Milton Model

The Milton Model is a linguistic pattern or model of indirect hypnotic suggestion developed by Milton Hyland Erickson (5 December 1901 – 25 March 1980).

These patterns are used extensively in hypnosis, both "formal" and conversational hypnosis (waking hypnosis), and are a central basis of Ericksonian Hypnosis. All of these patterns are designed to ensure acceptance of suggestions, and can be used in both hypnosis and everyday communication.

1. Cause and Effect Implied

Statements that imply that one thing causes another, or state that because one thing is true another must also be true. The statements stated may not be true, and the two things stated may not actually be related at all.

• "Knowing that gives you the right to change."
• "Many people love and need you so you don't need cigarettes anymore."
• "And hearing my words brings you even more calm and truly peace.

This pattern can be recognized by asking the question: "Did A really cause B?"

2. Complex Equivalence

This pattern implies that one thing is the same or equivalent to another thing. This does not mean that one thing causes another, but because one thing is true the other must also be true.

• "Your presence today shows that you made the right decision."
• "You've read the book, it means you have much better."
• "You can choose this investment because you have the freedom to choose."

This pattern can be recognized by asking the question: "Okay, maybe A is right and maybe B is also right, but... what's the connection?".

3. Conversational Postulate

Conversational postulates are orders or requests packaged in the form of questions. These questions can be answered with "Yes" or "No", but the real meaning is that the speaker expects the listener to do something.

• "Must you stand there?" - The speaker expects the listener to move.
• "Can that door be closed?" - Request to close the door.
• "Anyone have a lighter?" - Request that someone lend you a lighter.
• "Did you bring a watch?" - Request that listeners tell what time it is.
• "Can you imagine a place that is comfortable and pleasant?" - Suggestions so that listeners imagine a comfortable and pleasant place.

This pattern can be recognized by trying to answer a question asked with a "Yes" or "No" and seeing if that feels like an appropriate response. So, can you continue reading this article to the end?

4. Embedded Commands

An order/suggestion can be inserted in normal conversation, and the command inserted can be very different from the context of the conversation that is currently happening. Insert commands can be embedded in both oral and written communications, but are most effective when delivered orally. Embedded Commands are a very powerful technique and are used massively in waking hypnosis. This technique becomes even more effective when accompanied by Analogical Marking, for example by giving a few seconds of pause at the beginning and end of the inserted suggestion, or by making certain gestures when making a suggestion.

Generally, Embedded Commands are much more complex and cryptic, but the following example can illustrate the idea behind this technique. The sign "..." is Analogical Marking in the form of a pause for a few seconds before and after the suggestion.

"Now everything is much faster and easier. For example shopping, now there is no need to go to the store just to...buy...something. Almost everything can now be done online. There are many options and the process is fast. It's like if we're looking for a gadget like...this laptop...just search on Google or on the marketplace, choose the right one and click buy, that's it. You see...now...everything has gotten a lot easier."

Embedded command/suggestion: "Buy this laptop now."

With a right delivery, Embedded Commands will package suggestions in such a way that they are disguised and not seen as suggestions. In this way, suggestions will be accepted by the subconscious mind without ever realizing it and can be seen as if they are ideas that come from itself. When talking about suggestions, what is important is not whether the listener knows where the idea is coming from, but rather how to make the suggestion acceptable so that it can bring about the desired change.

5. Extended Quotation

If you try to give suggestions, orders, or advice to someone directly, you will most likely hit a dead end. No one likes to be told, even if what you say is precise and well-intentioned.

To avoid this you can package your advice as if you were quoting a story whose contents "coincidentally" match what you want to convey. You can quote almost anything. It can be fictional stories, your "friend's" life experiences, articles you've read, or anything else. The story doesn't need to be real or true. You make it up yourself is also fine. The important thing is what you want to say conveyed.

By using these kinds of "quotes" you can convey almost anything to almost anyone. However, please take note to keep yourself as neutral as possible when telling the story. Take care not to sound patronizing or being sarcastic. And whenever your listeners start to look uncomfortable, stop immediately and change the subject. Your mission is to bring about positive change, not to make people more resistant or, worse, to have problems with you.

