Condition

A couple of months back, my five-year-old son had a dream that a black pig was trying to bite his arm. The dream was extremely real to him, and he has brought it up several times when preparing to go to bed, indicating that it was scary.

Treatment

I had him go into state and recall the pig and the scenario, including all submodalities and anchored this negative state.

I then had him picture the pig as a little piglet with a big red hat and huge clown sunglasses on and anchored this positive state of humor.

I also had him change the submodalities to include pink spots on the pigs face and body and changed the sounds the pig made from deep grunts to cheeps, like a baby chick and continued to anchor this positive state as my son was laughing.

I then had him think of Ulrich von Lichtenstein, the unbeatable knight from The Knight’s Tale and had him picture himself as the knight (son’s favorite movie, and he loves to pretend he is Ulrich while jousting with his younger brother). I anchored this resource of confidence and strength while building submodalities including the color of the armor, the size and texture of the shield, the smell, look and sound of the horse he was riding and my son knowing he couldn’t be touched as Dylan The Unbeatable Knight.

I then collapsed the negative anchor into the positive one and added the resource anchor to the mix telling my son that ‘whenever he encountered the big black pig, he would find it funny that it had a big red hat and huge clown sunglasses on while chirping like a baby chick. But then the pig would become a tiny piglet as he became Dylan The Unbeatable Knight on his mighty stallion, knowing that the pig was no longer a threat, and that he could not be touched by any that he encountered.

I then brought him out of state and asked him to tell me about the pig. He started laughing and said it was funny as he jumped out of his chair and onto his ‘horse’ and rode away for the next joust.

My wife and I have not heard about the Big Black Pig since.

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