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+==== Module 6 - Development of The IEMT Identity Pattern ====
+This module develops the trainee’s understanding of the IEMT Identity Pattern, moving beyond the basic procedure into the rationale, calibration, linguistic structure and practical application of identity work.
+The Identity Pattern should not be taught merely as a technique to be applied mechanically to every client. It is better understood as a set of principles for working with the relationship between language, self-reference, relational position, emotional response and identity organisation.
+Trainers should emphasise that the exercises in this module are primarily designed to teach trainees how identity is structured and referenced. The fact that the process can be used with clients does not mean it should be used indiscriminately. As with all IEMT work, the practitioner should ask:
+* What is the client actually presenting?
+* What structure is evident in the client’s language?
+* Is identity work relevant here?
+* Is there a strong kinaesthetic driver that should be addressed first?
+* Am I choosing this because it fits the client, or because I am personally invested in the technique?
+<WRAP center round important 90%>
+The Identity Pattern should be taught as a way of understanding identity structure, not merely as a procedure to be performed because it appears next on a training checklist. </WRAP>
+===Feedback from the previous Identity Pattern exercise===
+Trainers should begin this section by gathering feedback from the previous Identity Pattern exercise.
+Common reports include:
+* a subtle change in feeling
+* a sense of blankness relative to the previous problem
+* difficulty holding the old problem structure in place
+* an unexpected feeling of neutrality
+* a more positive or lighter feeling
+* a sense of having “grown up” in relation to the issue
+* increased distance from the problem
+* reduced identification with the old identity position
+* confusion about why the old response is no longer available in the same way
+Some trainees may report that the change does not feel dramatic but that their relationship to the problem is different. This is important. Identity changes are not always experienced as a sudden emotional release. They may appear as a shift in perspective, a change in self-relation, or the inability to reconstruct the previous problem in quite the same form.
+For many people, changes from the Identity Pattern begin to show in everyday behaviour. They may notice themselves responding differently, feeling less captured by an old role, or observing their own behaviour from a more adult and dissociated perspective.
+The trainer should encourage trainees to report what they actually noticed rather than what they think they should have noticed.
+===Why identity work needs careful framing===
+Identity is not a single simple thing. People measure and experience identity in many different ways.
+Some people measure identity by what they believe they would do in a situation. This may be a form of projective fantasy:
+* “I know exactly what I would do.”
+* “I would never behave like that.”
+* “If I had been there, I would have acted.”
+Other people measure identity by what they have actually done when tested by life. Their sense of self comes from real events, decisions and behaviours.
+Some people measure identity through social markers:
+* clothing
+* fashion
+* cars
+* watches
+* accent
+* class markers
+* job title
+* professional status
+* qualifications
+* spiritual affiliation
+* group membership
+* lineage
+* family name
+* social role
+Some people buy identity through brands, groups, ideologies or corporate-created lifestyles. Others inherit identity from family, culture, religion, class, school, profession or community.
+Trainers should help trainees recognise that clients may not experience identity in the same way as the practitioner does. A practitioner who assumes that everyone measures identity in the same way will miss important information.
+===Identity and context===
+Identity shifts according to context.
+A person may be different with:
+* a parent
+* a spouse
+* a client
+* a child
+* a colleague
+* an authority figure
+* a stranger
+* a social group
+* a professional audience
+* a person they fear
+* a person they wish to impress
+Identity is not merely an internal self-concept. It is also relational, contextual and responsive.
+The person who is confident at work may become childlike with a parent. The person who is articulate with clients may become silent with a partner. The person who is calm with strangers may become reactive with family. These differences matter because identity is often organised within relationship.
+===Pronouns as interfaces between identity and relationship===
+In IEMT, the Identity Pattern focuses significantly on pronouns.
+Pronouns are not treated merely as grammatical conveniences. They are linguistic reference points between identity and relationship.
+The core pronouns usually explored in the basic Identity Pattern are:
+* I
+* me
+* self
+* you
+These terms are ordinary, but they are not psychologically neutral. They organise different aspects of identity, agency, receptivity, expression and relationship.
