When someone has a belief about something they also have an underlying belief about themselves to support that belief. This is what we call identity – a deeply held belief about who the person is who holds such and such beliefs – which is then applied to “me.” To elicit this level of belief, all you have to do is ask for identity – “What kind of person would believe that?” – notice how I use the word “what” in this context. The word “what” in a question tends to elicit identity statements more often than “how” or “why” questions do.

Using a Validity of Cognition (VoC) scale you can start the releasing process – “On a scale of 0-5 with 5 being absolutely true, how true is your evaluation of such a person who believes/acts that way?” Adjust the question to suit your situation. The essence is to elicit how true their judgment of themselves is – a level of judgment – how strong/intense is their judgment?

Then it’s simply a matter of using a stress-reduction process like Rapid Eye Technology (RET) to diminish the level of belief to zero. I especially like the RET Release and Gather technique to deal with identity issues – actually, you are not releasing identity – you are releasing the intensity of judgments (perceptions) you have of your identity. True identity is never in danger of release.

I have observed that most people find it easier to point out the faults of others than the same faults n themselves – and tend to judge more harshly others exhibiting their own behaviors. Proxy often gives the client and therapist access to deeper level judgments and values than directly addressing them. Usually the client is unaware of their own value judgments and identity issues until they point them out in someone else. You can read more about proxy healing in my book, Compassionate Healing, A Surrogate Approach.

Another very powerful and effective technique to use to elicit and deal with identity judgments is to use the RET wand process, “Owning the feeling” – this technique often brings home externalized judgments and beliefs.

I hope this helps you in changing your own beliefs and the beliefs of those you work with in a clinical setting.