I just wanted to ask in what situations have people used the swish technique with clients (or on themselves) and how successful it has been. Do you agree that it is useful for any unwanted thoughts/behaviours or that it's only helpful in situations such as job interviews etc? Would be good to hear what people thought.
I have used it with addictions quite successfully, I then follow it up with hypnotherapy afterwards and re-swish within trance.
I've had it used on me by a couple of NLP practitioners/Hypnotherapist and it didn't work. I've tried it on my own without success. I've tried it with others, also without success. But I'm sure I've seen Richard Bandler on a dvd use it with amazing results!! Maybe I'm just not swished on??
I've studied and used NLP for 13 years now, and Swish was something that never worked for me (though I accept that may have not persevered enough with it - but as other things worked quite nicely, it didn't particularly bother me!)
Masha
Thank you all for your replies and it's interesting to hear that a couple of you didn't find it very affective. I've not used it yet but i have had it done on me in class. I found it easy to do and found it quite interesting but I've not been in a situation yet to see whether it has been helpful (I doubt it will given the fact I've only done it the once and haven't repeated it since).
I suspect it works best for those who are very visual - as the key to it is visualising the problem state and the solution state. If you can't "see" them very well (like me), I guess it's going to be less effective.
I use Swish mainly for habits/addictions but I've adapted it somewhat. Despite the previous comments, I have a lot of success with it but I only use it during a hypnotic trance. When distracting the client from the pictures, I actually go into another mini-technique each time (for example with smokers, I'l deal with each of the main triggers one by one in between each Swish). Due to the way I use it, of course it's hard to say for sure that it's the technique itself that is successful.
With regard to whether or not the client is visual, I find it doesn't matter a great deal due to the way I word the description. I also layer further suggestions into the whole process.
Pleased to hear Bannick that you have success with the swish technique. I like the sound of the way you use the technique. I would only be using it during a hypnotic trance too although I will probably teach my client how to use it at home.