THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 15, 1994 TAG: 9407130183
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 01B EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAM STARR, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
TWO YEARS AGO Betty A. was teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
The 64-year-old grandmother and professional had experienced a divorce, two deaths in the family, a job change and a move, all within months. Betty sunk into a severe depression and started shoplifting compulsively.
``I knew something was desperately wrong, but I couldn't control it,'' said the Peninsula resident. ``I went to four different therapists and none of them helped me. Someone finally told me about Burt and he changed my life completely within four weeks.''
The licensed professional counselor, Burt Wasserman, cured Betty of her shoplifting and lifted the depression by using Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP, a kind of therapy that incorporates language, imagery and hypnotherapy to change behavior. Wasserman had Betty visualize the act of shoplifting and process the bad feelings it brought up. He then had her visualize a positive change, where she would go through a store, be helped by a friendly clerk, find an item and pay for it.
``It was such a good feeling - I would remember that,'' said Betty. ``Burt gave me better insight and made me realize I had choices to make. I made a tremendous amount of progress - I haven't shoplifted in two years.''
Wasserman said he believes that NLP allows clients to move through therapy at a quicker rate than in traditional therapy. He specializes in working with children but says that most people who need to change a certain behavior can do it with NLP.
Neuro-Linguistic Programming was designed by two men in the 1970s after they studied two very successful therapists - Milton Erickson, a psychiatrist and hypnotherapist, and Virginia Satir, a family therapist.
``NLP is a mind-body approach to understanding behavior and is also a strategic approach to changing it,'' said Wasserman, who has 500 hours of study and training in NLP and is a certified master practitioner in the methodology. ``It's very different from therapists who just use imagery or hypnotherapy.
``It teaches people that they have control over the way they act and the way they feel and that they can take responsibility for their behavior,'' he said.
Wasserman said he feels that children can especially benefit from NLP. He wrote what he said is the first book that introduces NLP in a comprehensive way to children. The 74-page workbook, which hit the bookstands two weeks ago, is called ``Stories for Children with Problems & Wishes - A Therapeutic Workbook for Turning Problems into Gifts.''
The workbook combines NLP with art therapy and is to be used by children 6 to 12 with parents, teachers or counselors. He added that the book was designed to make it easier for children to discuss issues such as divorce, death, nightmares, prejudice, stealing, chemical dependency (of a parent) and sexual abuse.
``The main purpose of the workbook is to help children get in touch with their feelings, learn to express those feelings and learn to cope with the problems that are attached to those feelings,'' said Wasserman. He works at the Bruder Center for Counseling and practices with Parker, Schlichter, King-Jones and Associates, both in Virginia Beach. ``Kids can achieve solutions by drawing how they want to feel and behave. When kids put feelings on paper, those feelings become more concrete and workable.''
In the workbook, children draw how they would like to act or feel and then look at the drawing and make believe they are acting and feeling in that new way.
``Let's say a child plays soccer well and feels proud, confident and competent about himself because of that,'' Wasserman said, sitting in an office filled with stuffed animals, toys and children's books. ``Maybe this child is supposed to speak in front of the class the next day. If he can learn to bring up that good feeling from soccer, he'll do a better job at speaking.
``The work I do is real exciting - it allows kids to become involved in their learning,'' he added. ``The more senses that are involved, the more likely they'll be able to succeed in creating a solution behavior.''
One of the workbook's reviewers is J.D. Ball, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Eastern Virginia Medical School.
``I'm no expert on NLP - I was responding to the activities in the book and the way the therapy is structured,'' Ball said. ``The product addresses a child's thinking, feeling and goal-setting. It does give therapy a focus. It may be particularly good for older children.'' MEMO: If you would like to speak with Burt Wasserman, call him at 497-6000 or
473-3770.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
Burt Wasserman uses therapy that incorporates language, imagery and
hypnotherapy to change behavior.
WANT THE BOOK?
``Stories for Children with Problems and Wishes, A Therapeutic
Workbook for Turning Problems into Gifts'' is available at five
bookstores: Waldenbooks, Riverbend Books in Great Neck Village
Shopping Center, Once Upon a Time Children's Books by Willis
Wayside, the Central Library gift shop and The Heritage Store. The
cost is generally $12.95.
by CNB