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Product reviews for RESOLVE
Judith E Pearson, PhD is a Licensed Professional Counselor
Bolstad's RESOLVE model finds its roots in NLP as a therapeutic method with a presuppositional basis. It is a model for “understanding the steps behind the successful use of NLP changework.” This book will find an audience in NLP practitioners who want to approach their work systematically, and psychotherapists who seek an introduction to NLP and want to investigate it as a complement to other therapeutic approaches.
Content
RESOLVE is an acronym for a seven-step process that describes a therapeutic session, based on NLP presuppositions and NLP interventions. The steps are:
For those not versed in NLP, Bolstad includes an excellent chapter called “User's Manual for the Brain” in which he covers the NLP constructs of subjectivity. The discussion includes sensory-based experience, perceptual processes, internal representations and maps, neurology, modalities and submodalities, eye accessing, strategies, the TOTE model, meta-states and state dependence.
Next, Bolstad sorts NLP interventions into ten categories that constitute the"L” (change techniques) in the RESOLVE model. The categories are:
Bolstad explains each intervention in detail, along with findings from research and examples from case studies to emphasize his points. This chapter is a good starting point for beginners in NLP, as well as a review for seasoned practitioners.
Bolstad reviews several brief therapy models that are similar to the RESOLVE model, characterizing psychotherapy as a step-by-step process. “Self-help” studies (interviews with people who have helped themselves through some difficulty without therapy) also show that individuals faced with a major behavioral problem or emotional challenge move through various stages to achieve a favorable outcome.
Bolstad links the RESOLVE model to the Motivational Interviewing method (developed by Prochaska and DiClemente in 1994). It is a change strategy that does not focus on the content or origins of the problem. Instead, it guides the individual through the stages that motivate people to change on their own. These stages are: contemplation, determination, action, maintenance, and recycling through the process until an exit point is reached and the new behaviors are lasting and permanent. What Bolstad is saying here is that the RESOLVE model mirrors natural and intuitive human change processes.
Bolstad draws examples from Milton Erickson, Richard Bandler, and his own work with clients, to fully explain the intricacies of the RESOLVE model. He demonstrates hovv NLP interventions, in the RESOLVE framework can be applied, with variations and adaptations to a number of clinical problems/ diagnoses such as depression. anxiety, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, addictions and health issues.
Summary
In RESOLVE, Bolstad gives NLP practitioners a framework for applying NLP in the therapeutic context in ways that are elegant, structured, solution-oriented, and respectful of the client as an individual. In the examples in this book, the RESOLVE model refers to a single “piece” (my word) of therapy - a single intervention against a stated outcome. From a case management standpoint, and given that therapists often schedule client sessions by the hour, it could be useful to add that this “piece” of therapy might span more than one session, depending on the pace at which the practitioner and client work through the process. I have had the experience where defining the outcome alone can take an entire clinical hour. Additionally, most practitioners will find that, for clients who present global issues that span many contexts, it is useful to “chunk down” the presenting problem into workable components, addressed over a number of sessions, each following the RESOLVE model as a template.
I enjoyed reading this book. As someone who has studied and practiced NLP for well over a decade, I found little that was startlingly new in this book. What I like, however, is the way in which Bolstad pulls together the various aspects of NLP into a coherent whole that results in an excellent model for conducting therapy. Bolstad creates his text through an artful blending of anecdotal and empirically-based information. He does an admirable job of crediting and building on the work of several others who have developed, influenced, and advanced NLP. RESOLVE is worthwhile reading and a good, solid textbook for psychotherapists who want to learn more about the clinical applications and methods of NLP.
Finally, Bolstad, through this book, impresses me as a man who believes passionately in his profession, his clients, and the healing and motivating powers of NLP when applied with integrity and authenticity. Lest one think that the RESOLVE approach is mechanistic, I will end this review with a quote from his book that, for me, expresses Bolstad's passion.
How do we summarise this attitude, which is at the heart of NLP? There is a word in English to describe helping, which is based on:
That word is “love.” The attitude of love is more important than the specific skills that the NLP practitioner draws on. Love cannot be faked therapeutically . . . Love is not merely rapport, though effective rapport is an expression of love. Love is not merely the ability to focus on positive aspects of a client's exploration, though that too is an expression of love. Love is more than just an attitude, more than just a strategy or a Meta-program. It is the reason why most of us came into the therapy field in the first place. I begin every therapy session by remembering that. (p. 124)
Content
RESOLVE is an acronym for a seven-step process that describes a therapeutic session, based on NLP presuppositions and NLP interventions. The steps are:
For those not versed in NLP, Bolstad includes an excellent chapter called “User's Manual for the Brain” in which he covers the NLP constructs of subjectivity. The discussion includes sensory-based experience, perceptual processes, internal representations and maps, neurology, modalities and submodalities, eye accessing, strategies, the TOTE model, meta-states and state dependence.