+<WRAP center round box 90%>
+Pronouns are the linguistic interface between identity and relationship. </WRAP>
+===Language and culture caution===
+Trainers should be clear that the standard IEMT Identity Pattern has been developed primarily through English-language structures.
+Other languages may organise pronouns, reflexive forms, relationship markers and identity references differently. Trainers working with multilingual groups should not pretend to have certainty about every language structure.
+The training principle is:
+* understand the function of the identity marker
+* listen to how the client actually speaks
+* work with the language structure that is present
+* do not assume that English pronoun distinctions map perfectly into every language
+Where trainees work in other languages, they should be encouraged to explore carefully how equivalent identity markers function in that language and culture.
+===The four core identity markers===
+==I==
+“I” is commonly associated with agency, subjectivity and the speaking position.
+Examples:
+* “I want.”
+* “I feel.”
+* “I hate.”
+* “I know.”
+* “I cannot.”
+* “I should.”
+* “I am.”
+In many people, “I” is experienced internally, often around the head or central body. However, this should not be assumed. Some people locate “I” outside the body, above the body, behind themselves, or in some other extrinsic location.
+An externalised “I” may indicate dissociation, meta-positioning, detachment, spiritualised self-reference, or some other identity organisation. The practitioner should not panic if the answer does not match what was expected in training.
+==Me==
+“Me” is often a receptacle or receiving position. It is the identity marker that receives the impact of “you” and the world.
+Examples:
+* “You upset me.”
+* “You drain me.”
+* “You make me nervous.”
+* “You fill me with hope.”
+* “You leave me empty.”
+* “He talks to me like I am stupid.”
+* “She makes me feel small.”
+“Me” is commonly associated with social and emotional reception. It may be located where the person most strongly experiences the emotional impact of others.
+This is important because people are affected by one another. The practitioner should not adopt simplistic claims such as “no one can make you feel anything.” In real human interaction, people do affect one another, sometimes profoundly.
+A look from a parent, a tone from a partner, or a phrase from an authority figure may be received into “me” and organised kinaesthetically in the body.
+==Self==
+“Self” often has an expressive quality. It is the self that is shown, expressed, performed, inhibited, revealed or hidden.
+Examples:
+* “I express myself.”
+* “I cannot be myself.”
+* “I hate myself.”
+* “I lost myself.”
+* “I need to be true to myself.”
+* “I do not recognise myself.”
+* “I cannot show my true self.”
+Trainers should distinguish between:
+* self-expression
+* sense of self
+* self-concept
+* self-image
+* self-performance
+These are not always the same.
+Self-expression is filtered according to context. A person expresses a different self to a client, parent, spouse, friend, stranger or authority figure. Highly socially skilled people often adjust self-expression according to the needs of the situation. Poorly filtered self-expression may create social difficulties. Over-controlled self-expression may make a person appear rigid, false or emotionally unavailable.
+Self can therefore be both expressive and performative.
+==You==
+“You” is usually extrinsic. It refers to the other person, the person addressed, the person imagined, or a generalised other.
+Examples:
+* “You hurt me.”
+* “You never listen.”
+* “You make me feel small.”
+* “You cannot trust people.”
+* “You have to be careful.”
+* “When you grow up in that house, you learn to keep quiet.”
+Sometimes “you” refers to a specific person. Sometimes it refers to a generalised social other. Sometimes it is a disguised “I”. Sometimes it is internalised.
+Where “you” is located inside the person, the practitioner should consider emotional entanglement, enmeshment, introjection or unresolved relational material.
+===Emotional entanglement and enmeshment===
+Identity work often reveals the internalisation of other people.
+**Emotional entanglement** occurs when a person is strongly emotionally attached to another being, person, animal, role, relationship or situation. This is not always pathological. Love involves forms of entanglement. Grief often reveals the depth of entanglement.
+**Enmeshment** is more problematic. It is commonly seen in over-controlling, over-involved, over-parenting or emotionally invasive family systems. A person may experience a parent, partner or significant other as if that person is inside them.
