They did not know it as NLP, or Hypnosis, but later I could see the same mental pathways at work.

The current 12-step approach for addictions changes people lives. It does this by using time and some of our techniques in their natural form. You can use them in your work. I pray that you do.

Here are some examples and how they break down:

1. A person who has been sober for years may say to a newcomer, "instead of looking at the one thing you can't do, drink, turn and look at all the things you can do. You can do anything you want except drink, (and do drugs)...." What a powerful reframe! It changes the perspective!!

2. An old timer will stress that every time you think of a drink (or drug) you automatically think of the last time you got into trouble and the pain it caused you. A swish pattern: cue picture or thought-drink, link to pain. Wow! This stops relapses.

3. A sober person will tell a person struggling, when faced with an urge, to take a moment and pull back, and see the drink (drug), think back to the past and see the troubles it has caused you, then look to the future and see what it will costs you. It will be the same or worse. Then THINK THE DRINK THROUGH! This changes a person from an in-time experience (urge to use) to a through time process!

4. The program said that to stay clean and sober you need to stick with the winners, people who have gotten sober, and do what they do. Walk in their shoes. This is Modeling at its best.

5. A person will talk about how a PART of them wants to change but another PART fights it, and they have to work through this until the conflict is overcome. Once again we see an NLP technique...A slow Visual squash!!!

6. A person who stays sober may tell you that they have run movies in their minds of them doing what their sponsors, or models do.... A New Behavior Generator, one of my favorite techniques.

7. It is common to hear that to succeed you need to KEEP YOUR MEMORY GREEN, act like a newcomer. This stops complacency, keeps the ego in check, and helps you relate to newcomers.

8. Meditation, looking inward, is talked about, using prayer and meditation, to find the answers inward. Quiet time is stressed.

9. It is told to newcomers to change their playmates and playpens, stop hanging around the old places. You don't go to a bar and act surprised that people are drinking. Change the environment. Change the behavior. This is under the newcomer's control.

10. Many old timers will tell newcomers to stop talking about the fun times drinking, etc, and instead focus on the problems. Another Swish type mental movement.

What you see are techniques that we, as Hypnotists and NLPers, could use to speed up the healing process. We know that we need to change the subconscious mind and how it perceives the addiction (alcohol or drug). The 12 Step model, as well as, traditional insight therapy, does this over time. This is why the 12 Step model is so successful. Plus bear in mind, many of the people who are battling addictions have no reference point for "normal" behavior. Children of addicts have a higher rate of problems. We have the tools to help here.

When children see "big" people, those role models they have, parents, grandparents, etc. using alcohol and drugs they develop the deep subconscious belief that this is normal. Remember, these are the big people who tell us fire is hot, and then we find its true, we learn to believe them. Think of some of the beliefs we pass on. Alcohol makes things more fun; can't dance without a drink; a meal is not complete without a smoke; can't start the day without a cigarette and coffee; can't relax without a cocktail. Our music, television, and movies only reinforce this type of thinking. This programming gets in deep and is resistant to change. This is what we are fighting.

I have been teaching and treating addictions using Hypnosis and NLP for the last several years. I have combined a lot of the current methodologies and now for the first time have come up with a new Neuro-Linguistic approach to addictions. The new approach takes into account the Disease Medical model, the Psychological model, the Genetic information, the new Risk Reduction Process, the AA model, and the Rational recovery information. I have streamlined these and added years of info on how NLP and Hypnosis works in the mind.