- R: Resourceful state for the practitioner. The practitioner accesses a state of confidence and clarity of purpose, in keeping with NLP assumptions
- E: Establish rapport with the client
- S Specify a well-formed outcome
- O: Open up the client's model of the world and begin to expand/ reframe the client's “map.”
- L: Lead with NLP “change techniques.”
- V: Verify that the change has taken place
- E: Ecological exit process
Next, Bolstad sorts NLP interventions into ten categories that constitute the"L” (change techniques) in the RESOLVE model. The categories are:
Bolstad explains each intervention in detail, along with findings from research and examples from case studies to emphasize his points. This chapter is a good starting point for beginners in NLP, as well as a review for seasoned practitioners.
- Anchoring
- Installing a new strategy
- Changing submodalities
- Trancework
- Parts integration
- Time-line changes
- Linguistic reframing
- Changing interpersonal dynamics
- Changing physiological contexts
- Tasking (giving the client an at-home assignment)
Bolstad reviews several brief therapy models that are similar to the RESOLVE model, characterizing psychotherapy as a step-by-step process. “Self-help” studies (interviews with people who have helped themselves through some difficulty without therapy) also show that individuals faced with a major behavioral problem or emotional challenge move through various stages to achieve a favorable outcome.
Bolstad links the RESOLVE model to the Motivational Interviewing method (developed by Prochaska and DiClemente in 1994). It is a change strategy that does not focus on the content or origins of the problem. Instead, it guides the individual through the stages that motivate people to change on their own. These stages are: contemplation, determination, action, maintenance, and recycling through the process until an exit point is reached and the new behaviors are lasting and permanent. What Bolstad is saying here is that the RESOLVE model mirrors natural and intuitive human change processes.
Bolstad draws examples from Milton Erickson, Richard Bandler, and his own work with clients, to fully explain the intricacies of the RESOLVE model. He demonstrates hovv NLP interventions, in the RESOLVE framework can be applied, with variations and adaptations to a number of clinical problems/ diagnoses such as depression. anxiety, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, addictions and health issues.
Summary
In RESOLVE, Bolstad gives NLP practitioners a framework for applying NLP in the therapeutic context in ways that are elegant, structured, solution-oriented, and respectful of the client as an individual. In the examples in this book, the RESOLVE model refers to a single “piece” (my word) of therapy - a single intervention against a stated outcome. From a case management standpoint, and given that therapists often schedule client sessions by the hour, it could be useful to add that this “piece” of therapy might span more than one session, depending on the pace at which the practitioner and client work through the process. I have had the experience where defining the outcome alone can take an entire clinical hour. Additionally, most practitioners will find that, for clients who present global issues that span many contexts, it is useful to “chunk down” the presenting problem into workable components, addressed over a number of sessions, each following the RESOLVE model as a template.
I enjoyed reading this book. As someone who has studied and practiced NLP for well over a decade, I found little that was startlingly new in this book. What I like, however, is the way in which Bolstad pulls together the various aspects of NLP into a coherent whole that results in an excellent model for conducting therapy. Bolstad creates his text through an artful blending of anecdotal and empirically-based information. He does an admirable job of crediting and building on the work of several others who have developed, influenced, and advanced NLP. RESOLVE is worthwhile reading and a good, solid textbook for psychotherapists who want to learn more about the clinical applications and methods of NLP.
Finally, Bolstad, through this book, impresses me as a man who believes passionately in his profession, his clients, and the healing and motivating powers of NLP when applied with integrity and authenticity. Lest one think that the RESOLVE approach is mechanistic, I will end this review with a quote from his book that, for me, expresses Bolstad's passion.
How do we summarise this attitude, which is at the heart of NLP? There is a word in English to describe helping, which is based on:
That word is “love.” The attitude of love is more important than the specific skills that the NLP practitioner draws on. Love cannot be faked therapeutically . . . Love is not merely rapport, though effective rapport is an expression of love. Love is not merely the ability to focus on positive aspects of a client's exploration, though that too is an expression of love. Love is more than just an attitude, more than just a strategy or a Meta-program. It is the reason why most of us came into the therapy field in the first place. I begin every therapy session by remembering that. (p. 124)
- Respecting the other person's model of the world
- Seeking change that will be good for them as a whole human being
- Believing that the person has basic good intentions
- Believing that the person has the resources they need to change
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15/09/2004 01:00
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