+Signs of enmeshment may include:
+* knowing what the other person feels without contact
+* feeling responsible for the other person’s emotional state
+* difficulty separating one’s own feelings from theirs
+* guilt when acting independently
+* fear of disappointing the other person
+* internalised parental judgement
+* a parent or partner being located inside the body during elicitation
+Trainers should teach that an internalised “you”, “mother”, “father”, “him” or “her” is not necessarily something to be forcibly “removed”. It is information about the structure of the relationship.
+===Introjects and internalised others===
+An introject is an internalised representation of another person.
+A client may have an internalised:
+* mother
+* father
+* teacher
+* partner
+* abuser
+* critic
+* authority figure
+* religious figure
+* former self
+* child self
+* idealised other
+When the practitioner asks where a person is located and the client places them inside the body, this may indicate that the relationship is not being experienced as separate. The practitioner should not treat this as strange or wrong. It is a clinically useful signal.
+The practitioner may work with the identity marker as presented, but should avoid imposing an outcome such as “getting them out.” The question is not where the practitioner thinks the other person should be. The question is what effect the current organisation has on the client.
+===The three core elicitation questions===
+For each identity marker, trainees should learn the three core questions:
+* //"When you think of I, whereabouts is I?"//
+* //"When you think of I, how old is I?"//
+* //"When you think of I, what is happening around I?"//
+The same structure can then be applied to:
+* me
+* self
+* you
+* mother
+* father
+* him
+* her
+* child
+* husband
+* wife
+* boss
+* doctor
+* victim
+* survivor
+* professional role
+* nickname
+* any other relevant identity marker
+Trainers should emphasise that the practitioner is not asking ordinary factual questions. The practitioner is asking the client to reference the internal representation of the identity marker.
+===Precision in the question===
+Small variations in wording may produce different responses.
+Examples:
+* //"When you think of I, whereabouts is I?"//
+* //"When you think about I, whereabouts is that I?"//
+* //"When you think I, where is I?"//
+* //"When you think of this I, whereabouts is it?"//
+The differences may be subtle, but trainers should encourage precision. Trainees should not use vague or sloppy language simply because the question appears simple.
+As with the Kinaesthetic Pattern, the practitioner should know what they are asking and why they are asking it.
+===Whereabouts?===
+The question of location usually reveals whether the identity marker is experienced intrinsically or extrinsically.
+The identity marker may be:
+* inside the head
+* in the chest
+* in the stomach
+* in the throat
+* behind the person
+* in front of the person
+* above the person
+* outside the room
+* at a distance
+* in another person
+* nowhere
+* everywhere
+* split across locations
+Trainers should not present a rigid map of “correct” answers. It is useful to know common patterns, but the client’s answer is the client’s answer.
+The practitioner should notice whether the response suggests:
+* association
+* dissociation
+* externalisation
+* internalisation
+* enmeshment
+* emotional receptivity
+* performative self-expression
+* social fear
+* unresolved relational material
+* confusion in identity reference
+===How old?===
+The question of age may reveal developmental information.
+When a client says, “me is five,” this does not necessarily mean one simple thing. It may indicate:
+* an immature aspect of identity
+* the age at which a particular relational pattern developed
+* a developmental arrest
+* a state-dependent identity reference
+* an age associated with family dynamics
+* an age associated with school, trauma or social experience
+* an identity marker that has not updated
+* a symbolic rather than literal age
+Sometimes the person feels much older than their chronological age. This may occur in people who had high responsibility early in life, cared for a parent, worked in a family business, became “the responsible one”, or had little opportunity for ordinary childhood self-development.
+Examples:
+* a child who had to become a carer
+* a child expected to work in the family shop
+* a child trained into adult responsibility too early
+* a person who has always felt old
+* a person who becomes adolescent when with their parents
+* a person whose professional identity feels older than their emotional identity
+Trainers should teach trainees to use the age response as information, not as an automatic invitation to regress the client.
+===What is happening around it?===
+The question:
+* //"What is happening around I?"//
+or
+* //"What is happening around this self?"//
+is used to identify context.
