NLP techniques: association and dissociation

When trying to move from a resourceless state to a resourceful state, it can often be advantageous to move a customer from an associated position to a dissociated position, and vice versa.

This can often be easily accomplished by simply asking the client to ‘step out’ or ‘enter’ your body on your behalf. This shift in consciousness can lead to insights that would otherwise be lost.

Identification of the current position

It can be difficult to identify whether a client is associated within a memory or dissociated, but the clues will be in the language they use to describe the experience.

The associated language is usually a first-person reference, especially when the customer describes what they are seeing. Phrases like “caught”, “right in it”, “experience” and “feeling” are often used to express an inclusion in the action.

Dissociated language is the language of distance, ‘there’, ‘on the sidelines’, ‘looking’, ‘seeing’ are evidence that the client is looking to the experience.

By going beyond the patterns of language and observing the physical cues, dissociated individuals are likely to be less passionate and more factual, they will use spatial markings that are at a distance. By referring to themselves, they will often point to the representation of themselves that is far from where they stand. The association leads to greater emotion and a spatial marking that is close to themselves, if not above them. Self-referential statements will lead to pointing to themselves or touching themselves while easing the experience.

When to use them

Associated and dissociated memories are useful in different situations, and understanding where to use each type is important to ensure clients move to a more resourceful state. The best uses for each state are:

• Associate: enjoy a pleasant memory or experience, hone skills, activity time, concentration
• Dissociated: unpleasant experiences, traumatic memories, learning from the past, understanding of an event.

Dissociation is incredibly helpful in stepping away from a memory and turning the experience into a learning opportunity, allows for a reduction in emotional intensity without loss of detail, and can allow the client to re-enter the association while retaining the new knowledge /

Tutorial

Here is a simple guide to test association and dissociation.

1. Think of a pleasant memory or experience.
2. Are you associated (looking through your own eyes or dissociated (looking at yourself in the scene) in the experience?
3. Note the intensity of the emotional state.
4. Switch to the opposite state (Associated -> Dissociated / Dissociated -> Associated)
5. Notice the change, which one is better? Can you identify specific changes?
6. Return to the original position.

Remember to return your experience to the original state (unless, of course, you want to change the intensity of the event).