Inductive and Deductive Language Patterns

What are inductive and deductive language patterns and how are they used in NLP and hypnosis?

We use these patterns to teach real life change work in our nlp trainings.

A deductive language pattern is one that zeros in on one detail, or one instance. Examples would be "what exactly do you notice?" or "think of a specific time when this happened". These focus the client on one thing.

An inductive pattern is one that opens up possibilities for a client. Examples would include "what are all the things you are not focusing on, when you are focusing on that"

So when would we use each type of language pattern? Well it all depends upon what we are trying to achieve. Suppose we are helping a client to change his feelings of anxiety when he has to give a presentation at work. In order to get a handle on the issue we might say "tell me about one specific time when this happened." [This would be a deductive question]. We would then perhaps work through this specific instance and help the client to see it in a different way.

We might then choose to use another deductive pattern "tell me about another time when this happened", so we can work through several specific examples.

At some point we will likely see the client begin to generalize the changes, he will either not be able to find further examples of when his problem had occurred, or he will remember them but will report them to be "different". 

At this stage his unconscious mind has already started to inductively generate changes in his experience. We can help this process along by using an inductive pattern, for example we could say, "now allow your unconscious mind to remember each and every time you have had this experience and notice how it is different NOW."