+The response may be external:
+* a birthday party
+* school
+* family conflict
+* a parent shouting
+* a workplace
+* an accident
+* a hospital scene
+* a social event
+* a relationship scene
+The response may be internal:
+* chaos
+* pressure
+* sadness
+* anger
+* blankness
+* fear
+* thoughts rushing
+* heaviness
+* numbness
+* confusion
+Both are useful. The practitioner should not force the answer into a preferred category.
+Some people will begin answering one question with information that belongs to another. For example, when asked where “I” is, they may immediately describe what is happening around it. This may simply mean the client is unfamiliar with the task. It may also reveal a Pattern of Chronicity if they habitually fail to answer the question asked.
+===When the client answers a different question===
+If the client answers a different question, the practitioner should first consider whether the client is simply confused.
+A useful response is:
+* //"That is useful. What I am asking for first is the location. When you think of I, whereabouts is I?"//
+If the client repeatedly fails to answer the question asked, the practitioner should consider whether this is a broader pattern.
+Possibilities include:
+* avoidance
+* confusion
+* compliance without engagement
+* Maybe Man
+* answering the question they wish had been asked
+* chronic non-specificity
+* fear of precision
+* relational resistance
+* a pattern of not being able to attend to what is being asked
+Where this happens repeatedly, the practitioner may need to pause the Identity Pattern and address the broader interaction pattern.
+===Axis deviation in the Identity Pattern===
+The Complex Form of the Identity Pattern involves observation of axis deviation while directing the eye movements.
+Axis deviation refers to the point at which the client’s eyes deviate, wobble, hesitate, jump, resist, lose smoothness or otherwise depart from smooth tracking through the movement.
+The trainer should demonstrate how to observe this carefully. It requires attention and practice. Trainees should not be expected to calibrate perfectly at first, but they should begin learning what to look for.
+Observable signs may include:
+* a flicker
+* a jump
+* a hesitation
+* a catch in the movement
+* uneven tracking
+* a blink at the same point
+* loss of smooth pursuit
+* a small head movement
+* eye strain
+* a repeated deviation in one part of the movement
+===Two approaches to axis deviation===
+There are two practical approaches that may be taught.
+==Continuing until no further deviation==
+The practitioner continues the eye movements through the axis where deviation is observed until there is no further deviation in that direction. Once the deviation has resolved, the practitioner reverses to the opposite direction.
+==Changing direction upon each deviation==
+The practitioner changes the direction of movement each time an axis deviation is observed.
+There is no evidence that one of these approaches is more beneficial than the other. Trainers may teach either or both, but should be clear that trainees are learning calibration and responsiveness rather than a rigid superstition.
+===Constants in eye movement delivery===
+As with the Kinaesthetic Pattern, two constants should be emphasised.
+==Do not continue too long without rest==
+The practitioner should not continue eye movements for more than approximately 20 to 40 seconds in a single sequence without resting the client’s eyes.
+In most cases, around 20 seconds is sufficient.
+If the practitioner continues too long, the client may become tired, strained, dizzy, uncomfortable or disengaged.
+==Do not persist on an axis with no deviation==
+Eye movements through an axis with no observable deviation may yield little or no useful result.
+If no axis deviation is observed, the practitioner should change axis and may return to the original axis later.
+The practitioner should not mechanically continue simply because the sequence has begun.
+===Figure-eight movements in identity work===
+Trainees should be taught that, in IEMT, kinaesthetic work commonly uses straight-line eye movements, whereas identity work commonly uses figure-eight movements.
+The trainer should be honest that the exact reason for this distinction is not proven. The figure-eight pattern emerged from practical experimentation and observation. It appeared that when identity material was worked with using the figure-eight, abreactional responses reduced and the work became more stable.
+This should not be overstated as scientific certainty. It should be presented as a working convention within IEMT.
+<WRAP center round important 90%>
+For identity work, use the figure-eight movement as taught. Do not casually substitute other movement patterns simply because they seem similar. </WRAP>
+===The Identity Pattern exercise===
+The paired exercise should be set up carefully.
+Trainees should work with manageable identity statements, not severe trauma or highly charged identity crises.
+A simple structure:
+* Person A selects a simple identity statement.