6. Lost Performative

An order or suggestion is conveyed as a truth, but without an explanation of how it can be true, or who stated it as the truth. With the right way of delivery, orders or suggestions conveyed in this way will be accepted by the subconscious mind as proven truths without the need to be questioned or ask for further evidence.

• "Your subconscious mind will find the right answer."
• "Your smoking habit must crumble before your will power."
• "And over time your obesity will resolve."

This pattern can be identified by asking the question: "Okay... but how can you be sure about it?"

7. Mind Reading

The speaker makes a statement that gives the impression that he knows exactly what is going on in the hearts and minds of the listeners, when in fact that is impossible, unless the speaker happens to be a psychic with telepathic abilities.

• "There's a part of you that longs for change."
• "And you start to wonder when it will start."
• "Right now your mind becomes more open to new, productive ideas."

This pattern can be identified by asking the question: "How could you possibly know all of that?".

8. Modal Operator

Model Operator is the most frequently used and commonly used form of hypnotic phrases. Commands or suggestions are packaged in phrases that imply that something is certain or could happen. Common words used in the Milton Model to achieve this are: can, should, maybe, will.

• "Everything you hear and feel will bring you more and more calm and truly peaceful."
• "And maybe you will be surprised when you realize what you can actually achieve without all those internal limitations."
• "Over time you will be able to accept everything, because maybe all of that should happen."

Modal Operators can be recognized when it feels appropriate to add "...or maybe not" to the end of the statement.

9. Negative Suggestions

This pattern can work because the subconscious mind is not very good at processing negative forms, and tends to ignore the words "don't" and "no" and focus only on the object of the statement. When you hear the statement "Don't think of a black cat," your subconscious mind must first create an image of a black cat in your head so that it can then erase it and not think about it. This is probably the reason why the more people are prohibited, the more they tend to do it.

• "And I don't want you to relax quickly."
• "You don't have to think about how you plan to finish the project on time."
• "You don't need to relax, and don't fall asleep. Because right now you aren't sleepy and your eyes aren't more likely to close and yawn."

There are some people who, for one reason or another, seem very resistant and tend to reject and possibly criticize anything you try to offer. In situations like this negative suggestions are appropriate to use, because you are not telling them to do something. Instead, you seem to forbid them from doing something. The end result? They will do exactly what you expect them to do.

10. Nominalizations

One characteristic of the Milton Model is packaging words in such a way that they have vague meanings. Nominalization is a technique to disguise the process by nouncing the verb. For example, "progress" is the nominalization of the verb "progress", and "relax" is the noun of "relax".

The essence of this technique is to package a word from a verb into an object, when in fact the word represents a process that is or will take place. The subconscious mind interprets nouns as something that has been completed. This keeps the fact that you are asking the listener to do something hidden and does not provoke resistance.

• "Your relaxation continues to grow when you hear my voice." - "Hearing my voice will relax you even more."
• "And everything you feel right now will lead you to meaningful changes." - "Everything you are experiencing right now will change you."
• "That understanding will lead you to a much more meaningful life." - "Understand that so your life will become more meaningful."

Nominalization can be recognized by asking the question: "Can it be put in a box and weighed?".

11. Non Sequitur

Non Sequitur is a statement stating that A will produce B, when in fact there is no logical relationship between A and B.

• "Closing your eyes will put you to sleep."
  Closing one's eyes doesn't automatically put them to sleep. People with insomnia know this all too well. They stay wide awake even after closing their eyes tightly for hours. However, because the first statement is true, because the listener was closing his eyes at that time, the subconscious mind considers the second statement (that he will fall asleep) as true as well, without feeling the need to evaluate whether there is a causal relationship between the two.
• "Soon you'll wake up, and all those new habits will stick and become fully ingrained in you."
• "And every breath you take will make you sleep deeper and deeper."

