In the late 1970s I knew a woman who was finishing a double doctorate in Clinical and Counseling Psychology. She piqued my interest by saying I was using (unconsciously) techniques pioneered by Dr. Milton Erickson. She gave me a book to read, "Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson Volume I" (1975).

http://www.amazon.com/Patterns-Hypnotic-Techniques-Milton-Erickson/dp/091699001X

Thus began my lifelong study of communications with the unconscious mind and how the conscious mind processes data.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_H._Erickson

I have used these techniques to achieve some dramatic, fast results in myself and others.

Has anyone here used similar techniques?

EDITED 4/23/12

I knew a man who had been an "infiltrator" during the Viet Nam war. He would sneak out and get close to enemy installations, gather intel and sneak back to camp, He was lightly armed and stealth was of utmost importance. If he was seen, he was likely to be killed. He was proficient in martial arts and loved to read about Ninjas.

Returning to civilian life, he acquired a job as a pizza delivery man. His problem was other drivers. He might be under a traffic light with another driver in front of him making a left hand turn, the light changed, but the other driver did not move quickly and he was stuck behind him with oncoming traffic. He would explode, blow the horn and shout threats and obscenities.

People would see the pizza sign on top of his car, call in and report his over-the-top behavior. He had been warned several times and was about to be fired. Yet he could not help his reactions.

He was telling me several of these episodes in which he felt entirely justified in his explosive behavior. He was quite concerned that he was going to be fired and asked me for help.

I put him in a light trance and asked him what would it be like if he was a Ninja pizza delivery man? That his mission was to sneak out, a shadow in the night, very, very low profile, deliver the pizza and sneak back to the store for another delivery.

I kept repeating, 'A shadow in the Night". No-one knows you are there. No-one sees you. No-one hears you except when you ring the doorbell, deliver your "package" and go back to headquarters for another mission.

It was a complete one-shot trance-formation! He became one of the top delivery guys and never had another brush with road rage.

I used a little bit of embedded commands, I used his military rank and name in directing him to his "mission." A bit of matching and mirroring. A bit of subconscious communication. But I think that reframing his 'problem' was the key to effective behavioral change. It was a dramatic change in one session.