The Swish Pattern With a Rubber Band

by Gaston Gauthier

A man came in my office wanting help on controlling his temper. He was evicted from his home and charged for assaulting his wife. He had a court order that he could not associate or be within 100 meters of his wife. After establishing rapport and completing the Advance Information Gathering questionnaire, I felt obligated to provide this client with a tool that would be beneficial to him until we met again the following week. I noticed he was wearing a rubber band on his wrist. When I ask him why, he responded that at work he is always looking for rubber bands. I began to explore with him all the good things about rubber bands. He was able to come up with at least 15 good things you can do with rubber bands. ALL I WANTED TO DO IS ASSOCIATE A POSITIVE ANCHOR TO HIS RUBBER BAND. My next step was to apply the swish pattern strategy to the rubber band.

1) IDENTIFY A SPECIFIC BEHAVIOUR YOU WISH TO CHANGE?
My client wanted to be able to manage his anger.
I informed him to close his eyes and see in front of him in a big bright associated image of himself when he is angry. I asked him to use all his senses and be specific.

I asked him to set this picture aside and open his eyes.

2) I asked him to close his eyes again and form an image of having his outcome:
Being in control of his emotion or anger
How did he see himself with this desired outcome?
How did he look, feel, see, hear, smell, colors, brightness etc.
Break state

3) I had my client visualize the cue image big and bright and the self-image starts out small and dark in the upper or lower corner wherever he preferred. I asked him to say the word, stop and snap his rubber band and have the cue image swiftly shrunk and darkens at the same time that the self image got bigger, larger and brighter. I had him blank the screen and repeat the linking by saying stop and snapping his rubber band. I had him repeat this event at a very fast pace approximately 12 times. (The age of his son).

A week later, my client reported to me that if it weren’t for the rubber band he would be in jail today. Even though he was not supposed to be near his wife, one night he went to her house very angry. She did not want to let him in .As he began knocking hard on the door, he decided to apply the swish and snap his rubber band. He noticed his behaviour changed rapidly and he began to cry. He realized what he had done was wrong and went home. His wife did not call the police.

The swish pattern directionalizes the brain. When you direct your mind, your behaviour has a very strong tendency to go in the same direction. The swish helps you recode your mind to respond differently to the same trigger.

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