+* Person B identifies the relevant identity marker.
+* Person B asks the three elicitation questions.
+* Person B notes location, age and what is happening around the marker.
+* Person B conducts figure-eight eye movements while observing axis deviation.
+* Person B rests the eyes after an appropriate sequence.
+* Person B asks what the subject noticed.
+* Person B repeats or changes axis as appropriate.
+* Swap roles.
+Suitable practice sentences may include:
+* “I feel awkward.”
+* “I am not confident.”
+* “I cannot be myself.”
+* “People see me as quiet.”
+* “I feel like a child.”
+* “I hate that part of myself.”
+* “You make me nervous.”
+* “I do not recognise myself.”
+Trainers should discourage trainees from choosing sentences that are too intense for a training exercise.
+===Combining Kinaesthetic and Identity Patterns===
+The module should include exploration of simple sentences involving pronouns and feelings.
+Examples:
+* “I hate myself.”
+* “I feel ashamed of myself.”
+* “You make me feel small.”
+* “I feel like a child when I see my father.”
+* “My mother makes me feel useless.”
+* “I cannot show my real self.”
+* “He talks to me like I am stupid.”
+* “I do not feel like myself.”
+These sentences contain both kinaesthetic and identity material.
+The training principle is:
+* work with strong feelings first
+* then work with the identity markers
+If the feeling is intense, the practitioner should depotentiate the kinaesthetic charge before proceeding into identity work.
+For example, in the statement:
+* “I hate myself.”
+The practitioner may first work with the hate:
+* //"This hate, on a score out of 10, how strong is it?"//
+* //"And how familiar is this hate?"//
+* //"And when is the first time you can remember feeling this hate now? It may not be the first time you ever felt it, but it is the first time you can remember now."//
+* //"And how vivid is this memory?"//
+After the kinaesthetic material has been addressed, the practitioner may work with:
+* the I that hates
+* the self that is hated
+===Actives and passives===
+Trainees should learn to identify actives and passives in a client’s sentence.
+In the sentence:
+* “I hate myself.”
+“I” is active. “Self” is passive. The self is the thing being hated.
+In the sentence:
+* “My father talks to me like I am a child.”
+“Father” is active. “Me” is receiving. “I” is being positioned as child.
+In the sentence:
+* “I feel like a child when I see my father.”
+“I” is active in feeling and seeing. “Child” is the identity comparison. “Father” is the relational trigger or marker.
+These sentences may appear superficially similar but structurally they are different. The practitioner should work with the structure the client actually gives, not a paraphrase invented by the practitioner.
+===Proactives and reactives===
+In addition to actives and passives, trainees should consider proactive and reactive positions.
+Some clients are organised around action:
+* “I decide.”
+* “I choose.”
+* “I refuse.”
+* “I confront.”
+* “I leave.”
+Others are organised around reaction:
+* “He makes me.”
+* “They upset me.”
+* “It happens to me.”
+* “I cannot help it.”
+* “I react before I can think.”
+This distinction matters. Some conditions and states are self-defeating against intervention. For example, a highly depressed client may lack motivation, so attempting to motivate them may fail. A more useful route may be to find a point of reactivity, something they respond to, resist, object to or care about.
+The practitioner should listen for where the person has agency and where agency is absent.
+===Core statements===
+Trainers should teach trainees to recognise core statements.
+A core statement is a sentence that appears to encapsulate the structure of the client’s problem.
+Examples:
+* “I hate myself.”
+* “My father talks to me like I am a child.”
+* “I feel like a child when I see my father.”
+* “I cannot be myself around them.”
+* “Everyone sees me as weak.”
+* “I am not the person I used to be.”
+* “She makes me feel invisible.”
+* “I became the responsible one.”
+* “I am always the one who has to cope.”
+A single core statement may contain enough material for an entire session. The practitioner should not rush past it.
+The practitioner may need to:
+* identify the kinaesthetic charge
+* work with the active identity marker
+* work with the passive identity marker
+* work with the relational marker
+* work with the implied role
+* return to the original sentence and test what has changed
+===Do not work every pronoun automatically===
+A common trainee misunderstanding is that every case requires the practitioner to work through I, me, self and you automatically.