12. Presuppositions

This Milton's model talks about the consequences of something and deliberately does not explain the concepts that underlie those consequences. Suggestion begins with the assumption that something is true and then discusses the consequences caused by that truth. By focusing the listener's attention on consequences and not on what caused them, the rightness or notness of something will be overlooked and will never be tested or questioned.

• Adverbials - And now as you become more relaxed you start to feel something different.
• Alternative - I don't know if you will fall asleep before this session is over or right now.
• Awareness - The little things that you notice remind you of how calm you are.
• Cause and Effect - Because now your eyes are closed, your mind will be open to new positive ideas.
• Equation - Your presence in this place indicates that you have made a decision.
• Ordinal - After the count of three you will begin to enter your deepest state of relaxation.
• Possibilities - And you've probably noticed that each inhalation and exhalation relaxes you more and more.
• Time - You may not feel at the right level of relaxation right now.
• Existence - It might be interesting to notice how relaxed you are.

13. Inanimation

This pattern attaches feelings or actions to something that is actually impossible to feel or do. The walls can't hear, the grass can't whisper, and the wind can't caress. However, because the subconscious mind is more interested in metaphors and imagination, it will be easier for it to accept and understand suggestions packaged in this way.

• "This beach has witnessed a story of true eternal love."
• "The part of you that makes you smoke feels ashamed and wants to change."
• "Listen to the whisper of the wind, and absorb all the wisdom it has to say."

14. Tag Questions

Tag Question is a question that is placed right after a statement is delivered. The goal is to encourage the listener to justify the statement. When delivered in the right way, tag questions will reinforce the statement and prevent denial or disagreement.

• You can do that easily, can't you?
• You like to be healthier, don't you?
• The post you are reading right now is really interesting, isn't it?

15. Truism Set

Truism sets are used to make a statement accepted as true by creating the illusion of a truth relationship between several statements that are delivered sequentially. The subconscious mind likes order and conformity. If the first statement is true and the second statement is also true, then the subconscious mind will tend to assume that the third statement (which contains suggestions) should also be true, even though it may not be.

• A: "Everyone has a past."
• B: "There are life experiences that are pleasant and those that are not."
• C: "And an experience can bring a person to a better understanding of the potential and abilities they have."

A Truism Set can be identified by asking the question: "A is true, and B is also true, but how can that make C be true?".

16. Universal Quantifier

The Milton Model uses words such as all, every, always, never, everyone, nobody, or other similiar words, to generalize a statement. The Universal Quantifier always contains an element of exaggeration in it.

• Every word you hear will take you deeper into your deepest relaxation.
• No one can fail once they have decided to change.
• Everyone likes serenity.

The Universal Quantifier can be identified by asking questions such as: "Everyone? Is it really everyone?".

17. Unspecific Comparisons

Unspecific Comparison is a statement about comparison, but without being accompanied by specific references for comparison.

• Over time you will become more capable.
• And all that understanding will lead you to the best choice.
• Things will get better.

Unspecific comparisons can be identified by asking questions such as: "Better? Compared to what?".

18. Unspecific Objects

Unspecific Object is a word that is pleasant to hear but actually has a vague meaning. Words such as learning, understanding, finding, consideration, or words without other specific objects, can be used to represent almost anything so it is very difficult to argue or question, because they are almost always "in conformance" to what is in the listener's mind.

• Over time you will be more open to better choices.
• All those lessons will make you calmer and stronger in the midst of a storm.
• And everything that happens can bring you to an understanding.

Unspecific Objects can be recognized by asking questions such as: "Understanding? Understanding of what?".

19. Unspecific Verbs

Like Unspecific Object, Unspecific Verb sounds right to the ear but doesn't have a specific meaning so it's hard to pin down. The subconscious mind accepts the word in context and will fill in the lack of information by giving itself the most appropriate (according to it) meaning. Verbs like change, understand, think, feel, etc., are non-specific and can apply to anything.

• Over time you will understand everything you need.
• Sometimes all we need is to live and enjoy.
• Do something, because it's the best way to change it.

Unspecific Verbs can be identified by asking questions like: "Change? Change what? In what way?".