The Social Panorama:

NLP tools for identity change.

by Lucas Derks 2006

Obviously, people house a strong desire to remain who they are, even if their identities causes them and
others trouble; like when they are criminals, psychiatric patients, religious fanatics, junks, alcoholics,
victims, foreigners or losers.

NLP-ers like Richard Bandler, Robert Dilts and Steve Andreas developed methods that enable a person
to change their self beliefs. This work however, never has been easy. Lucas Derks is expanding NLP’s
identity change work with a new tool: the social panorama.

Who you are, is comprised of a complex cognitive structure that is deeply rooted in your past and tightly
knitted with your present social world. First of all, knowing who you are provides certainty; you know
your role and your place, and you know what to do and you also become more predictable to others.
Because you are present in all your actions, your self concept becomes connected to almost everything.
Who you believe that you are is the backbone of your model of the world, which makes it very resistant
to change.

In general, knowing who they are is extremely important for social animals like us; it helps us to take our
place in the herd. Without it, we cannot relate or bond. Social exclusion seems to be worse than most
complaints resulting from a problematic identity. As long as you are someone and belong to a social
system you can live on, however problematic. That is why it is often hard for a person with, a long career
as a psychiatric patient to turn ‘normal’.

By experimenting with self change for over a decade, in the course of his ‘social panorama project’,
Lucas Derks came across some tools that bring identity change within closer range.
1) The historical connections can be loosened up with the aid of trans-generational imagination
techniques. This often involves transferring missing resources into the lives of grand parents and great
grandparents.

2) The limiting effect of present social connections can be dealt with by the techniques of the social
panorama. This is an approach that treats the subjective social world as a construction in mental space.
By moving around with the images of others, relations can be altered. By adding resources to limited
individuals, one can create an enriched map of the social world. In this way one can reorganize the
groups one belongs to; and change social identity and group membership.

3) Change the self concept directly.

Beside the ‘indirect’ approaches 1 and 2, Lucas slowly discovered and tested methods to change the
cognitive-emotional core of the self. This core consists of three elements: the self feeling, the self image
and the connection between these two. And in fact it always includes a fourth element, the context.
Since any self-image is always connected to a context in which it operates (the operational self).

This structure helps to understand the strength of the self: in the sense, that a small, dark and far away
self image causes a weak sense of self in nearly all subjects. So the opposite, a large, bright and close self
image gives a strong sense of self.

However, the natural mechanism by what identities do change was not very well understood until
recently. Insight came from the notion, that individuals do generally have a number of potential
identities of which only some are used. A number of ‘false’ or ‘inadequate’ identities are either never
operational or are actively suppressed. The latter means that selective attention (inhibition, originating
from the prefrontal cortex) is used to block these inappropriate roles and positions out.

This implies that humans contain a mental mechanism for regulating identity that involves self images
that are variable in size, brightness and location, that can be either connected to the feeling of self or
disconnected, and that can be either supported or blocked out. Changing identity means intervening in
this multi variable system. The question is can one do that in an ecological manner?
For instance, take a long term psychiatric patient that is very hard to change, because of his ‘mental
patient identity’. What does this person need to find his way to mental health?

NLP learned us: The mind needs a goal. That is why the first question is: ‘Who do you want to be in
stead?’ For instance, this client may find that, he rather likes to be ‘a normal functioning self sufficient
person’.

Now, in this example there are two self concepts involved: The psychiatric patient (A) and the self
sufficient individual (B). The ‘psychiatric patient self image (A)’ is the one currently in charge (the
operational self image). It is connected to the feeling of self and located centrally up front and at close
by. The ‘self sufficient individual (B)’ is a not yet ME. It belongs to the identities of OTHERS, and will
probably be vague, small, disconnected and far away to de side somewhere.

The work will start with making these two self images clear and conscious. And next we need to make
the different social environments also visible: To whom do you belong now with identity A? And to
whom will you belong in the future with identity B? The rest of the work is geared at swapping the two
identities around. So the self image A becomes disconnected, decentralized, far away and blocked out
while self image B will take its place.

However, this blocking out implies therapeutic inhibition. To most NLP-ers the idea of therapeutic
inhibition is rather alien. Inhibition (repression, induced amnesia) is traditionally avoided because it has
a bad reputation as causing ‘dissociative symptoms’ and not to lasting change. And also, psychoanalytic
critics of NLP tend to argue that: ‘NLP just increases repression’. This criticism is probably behind the
prejudice against it. Beside that, selective induced amnesia (repression as a result of suggestion in
hypnotherapy) is generally not considered a valid therapeutic tool.

Lucas Derks view: ‘In NLP we work with natural mental processes, inhibition is just such a process. We
need to learn more about it to get it on our side, have it work for us. The selective repression of false
selves seems to be a normal part of self control. More familiarity with this process may help therapist to
be more effective.’

For the application of selective repression we need to know how to induce it. Stage hypnosis shows that
it cannot be too hard to induce forgetfulness for a certain item. The next question is: How can we
practically do and undo such repression on self concepts?
An approach that seems too ‘simplistic’ for most NLP-ers, and that found many critics, is found in
Micheal Hall’s meta Yes and meta NO.

‘Here is where I lose most of my audience’ says Lucas Derks. Many NLP-ers have said meta NO to
Micheal Hall himself. Let’s leave that for what it is, and see if by saying NO to a self concept we can
induce selective inhibition? And if so, will the opposite of saying YES turn the inhibition switch off again?

Lucas Derks states that he found much support for this hypothesis. Anyway, when applied, it has proven
to work that way. But we still must be sceptical about the undesired dissociative side effects. A brief
description of the method is offered here, for those who like to take part in its clinical testing.

Identity change according to Lucas Derks

The whole method applies to a given context X.

1) Who I no longer want to be = A.

2) Who I rather want to be in stead = B.

3) Create detailed self images of both, A and B on different locations. Visualize also to whom you do
belong with identity A and to whom with identity B.

4) Connect the self image B to the spiritual logical level. ‘To what greater unity will you contribute when
being identity B?’ (And associate for a moment from being B into an experience at the spiritual level.)

5) Decentralize, distance, darken and disconnect and say NO to self image A.

Welcome all objections. Safeguard the endangered values, criteria and positive intentions into identity
B. Reconstruct self image B.

6) Centralize and connect and say YES to B.

Welcome objections; deal with them, using your complete NLP toolkit.

7) Verbal test: Provoke the client with: ‘You are an A and you always will be an A,

-within the given context X!’(The response should be a protest).

8) Future Pace identity B and take it as a resource back in time. Than grow up again as if you are B.

This method works best when preceded by the so-called Family Panorama techniques, as they are
described in Lucas Derks recent book: Social Panoramas.

This article is based on a lecture given by Lucas Derks on the national congress of the German
Association for NLP (DVNLP) in Berlin October 30 2005.