+This is not necessary.
+If a client says:
+* “I hate myself.”
+The relevant identity markers are “I” and “self”. “Me” and “you” do not feature in that sentence.
+The practitioner may later explore “me” or “you” if clinically useful, but should not automatically do so merely because the training exercise used four identity markers.
+<WRAP center round box 90%>
+Work with what the client gives. Do not impose the full exercise structure onto every clinical statement. </WRAP>
+===Other Identity Markers===
+In addition to I, me, self and you, clients will use many other identity markers.
+These may include:
+* he
+* she
+* him
+* her
+* his
+* hers
+* they
+* them
+* us
+* we
+* mother
+* father
+* child
+* son
+* daughter
+* husband
+* wife
+* partner
+* boss
+* doctor
+* patient
+* victim
+* survivor
+* therapist
+* trainer
+* teacher
+* failure
+* idiot
+* carer
+* professional
+* addict
+* leader
+* outsider
+* nickname
+* job title
+* family role
+* diagnosis label
+{{ :other-identity-markers.jpg?700 |}}
+These markers may carry significant identity structure. They may be more important than the standard pronouns in a given case.
+===Roles, titles and nicknames===
+Trainers should spend time on roles, titles and nicknames.
+A person may be organised around being:
+* the clever one
+* the difficult one
+* the responsible one
+* the black sheep
+* the good girl
+* the naughty boy
+* the carer
+* the patient
+* the survivor
+* the victim
+* the boss
+* the doctor
+* the trainer
+* the failure
+* the strong one
+* the funny one
+* the useless one
+These identity markers may have been assigned by family, school, workplace, culture, religion, peers, medical systems or the person themselves.
+Some are inherited. Some are designed. Some are adopted. Some are imposed. Some are performed for so long that the person forgets they are performing them.
+===Default and designed identity===
+Some aspects of identity are default. They arise from family, culture, biology, early experience, social class, language, physicality and circumstance.
+Other aspects are designed or cultivated. A person may deliberately become:
+* professional
+* spiritual
+* successful
+* educated
+* rebellious
+* respectable
+* dangerous
+* caring
+* disciplined
+* eccentric
+* impressive
+Dissonance can arise when a designed identity conflicts with a default identity, or when an inherited role conflicts with the person’s lived experience.
+Examples:
+* a person expected to inherit a family business but wanting another life
+* a person from a working-class background entering a middle-class profession
+* a person raised to be obedient becoming an authority figure
+* a person expected to be strong but feeling fragile
+* a person treated as a child while functioning as an adult
+* a person with wealth and status but poor competence
+* a person who has a professional role that conflicts with family identity
+Trainers should teach trainees to look for these conflicts.
+===Family identity and assigned roles===
+Families often assign identity.
+A person may have been told, explicitly or implicitly:
+* who they are
+* what they will become
+* what role they must play
+* what behaviour is acceptable
+* what emotions are allowed
+* what level of success is expected
+* what class or profession they belong to
+* what they must never reveal
+* how they must conduct themselves
+A client may later discover that their chosen adult identity conflicts with the identity assigned by family.
+This can create:
+* guilt
+* shame
+* anger
+* alienation
+* loyalty conflict
+* fear of success
+* fear of standing out
+* fear of being ordinary
+* resentment
+* chronic self-monitoring
+The Identity Pattern may help the person examine components of identity that have previously been accepted as simply “who I am.”
+===Identity and social perception===
+People often get us wrong. Sometimes this does not matter. At other times, it matters greatly.
+A client may be troubled because another person does not recognise who they are, treats them according to an old role, or insists on an identity that no longer fits.
+Examples:
+* “My father talks to me like I am a child.”
+* “They still treat me like the stupid one.”
+* “Everyone sees me as fragile.”
+* “My family do not take me seriously.”
+* “At work, they see me as difficult.”
+* “My partner thinks I am selfish.”
+* “They only see the diagnosis.”
+The practitioner should not assume that the problem is merely that another person is wrong. The useful question is why this particular misrecognition matters to the client and how it is organised internally.
