The PCAT Formula for Helping People Make Changes with Hypnosis

Conversational Hypnosis is an art for helping others to live happier, healthier and overall better lives.  One of the tools that you can use to help people to do this is called the PCAT Formula.  The PCAT Formula is a simple formula that you can use in any conversation to assist in making a change in the person you are talking to.  It is used for many different reasons but the base of those reasons is to overcome a hard time, or get past a hurdle in their lives.

One of the most convenient aspects of the PCAT Formula is that it can be used in almost any conversation.  It is very simple to transition from a normal everyday conversation into the PCAT Formula.  This is helpful in that many times in normal everyday conversations you will be talking to a friend, client or family member and they will automatically tell you about what it is that is limiting them in their lives and then you can go to work undetected.

You have probably figured out by now that PCAT stands for four different steps in this formula.  Those include problem, conflict, active solution and transform.  These are all things you will need to involve to help the person you are talking to resolve whatever it is that is holding them back.

The ‘P’ in PCAT signifies problem.  This is here simply to remind you that in order to use this formula, in order to you to solve a persons problem they must have a problem.  Your job is to get that problem activated, the more the problem is avoided the less likely they are to really confront it and find a solution.  

You can give out all the solutions you want but it the person you are talking to has not recognized or brought up the problem itself there will be nothing to put that solution with, making it a meaningless interaction as far a solving the problem goes.  If your listener has brought their problem to light then there is something to trigger that the solution you are offering is connected to the problem at hand.

In activating the problem you not only provide a place to attach the solution you also set some triggers naturally.  When the problem your subject is having starts to begin being a problem, if the solution is already sitting around waiting for it there will be an attachment of the problem and solution before the problem becomes so big that it is overwhelming. 

You have heard about neurology and how it fires up when we experience an emotion or have an experience, well problems are closely related to both of those items.  When you activate the problem inside the head then the neurology starts to light up this makes it possible for the solution and problem to find one another and get together inside the mind.

A simple word of caution before we move on to the letter ‘C’.  When you are working on activating the problem with someone it is important to remember that this is not a way of re-traumatizing them, you only need to bring the problem to mind so they know what you are talking about, so their unconscious door is cracked open a bit to let the solution in to attach to the problem. 

Usually bringing a problem to light is not a problem as most problems will naturally come up in conversation.  This means the person you are talking to will do all the work for this step you just need to be able to recognize that the problem is there and take that cue to move into the PCAT Formula.

The next step in the PCAT Formula is the ‘C’ and it initializes Confusion.  Confusion in this instance is to help the person you are dealing with to get out of the problem pattern.  You see when you have a problem there is a pattern created and you simply move in that pattern over and over again not knowing how to break it because you don’t know how to solve the problem.

In confusion you are going to get in and start to break up the problem, make it into little pieces this will break down the pattern and leave you with something to rebuild with later.  There are three reasons for confusion, the first one is what you just read, break up the problem to cause confusion in the pattern.

The second reason for confusion is that it will often induce a trance all by itself.  Confusion is an alarming state for people and they will unknowingly look to escape it, they will move their mind in a different direction to avoid further confusion.  This is good because it offers you the chance to pave the escape route with the solution you are offering, and we will go into that in a moment.

The third reason for confusion is that it bypasses your foe the critical factor.  This is always good as you will experience less resistance from the person you are working with and you solutions will be able to make it in and stick to the problem.

All these parts of confusion are very important because in essence when you put it all together confusion breaks the cycle of the pattern, builds the potential for response, offers them an escape route of clarity that they will be anxious to hold on to and bypasses the critical factor so you have a stronger impact with the suggestions you leave them with.

The next step in the PCAT Formula is the ‘A’ and it signifies to activate a solution.  You will most often find that the solution is a type of state, either an emotion or feeling, but it can really be anything.  Now there are different strategies for activating the solution that your conscious mind will be already searching for, you can bring that solution to light with these different strategies.

The first activation strategy is that of reframe.  This is simple; you have learned all about how to reframe a person so here is your chance to put that into action.  You can use a reframe to activate a solution.

The second activation strategy is to use your stories.  You can use all your different story telling skills to activate the solution.  Tell a story about what someone else did, or what you may have done, this will bring that experience and state up in the person you are talking to.

The third activation strategy is emotional triggers.  The emotional triggers can be used to take your listener back in time to a place where they felt powerful or they were experiencing an emotion that will be helpful in activating the solution now.

The next activation strategy is to find past experience.  This is where you can guide the unconscious mind on a mission to go through the mind and look for similar past experiences; this will mean they are searching for the answer to their problem themselves.  This is done in a dreamlike unconscious state that you are guiding them through.  This will not only bring to mind different solutions used in the past but also behaviors that may be helpful that they haven’t actually attached to their problem.

The final activation strategy is that of visualization.  This is a simple way of making the person imagine what it is they need to do.  Imagination and visualization are powerful tools that will help to show your subject the way to resolution. 

Finally the ‘T’ in the PCAT Formula stands for transform.  This is the tool that will assist you in actually attaching the problem to the solution.  This is a basic combination step, you will take the problem that you have identified and match it up with the solutions you have been implying through out the entire process. 

Put the solutions in with their problem and get them combined this will offer the answer to their problem and they will attach together.  When you use all these steps together correctly they will help your subject to find and apply the solutions that are needed to create a positive change in their lives.

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