Think of a happy memory, then notice what the picture is like. Is it bright or dim? Near or far? Colour or black and white? NLP calls these qualities submodalities, and claims you can change a feeling by changing them.
The idea
NLP says we represent experience through the senses (see NLP part 8): pictures, sounds and feelings. Each of these has finer qualities.
Visual: brightness, colour, size, distance, location, focus, still or moving, framed or panoramic. Auditory: volume, pitch, tempo, direction, whose voice. Kinaesthetic: intensity, location in the body, temperature, movement.
NLP practitioners claim that these qualities carry the emotional “charge”. Shrink a stressful image, push it far away and turn down the colour, and the stress is meant to fade. Make a good image bigger and brighter and the good feeling grows.
Typical exercises
- Compare and swap. Notice how a memory you love differs from one you feel neutral about, then give the neutral one the qualities of the loved one.
- Dial down. Reduce the size, colour and sound of an unpleasant image.
- Swish (NLP part 9). Shrink a cue image while a desired image grows.
What the evidence says
- There are no large, well-controlled trials of the technique as taught. The few studies are small. One reported that people noticed a change and felt more satisfied after submodality work, but the claim of a permanent cure was not supported. (This came from search summaries and should be checked at the source.)
- NLP’s wider theory about representational systems has not held up (NLP part 8).
- NLP claims that the same submodality always means the same thing to everyone (for example, “far away = less emotional”). People differ, so practitioners are told to find each person’s own pattern. That makes the idea hard to test.
Why it might help some people anyway
Research on mental imagery finds that vivid images tend to produce stronger emotions than words alone, and that changing how you imagine something can change how you feel about it. Distancing yourself from a memory (looking at it as an observer) is also used in several therapies. So it would be unsurprising if some people felt a little better after playing with their mental images. The NLP explanation may not be needed. (These research points are general knowledge and were not checked for this article.)
A cautious experiment
- Pick a mildly annoying memory, not a painful one.
- Rate how you feel about it, 0 to 10.
- Make the picture smaller, further away and paler. Slow down or mute any sound.
- Notice what happens, then rate it again.
- Stop if you feel worse.
Cautions
- Don’t use it on trauma or serious distress. Working with intense memories needs a trained clinician.
- Keep expectations modest. Any change you notice may be small and may not last.
- Don’t swap it for treatment. For anxiety, low mood or phobias, evidence-based therapy comes first.
The bottom line
Submodalities are a neat way to play with imagery. They are unproven as a therapy, but harmless to experiment with on small things.
Next in the series: Logical Levels: A Map for Thinking About Change
This article is for general information and is not medical advice.