+===Projective “you”===
+The client’s “you” may include projection.
+The person they describe may not be the person others experience. Two people can be in the same relationship and have quite different versions of that relationship.
+The practitioner should be careful. It is not useful to reduce this to simplistic claims such as “perception is projection” or “you only see in others what is in yourself.” Those claims are crude and often inaccurate.
+A more useful position is:
+* people perceive others through filters
+* people project meanings onto others
+* people also respond to real behaviours
+* relationships contain more than one subjective version
+* the practitioner should not assume one version is the whole truth
+* the practitioner works with the client’s internal organisation of the relationship
+===Sentence deconstruction exercise===
+Trainees should practise deconstructing sentences with multiple identity markers.
+Example:
+* “My father talks to me like I am a child.”
+Possible markers:
+* father
+* me
+* I
+* child
+Possible work sequence:
+* Identify whether there is a strong feeling.
+* If so, work with the kinaesthetic charge first.
+* Identify the active marker: father talks.
+* Identify the receiving marker: me.
+* Identify the positioned marker: I as child.
+* Elicit each relevant marker as needed:
+  * whereabouts is father?
+  * how old is father?
+  * what is happening around father?
+  * whereabouts is me?
+  * how old is me?
+  * what is happening around me?
+  * whereabouts is this child?
+  * how old is this child?
+  * what is happening around this child?
+* Apply figure-eight eye movements with calibration to axis deviation.
+* Test what changes in the original sentence.
+Comparison sentence:
+* “I feel like a child when I see my father.”
+This sentence is structurally different.
+Possible markers:
+* I that feels
+* I that sees
+* child
+* father
+Here the speaker has more ownership of the feeling. The practitioner should not treat it as identical to the previous sentence.
+===Exercise in pairs: Other Identity Markers===
+In pairs, trainees should select a sentence containing multiple identity markers.
+Example sentences:
+* “My mother makes me feel useless.”
+* “He treats me like I am nothing.”
+* “I cannot be myself around her.”
+* “They see me as weak.”
+* “My boss talks to me like I am a child.”
+* “I feel like the responsible one.”
+* “Everyone expects me to be strong.”
+* “She makes me feel like my old self.”
+* “I hate the person I become around him.”
+The practitioner should:
+* Identify the relevant identity markers.
+* Identify actives and passives.
+* Identify any strong kinaesthetic charge.
+* Work with the feeling first if necessary.
+* Elicit location, age and context for the relevant identity markers.
+* Apply figure-eight eye movements.
+* Calibrate to axis deviation.
+* Ask what changed.
+* Return to the original sentence and test whether it still has the same structure or charge.
+The trainer should observe and correct trainees where they:
+* work every pronoun mechanically
+* miss the active/passive structure
+* ignore the feeling
+* fail to notice axis deviation
+* continue too long without resting the eyes
+* fail to return to the original sentence
+* begin giving advice rather than working with the structure
+===Remedial and generative change===
+Trainees should be introduced to the distinction between remedial and generative change.
+**Remedial change** addresses a problem, symptom, unwanted feeling, dysfunctional identity marker or limiting relational structure.
+Examples:
+* reducing shame
+* changing a painful identity position
+* reducing the charge around “I hate myself”
+* loosening an internalised parental voice
+* changing the effect of a humiliating nickname
+**Generative change** develops new possibilities, identity flexibility, future orientation, improved expression, confidence and broader behavioural choice.
+Examples:
+* developing a more adult self-position
+* increasing capacity for self-expression
+* updating an old role
+* becoming able to act from a new identity position
+* loosening over-identification with a previous label
+* creating space for future roles
+Trainers should teach that IEMT work may be remedial or generative, but the practitioner must know which frame they are working in.
+===The practitioner’s role===
+The practitioner does not need to be the all-knowing expert. Identity work often benefits from a collaborative stance.
+If the practitioner genuinely does not know what to do next, it can be appropriate to say:
+* //"I am not sure what the next useful step is. What do you notice? Where do you think we should look next?"//
+This is not incompetence. It is often better than forcing a technique because the practitioner feels they must appear certain.
