medical NLP, may not be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the written permission of Dr Bandler, the authors and The Society of Medical NLP, whichever is appropriate.

  Acknowledgments

  Many people have contributed to both editions of this book in a variety of ways—but none more so than Dr. Richard Bandler, without whom it, quite literally, would have been inconceivable. His insight, intellectual honesty and wisdom have combined to create one of the most significant tools for human development in the past century.

  Apart from his work, which continues to inspire our own, we are hugely grateful for the support and encouragement he has given to the foundation and development of The Society of Medical NLP. The number of doctors, students, and allied health professionals who have had the opportunity to experience and advance the power and potential of this extraordinary technology and to pass on the benefits to their patients is growing, and will, we hope, continue to do so as the years go by.

  We thank those many doctors, students, and allied health professionals who have entrusted us with their training, and we applaud their courage in seeking to explore beyond the edges of their known maps. The discoveries and experiences they report back to us are a constant source of inspiration and delight. We are delighted to feature some of their experiences in this new edition. Of special interest to us are those health professionals who, armed only with the information in the first incarnation of Magic in Practice, went out, tried some of the patterns for the first time, and achieved notable—sometimes extraordinary—results.

  Our appreciation goes to those researchers whose work we cite in this book. While they have inspired us in our search for explanations for the theories and principles we discuss, and the mysteries of the body-mind system, human relationships, and health, we emphasize that any interpretation placed upon their work is ours alone. Our thanks, too, to those writers and thinkers who granted our requests to quote their words or reproduce their diagrams. To those who have not and were, for whatever reason, unable to respond to our requests, we would appreciate it if they contacted us so we can include credits in later editions.

  We would particularly like to thank Georgina Bentliff who originally commissioned Magic in Practice for Hammersmith Press, and who has so bravely taken on this second edition.

  Finally, thanks to Dr. Naveed Akthar for his tireless help and meticulous approach in helping to proof-read this edition.

  Comments on the Second Edition

  From the earliest stage of publication, we have been touched by, and deeply grateful for, the unstinting encouragement, support, and recognition Magic in Practice has received from the vast majority of readers.

  Reviews have been consistently enthusiastic in both online and print media; the book has found its way onto the reading lists of various universities and medical schools and we have been interviewed, and positively received, by some of the most respected publications in the world. We have been invited to address mainline institutions on the subject of ‘the language of healing and health’, and the subject matter has been validated for a number of continuing professional development programs for doctors and other health professionals in the United Kingdom and abroad.

  Then there have been those people who attended Society of Medical NLP trainings, and went away to use and develop the principles and techniques they learned into new and even more effective interventions. Their experiences in applying the material have given rise to exciting results that are far beyond our original hopes.

  Finally, there are our real teachers—the patients and clients who come to us for help, who challenge us by presenting complex and often extremely mystifying conditions. By accepting the Medical NLP tenet that every patient is unique, regardless of how much they or their illness resembles someone or something else, we find ourselves constantly pushed to the limits of our own understanding and experience. That is where we have learned to sit back and listen, watch and wait, and, sooner or later, the inner logic of the patient’s experience often emerges to instruct us how to proceed.

  This edition of Magic in Practice has been some time in preparation. Although it will be easily recognizable to those readers who know the first edition, much is new.

  In some cases the emphasis has shifted. For example, where in the first edition we were hinting at looming disaster in healthcare, we now believe the crisis is upon us. An estimated one in 10 patients admitted to hospital in the European Union is a victim of medical error. A disproportionately large percentage (a further one in 10) of these accidents results in serious injury or death.1

  Furthermore, according to a report by Dr. Barbara Starfield of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, medical errors are now the third leading cause of death in the United States, following cancer and heart disease.2

  Some of the original chapters have been slightly edited to make them more self-contained, so the reader may dip in and out of the book according to her whim of the moment, while a number of sections have been added.

  These include new chapters on priming; breathing; heart rate variability; cardiac chaos and coherence; and how a minor change in sleeping patterns can head off an abundance of health problems. Additional evidence is mounting that people’s perception of their situation is at least as toxic as whatever condition they might actually be suffering—a real wake-up call to health-providers to pay attention to how the patient thinks about her problem, not just to what the problem allegedly ‘is’.

  Some of the scientific research has been updated, additional examples, anecdotes, and exercises have been introduced, and we have included new material on a number of topics, ranging from the stranglehold of ‘WEIRD’ science; the effect of relationships on the progression of cancer; ‘lifestyle diseases’: the West’s newest export to the emerging world; how medicine can create or cure disease by the definitions it uses; how exposure to media reports can cause or worsen physical conditions; and even how the color of a cigarette pack can affect the taste of its contents.

  We also include a seven-step, evidence-based guide to reducing the risk of death from any of the major circulatory or respiratory diseases by more than a third. Finally, at the request of many time-poor colleagues, we have included sure-fire techniques to control the wandering consultation and improve patient satisfaction.

  Our only request to the reader is that he or she approaches this new edition with an open mind. We say this: explore the contents, then try them out for yourself and see what works for you and your patients or clients. Feel free to contact us with your questions and experiences at: [email protected] or visit us on Facebook at: The Society of Medical NLP.

  Notes

  1. NPSA report: Building a memory: preventing harm, reducing risks & improving patient safety, London July 2005 p53.

  2. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Vol 284, No 4, July 26, 2000.

  Foreword to the Second Edition

  Dr. Richard Bandler

  Co-creator and Developer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming

  I am so glad to write this introduction to the second edition of Magic in Practice by Garner Thomson and Dr. Khalid Khan.

  People often ask me if I am proud of what I have done by co-creating Neuro-Linguistic Programming. The answer is, I don’t really think about it at all. I’m very proud of the effect it has had on the fields of psychology, education,
sales training and business … the list goes on.

  However, at the top of my list are the authors of this book who bravely entered the field of medicine to provide doctors with new, easier ways to view their own research and draw on skills that would help thousands of patients.

  I believe by updating their book they are responding to those they teach in the same way they ask doctors and healthcare professionals to update their views on communication in general.

  Everything can be done better … that is why I never stop. Hurrah to this second edition!!!!

  Dr. Richard Bandler

  2014

  Foreword to the First Edition

  Dr. Richard Bandler

  Co-creator and Developer of NLP

  All I can say is: it’s about time. This is the kind of book I hoped one of my students would write. What Garner Thomson has done, with Dr. Khalid Khan, is to take my work further and, with great precision, present tools for healthcare professionals, while at the same time offering all those in NLP a solid understanding of how the technology of NLP works in the brain.

  I have for years been very good at modeling successful healers, but have fallen short on providing the science. I have used Magnetic Resonance Imaging since it was available to understand the mysteries of the brain. Now, these gentlemen have gone so much farther. I say thank you—and recommend that any Neuro-Linguistic Programmer read this over and over and over.

  It seems obvious to me that the more we know about the brain and how it works well, the better off we will be. And the two most important applications of my work will always be education and health. My work has been accepted by psychologists and therapists. Over the years, I have trained thousands of doctors, teachers, and healthcare professionals. The American Dental Society claimed that NLP had the only cure for dental phobia.