The Structure of Magic II

1. Representational Systems: The Building Blocks of Human Experience

Each of us, as a human being, has available a number of different ways of representing our experience of the world.

Visual, auditory, and kinesthetic systems. These are the primary ways humans process and store information from their environment. Each person typically has a preferred or most highly valued representational system, which influences how they communicate and perceive the world.

Identifying representational systems. Therapists can recognize a client's preferred system by paying attention to the predicates (verbs, adjectives, adverbs) used in their speech. For example:

• Visual: "I see what you mean," "That looks right to me"
• Auditory: "That sounds good," "I hear you loud and clear"
• Kinesthetic: "I feel that's the right way," "That doesn't sit well with me"

Understanding a client's primary representational system allows therapists to communicate more effectively and develop targeted interventions.

2. Incongruity: Understanding and Resolving Internal Conflicts

When a client communicates incongruently, presenting a set of paramessages which do not match, the therapist is faced with an existential decision.

Identifying incongruities. Incongruity occurs when a person's verbal and non-verbal communications don't align. This can manifest as conflicting messages across different output channels (e.g., words, tone of voice, body language).

Three-phase process for resolving incongruities:

1. Identifying the client's incongruencies
2. Sorting the client's incongruencies into polarities
3. Integrating the client's incongruencies

Resolving incongruities helps clients achieve internal harmony and more effective communication. Techniques like spatial sorting, fantasy sorting, and psychodramatic sorting can be used to help clients express and integrate conflicting parts of themselves.

3. Fuzzy Functions: The Neurological Basis of Semantic Ill-Formedness

Fuzzy functions are not bad, crazy or evil, and the outcome of what we consider effective therapy is not the elimination of these functions, but rather the realization that these functions can be the basis for much creative activity on the part of humans as well as being the basis for much suffering and pain.

Understanding fuzzy functions. Fuzzy functions are cross-modal representations, such as "see-feel" or "hear-feel," where information from one sensory input is processed in a different representational system. These can be the basis for both creativity and psychological issues.

Types of fuzzy functions:

• See-feel: Visually perceiving something and experiencing an emotional response
• Hear-feel: Auditorily perceiving something and experiencing an emotional response
• Feel-see: Emotionally experiencing something and creating visual representations
• Feel-hear: Emotionally experiencing something and creating auditory representations

Therapists can help clients become aware of their fuzzy functions and develop more choices in how they process and respond to information, leading to more adaptive behaviors and experiences.

4. Family Therapy: The Delicate Art of System Evolution

The overall strategy of evolving a family system is to use the three processes of human modeling in such a way that the limits of the family system are expanded.

Family as a system. In family therapy, the entire family is viewed as an interconnected system, with each member's behavior influencing and being influenced by others. The goal is to evolve the system to create more positive interactions and outcomes for all members.

Three-phase process for family therapy:

1. Identification of present state and desired state for the family
2. Evolving the system
3. Integration of new choices and patterns

Key techniques include:

• Comparing models of different family members
• Challenging mind-reading and other forms of semantic ill-formedness
• Developing new input and output channels for communication
• Re-labeling behaviors to create new perspectives
• Creating experiences that demonstrate "the map is not the territory"

5. Meta-Model: A Powerful Tool for Linguistic Pattern Recognition

The Meta-model which we presented in Magic I has a number of useful distinctions. As we stated in that volume, these distinctions themselves fall into natural groupings or meta-patterns of the Meta-model distinctions.

Three classes of Meta-model distinctions:

1. Gathering information
2. Identifying the limits of the client's model
3. Specifying the techniques to be used for change

Key Meta-model challenges:

• Deletion: "What specifically?"
• Lack of referential index: "Who/what specifically?"
• Unspecified verbs: "How specifically?"
• Nominalizations: "How is this process occurring?"
• Modal operators: "What prevents you?" or "What would happen if you did?"
• Semantic ill-formedness: "How do you know?" (for mind-reading) or "How specifically does X cause Y?" (for cause-effect)

By systematically applying these challenges, therapists can help clients expand their models of the world and create new possibilities for change.

6. Polarity Principle: The Foundation of Relationship Dynamics

We have noticed time and time again is that the distribution of representational systems and Satir categories in family systems and in polarities is the same.

Understanding the Polarity Principle. This principle explains how individuals with complementary polarities (e.g., visual/blaming and kinesthetic/placating) are often drawn to each other in relationships. This pairing can create stable but potentially rigid systems.

Implications of the Polarity Principle:

• Relationship formation: People are often attracted to those who express their less developed polarity
• Family dynamics: Children may adopt polarities complementary to their parents
• Therapeutic interventions: Understanding these patterns can inform strategies for couples and family therapy

Recognizing and working with polarities can help therapists guide clients towards more balanced and flexible relationship dynamics.

7. Integration: Achieving Meta-Position for Lasting Change

The overall implication of the Meta-model for therapy is the assumption of well-formed in therapy.

Meta-position defined. Achieving meta-position means developing the ability to observe and choose between different parts or polarities of oneself, rather than being unconsciously controlled by them. This is a key goal in therapy.

Steps to achieve meta-position:

1. Fully express each polarity or part
2. Create contact between polarities in a shared representational system
3. Recode polarities into a single, integrated representation

Techniques for integration include:

• Guided visualization
• Kinesthetic integration exercises
• Establishing cues for recognizing and choosing between polarities

Achieving meta-position allows clients to access all their internal resources and make more conscious choices in their lives.

8. Formal Notation: A Framework for Systematic Therapeutic Intervention

Functional notation is simply a way of representing visually the regularities in our experience.

Six-tuple vector for client description. This formal notation system provides a concise way to represent key aspects of a client's presentation:
<I, R, O, S, F, M>

• I: Input channel
• R: Most highly valued representational system
• O: Output channel
• S: Satir category under stress
• F: Type of semantic ill-formedness
• M: Most frequent Meta-model violation

Applications of formal notation:

• Provides a systematic framework for analyzing client presentation
• Allows for quick identification of patterns and potential interventions
• Facilitates communication and training among therapists

By using this formal notation system, therapists can develop more precise and effective intervention strategies tailored to each client's unique presentation.

Last updated: November 18, 2024