+Identity work can become complex quickly. The practitioner should remain curious, precise and responsive rather than technique-driven.
+===When not to use the Identity Pattern===
+The Identity Pattern may be inappropriate or unnecessary where:
+* the client has not presented identity material
+* the client has a clear kinaesthetic target that should be addressed first
+* the problem is practical rather than identity-based
+* the client is highly unstable
+* the practitioner is using it only because they like the technique
+* the client cannot engage with the elicitation
+* the work would overcomplicate a simple issue
+* the client needs care, stabilisation or referral rather than identity exploration
+The practitioner should not use the Identity Pattern as a universal tool.
+===Common trainee errors===
+Trainers should watch for:
+* treating the Identity Pattern as a mandatory technique
+* eliciting I, me, self and you in every case regardless of relevance
+* ignoring the client’s actual language
+* changing the client’s sentence before working with it
+* missing actives and passives
+* failing to work with strong feelings first
+* confusing self-expression with sense of self
+* assuming “I” must always be in the head
+* assuming “you” must always be outside the body
+* panicking when the answer is unusual
+* trying to force internalised others out of the body
+* ignoring enmeshment and entanglement
+* failing to notice axis deviation
+* continuing eye movements too long
+* using straight-line movements for identity work without good reason
+* using vague language in the elicitation
+* assuming all identity work is remedial
+* ignoring the role of family, culture, class, profession and social expectation
+===Trainer demonstration standards===
+When demonstrating this module, trainers should model:
+* careful listening to the client’s exact language
+* distinction between feeling and identity marker
+* working with feelings first where appropriate
+* precise elicitation questions
+* calm handling of unusual responses
+* clear explanation of I, me, self and you
+* recognition of other identity markers
+* identification of actives and passives
+* figure-eight eye movements
+* calibration to axis deviation
+* appropriate resting of the eyes
+* returning to the original sentence to test change
+* not overusing the pattern where it is not needed
+===Competency benchmark for this module===
+By the end of this module, trainees should be able to:
+* explain the purpose of the Identity Pattern
+* describe the difference between I, me, self and you
+* understand pronouns as interfaces between identity and relationship
+* use the three elicitation questions accurately
+* recognise intrinsic and extrinsic identity locations
+* understand the significance of age responses
+* interpret “what is happening around” as context rather than content alone
+* identify actives and passives in a sentence
+* identify proactive and reactive structures
+* work with strong kinaesthetic charge before identity markers
+* deconstruct sentences with multiple identity markers
+* work with other identity markers such as mother, father, him, her, child, role or title
+* recognise emotional entanglement and enmeshment
+* conduct figure-eight eye movements
+* observe and respond to axis deviation
+* avoid mechanical use of the full pronoun sequence
+* recognise when identity work is not appropriate
+* distinguish remedial from generative change
+A trainee should not be considered competent merely because they can recite the I, me, self and you questions. They should be able to hear identity structure in ordinary client language, select relevant markers, work with the appropriate sequence, and avoid imposing unnecessary technique.
+---
+<WRAP center round box 90%>
+==== References ====
+**Singer, J.A., Blagov, P., Berry, M. and Oost, K.M. (2013), "//Self-Defining Memories, Scripts, and the Life Story: Narrative Identity in Personality and Psychotherapy//".** Journal of Personality, 81: 569-582. [[https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12005]]
+**Andrei Novac, Margaret C. Tuttle & Barton J. Blinder (2019), "//Identity Narrative and Its Role in Biological Survival: Implications for Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy.//"** Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy, 18:2, 155-184, DOI: 10.1080/15289168.2019.1583053 [[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15289168.2019.1583053]]
+**Mark Schechter, Benjamin Herbstman, Elsa Ronningstam & Mark J. Goldblatt (2018), "//Emerging Adults, Identity Development, and Suicidality: Implications for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy.//"** The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 71:1, 20-39, DOI: 10.1080/00797308.2017.1415596 [[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00797308.2017.1415596]]
+</WRAP>
+---
+**//1-1.5 hour break//**
+---