[Neurons] 2026 Neurons #15 THE GREAT DISTIONCTION

Mon Apr 6 04:27:14 EET 2026

From: L. Michael Hall

2026 Neurons #15

April 6, 2026 

Problem Solving Expertise #15

THE GREAT DISTINCTION

The great distinction is the difference between a problem and its symptoms.
They are not the same.  One is the cause, the other is the result.  As a
result of some cause, a symptom is a sign of that hidden cause.  It is
literally what happens (Greek: sumpton) with (sym-) something else
(literally, sym-ptom).  Hence, a characteristic, sign, or indication of
something else.

An amazing thing about problem solving is that many people confuse problem
and symptom.  Why is this?  One reason is because symptoms are almost always
problematic.  They give us all sorts of problems, pains, distresses, etc.
Given that, its really easy for a person to take a symptom and call it a
problem which thereby creates a confusion as well as the lack of precision.
This is one of the challenges which is built into language itself.  

But calling something a problem does not make it a problem.  And while it
may make sense that we do experience symptoms as problems, thats an
accommodative use of the term, not a precise one.  Just as we often call
external events as a problem, and call the consequences as a problem, so
we call symptoms a problem.  Here the term problem is generalized and
used vaguely with the resultof generating a lot of fuzzy thinking.  The
solution in The Five-Minute Manager training is to distinguish the true
problem from the problem-confusions (external conditions, symptoms,
contexts, consequences, and contributing factors).

The next step is then to ask precision questions about symptoms.  This is a
symptom of what?  At what level?  Maintained by what kind of thinking?  Is
it a symptom of a direct thought, a belief, an assumption, etc.?  All of
this, as described by Hernán Vilaró, nudges us upward into the
meta-levels.

I took his nudge upward into the meta-levels by deciding to divide the
meta-levels into three areas or classifications.  These give us some large
level categories of the meta-levels for the creation of problems and
symptoms.

1) Direct thinking: representing, editing, languaging.  The thought directly
and immediately leads to a symptom.  Think a sense of loss, feel sad.  Think
thats a violation of my values, feel anger.  Think thats a threat,
feel fear.  Here as you think, so you feel.  And because thinking and
feeling are close in time and space, its easy to identify the source of the
symptom.

2) Layered thinking: thinking-about-your-thoughts, the meta-stating process
of state about state which can lead to at least 16 different kinds of
interfaces [see the Interface page in the APG manual or in the book,
Meta-States].  This creates complexity in both thinking and feeling.  When
you feel disgusted about your anger, what do you feel?  Anger, disgust or
what?  When you are afraid of your embarrssment, what do you feel?   This is
just the first layer, that is, one thought upon one thought.  When you layer
several upon a single thought, you are likely to create gestalt states (as
you learned in APG about Meta-States).

3) Assumptive thinking: at this level, the thinking which is creating the
symptoms is outside-of-consciousness and because of that, much more
difficult to identify and address.  Here we operate by assumptions and
presuppositions that we do not question and do not test with critical
thinking.  At this level, because we operate assumptively, we simply assume
this is the way reality is, and feel fated by those assumptive beliefs.

By distinguishing symptoms from problems, we can use the kind of symptom as
an indicator of the level of the problem.  At each level there will be a
different kind of distorted thinking which is creating the problemthe
mental block which is stopping or interfering with us achieving our goal or
finding a solution.  

This also has a tremendous impact on our problem-solving.  It means that
anyone who is well-trained in cognitive psychology (e.g., NLP) regarding
thinking, believing, and languaging should be able to solve first level
problems and symptoms.  Thats our objective for managers in The Five Minute
Manager training.

For problems at the layered thinking level, it will generally require
someone having more training in NLP, Meta-States, and in the Coaching
methodology (e.g., Meta-Coaching, Modules I, II, and III).  Here someone
knowing the Mind-Lines Model will thrive as a good problem-solver.  Here
someone who has studied the structure of meaning (semantics) will also
thrive and be able to deal with the more complex symptoms.

For problems at the assumptive thinking level, a person needs a fuller
understanding of human psychology and a good bit of experience as a
professional therapist.  Thats because problems and symptoms at this level
are incredibly subtle as they hide outside-of-conscious awareness and
requires the ability to call them forth which means managing all of the
defense systems that grow up with them.

Ah, symptoms!  Symptoms are tricky little things that so often masquerade as
the problem, and can even disappear from sight to become our blind spots.
Symptoms can even masquerade as the solution offering us various secondary
gains thereby tricking us to think that we need the symptom, its our
friend.  But they are not.

Symptoms, they are not all the same.  And because of the levels of meaning
that we construct in our mind, symptoms differ according to those levels.
And the bottom line: symptoms are but symptoms of a problem, and not the
problem.  So, how are you at making the great distinction?

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Executive Director, Neuro-Semantics

738 Beaver Lodge

Grand Jct., CO. 81505 USA

 <http://www.neurosemantics.com> www.neurosemantics.com 

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Making smart decisions is not easy--- many, many cognitive biases 

work against us and it is far too easy to default to pseudo-decisions:

emotions, gut feelings, intuitions, circumstances, others.  

Executive Decisions (2021) offers a way to decide intelligently and wisely.

130969 Neuro Semantics Executive Decisions Book Cover

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