Richard Bandler

This is the funniest book on psychology I've ever read, but it's also provided food for thought for many years. A great investigation into the way the mind works, a practical user's manual that is also creative & open-ended.

This is a little gem of a book which, perhaps more so than any other, helped me understand how our minds work on a linguistic basis (a topic of, no doubt, interest to avid readers).

The downside is that it's basically a textbook writing for pyschologists. But, if you can stomach the dryness, the rewards of insight are well worth the effort.

As many know, this series of books along with Frogs into Princes helped to establish the field of Nero Linguistic Programming or NLP.

A careful reading of this book will unearth a wealth of information, not only about remedial and generative models developed in early NLP, but also how and why models were designed as they were to begin with. If one keeps that in mind, as well as the primary presupposition (map/territory), there will be no vast discrepancy between old and new NLP, nor even DHE. You can see the roots right here. The authors themselves make a point in saying that the Six Step Reframing pattern, for instance, show more was only structured the way it was as a teaching tool, and that it should be forgotten once it was integrated with other communication processes. The Parts metaphor, they say, is only a one of a number of ways of mapping 'as if,' perhaps only a way of 'chunking' behavior. Bandler is cleverer than everybody thinks: if he doesn't use parts as a metaphor, then what are all the 'machines' he's talking about? What about the spacial/visual representations of decision making strategies, et al? Aren't they essentially the same thing? The problem is people tend to forget that these are not actuallities but only useful ways of talking.
This book takes the simpler version of reframing from 'Frogs' and really opens it up, describes how it can be used in conjunction with anchoring and linguistic patterns, until it begins to disintegrate as a specific and separate model and becomes a direction.
For another possible view of these issues, see Anti-Oedipus: capitalism and schizophrenia, by Deleuze and Guattari, which dances along to similar music, including the contradictions...-John P. Schertzer

I love it, I love it, I love it! From the very first page, I was hooked. This explains the reframing technique spawned by Virginia Satir and later tweaked by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. This book is great for NLP-lovers as well as regular people who want to learn how to phrase things correctly to allow others to see things DIFFERENTLY in life.

For instance: 'This hotel is a dump and there's dust everywhere and paint chipped off the wall,' can be reframed to be, 'This hotel is a historical antique and it's been left the way it was a hundred years ago, isn't that amazing?'

Also, this explains how people miscommunicate based on interpretations of tonality. For instance, 'Oh it's you again.' If the emphasis is on the word 'again' then people assume it's a negative statement. However, there's absolutely nothing that implies it being negative at all and can be a very positive statement when stated the same way.

Chapter two talks about 'negotiating parts' that conflict and how to bring them together. Some people call it parts integration. This explains in detail how to fit it all together. For instance, 'A part of me wants to do this, and a part of me wants to do that.' This explains how to comfortably decide what needs to be done.

Reframing on page 14 -
Before: 'I feel terrible because my boss always criticizes me.'
Reframe: 'He must really notice the work you do, and like you enough to want to help you improve it.'

This book is REALLY a keeper. I love this book probably better than all my current NLP and hypnosis books.-Isabella Valentine

A careful reading of this book will unearth a wealth of information, not only about remedial and generative models developed in early NLP, but also how and why models were designed as they were to begin with.

If one keeps that in mind, as well as the primary presupposition (map/territory), there will be no vast discrepancy between old and new NLP, nor even DHE. You can see the roots right here. The authors themselves make a point in saying that the Six Step Reframing pattern, for instance, was only structured the way it was as a teaching tool, and that it should be forgotten once it was integrated with other communication processes.

The Parts metaphor, they say, is only a one of a number of ways of mapping 'as if,' perhaps only a way of 'chunking' behavior. Bandler is cleverer than everybody thinks: if he doesn't use parts as a metaphor, then what are all the 'machines' he's talking about? What about the spacial/visual representations of decision making strategies, et al? Aren't they essentially the same thing? The problem is people tend to forget that these are not actuallities but only useful ways of talking.

This book takes the simpler version of reframing from 'Frogs' and really opens it up, describes how it can be used in conjunction with anchoring and linguistic patterns, until it begins to disintegrate as a specific and separate model and becomes a direction.

For another possible view of these issues, see Anti-Oedipus: capitalism and schizophrenia, by Deleuze and Guattari, which dances along to similar music, including the contradictions..-Dale E. Bernelle

Contents

Introduction
I Content reframing: Meaning and context
II Negotiating between parts-Outline
III Creating a new paart-Outline
IV Advanced six-step reframing-Outline
V Reframing systems: Couples, families, organizations
VI Reframing dissociated states: Alcoholism, drug abuse, etc.
Note
Bibliography
Index show less

Hmm....I'm not an expert in the development of psychotherapy history, but this book seems to have developed the techniques so familiar to us such as....'what do you mean by that......how do you feel about that....etc. Many authors cite the authors Bandler and Grinder as authorities especially in the fields of NLP and hypnosis, and these books would seem to be important in several psychological areas. Whatever the background and uses of this book, it is incredibly boring and its clinical show more approach makes it as much fun as a kick in the jewels. But, it is organized as a learning text rather than a fun read, and it seems to be a detailed, comprehensive tool to teach one the techinque of asking "how do you feel about that"....lol.....it is also much more. Bandler and Grinder, developed (?) the idea that a persons conception of the world (thier own personal reality), or model as the authors call it can be analyzed by a therapist, who discovers and unveils deletions, generalizations,and other mental distortions. All this is structurally apparant in the persons grammer, and language patterns. Interesting. I didn't enjoy reading it, but it was a valuable read. show less