Three reasons it can be tricky to identify emotions conditioned to specific triggers
Finding conditioning can be tricky for several reasons.
First, because of a process called extinction -- in which a person can stop producing an emotion such as fear if the trigger is experienced in a "safe" manner over and over -- the client might not get triggered in certain situations that used to trigger an emotion.
For example, although fear of public speaking can be caused by a variety of beliefs and triggers conditioned to produce fear, for some the fear goes away with success in public speaking.
In one famous study people who had a fear of public speaking were lead through a process that got them "desensitized" to public speaking so it no longer produced fear.
If a person from this study were to do a session with you and you asked if they feared criticism in all situations, the person might say, "I used to but in some situations like public speaking, I no longer fear it."
If this happens, and the client is able to notice that in most situations the fear happens after the trigger or used to, then you can proceed. Even if you are wrong about their being fear conditioned to a trigger, you've only used a few minutes and you may learn something.
Second, a facilitator might think the client's emotion is conditioned because the emotion might show up very quickly in response to a trigger.
If the fear shows up quickly after a trigger, that does not mean the fear is conditioned. It might be conditioned, it might be caused by beliefs and it might be both. A person's beliefs can produce an emotional response just as rapidly as a conditioned trigger.
Third, the client might deny having any thoughts or beliefs that cause the emotion.
If that happens, one thing you can do is have the client imagine the situation that produces the emotional response and you can say these words
"Imagine the events unfolding slowly. Now notice the thoughts, worries or concerns you have as you see the events slowly unfold."
This gets the client to slow down and imagine the events which makes it easier for them to notice thoughts. Also, by saying "notice the thoughts" I've implied that there are thoughts instead of asking if there are thoughts. When I say it this way, most clients are able to notice thoughts. I then use these thoughts to find beliefs.
So there are at least three reasons that it can be tricky to identify an emotion conditioned to a trigger and a solution for each.
- The emotion can be "extinguished" in certain situations so it no longer produces the emotion in all the situations it once did. To solve this recognize that a trigger might not be consistent.
- An emotion can show up very rapidly in response to a trigger and still be caused by beliefs only, conditioning only or both.
- A client might not notice thoughts or beliefs. To handle that have them imagine events slowly and ask them to "notice" the thoughts they have.
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