Mental Rehearsal and Sherlock Holmes

Yesterday, my wife and I took a break to go see the new Sherlock Holmes movie. It is essentially "action porn," a very enjoyable diversion.

One aspect of it I found intriguing from a professional standpoint. Whenever confronted with a tough situation, the hero visualizes how to get out of it, talking himself through a complex web of cause-and-effect, analogous to planning a chess strategy. While this may seem like a highly logical process, his intuition clearly plays a large role. He then either engages the plan or (in one case) rejects it because the projected outcome is unfavorable.

I was struck by how much this reminds me of mental rehearsal and other imaginative techniques we hypnotists often employ and teach.

It's been decades since I read any Sherlock Holmes novels. My recollection is that in the novels, Sherlock's "super-powers" were keen observation, encyclopedic knowledge, and above all, deductive reasoning. (Reminds me a bit of Milton Erickson, when I put it that way.) I don't recall visualization being discussed in the books, though it makes a lot of sense.

Anyway, I found it fascinating, and I suspect the movie will be a handy tool for explaining these processes to clients.