Reference · Sample
Client typology
Seventeen recognisable client patterns that a practitioner meets in the first twenty minutes of a conversation. Not a diagnostic grid — a working map.
How to read the overview
Per pattern
Cluster category (colour as left accent), a stylised glyph that visually captures the mechanism, and four core markers — language markers and contextual signals the practitioner recognises in the first minutes of a session.
Six clusters
Trauma, identity, somatic, anxiety, addiction, relationship. The cluster colour signals a working direction, not a diagnosis. Pattern stacking is the rule — almost every client carries three or four patterns at once.
What we do not do
Pigeonhole clients into a pattern category. The typology is a working instrument for the practitioner, not a label for the client. We claim IEMT craft, not clinical diagnosis.
CLIENT TYPOLOGY · 17 PATTERNS
Which client is in front of you?
17 recognisable coaching questions IEMT can be used for. By way of illustration — more is possible, and we’re not fond of labels.
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Living-dead
- 'My life ended that day'
- Timeline deletion after the event
- No future projection
- Crash depression ~6 wks after recovery
trauma involving loss or life threat
-
PTSD with dissociation
- 'That's not me, that's the angry man'
- Tag-refusal of medical labels
- Privacy frame around the event
- Identity shift possible within seconds
often with childhood pre-loading
-
Identity loss
- 'I don't know myself any more'
- Role or context loss
- No living-dead frame
- Question: new expression, or the old one back?
after retirement, caregiving, divorce
-
Chronic pain
- Variable days, stable substrate
- Sensitisation to other complaints
- Sense of injustice
- Erickson: remembered / anticipated / now
depression-pain feedback loop active
-
Tinnitus
- 'I've always had it'
- Attention makes it louder
- Imprint often traceable
- Perception shifts, sound remains
perception changes; the sound remains
-
Narcissism survivor
- Waits for 'the reckoning'
- Enabler talk about a third person
- Grief for the relationship-that-never-was
- Walking-on-eggshells lifestyle
parent, partner or work system
-
Mysterious maladies
- Medically unexplained, years in the circuit
- Often several complaints in parallel
- Honesty: often not psyche-only
- A workable layer sometimes — don't claim it
scope limit: alongside medical care
-
Specific phobia
- Clearly defined object
- Avoidance behaviour around it
- Imprint almost always traceable
- Island pathology
classic IEMT working domain
-
Social and performance anxiety
- Avoiding visibility
- Often a high-performing audience
- Not the same as introversion
- Often alongside imposter / perfectionism
fear-based, not preference-based
-
Panic-attack pattern
- Episodic, not continuous
- A fear-of-fear loop forms
- Initial medical check required
- World shrinks through avoidance
first attack is the workable imprint
-
Stuck grief
- Grief > 6-12 mths without movement
- Unfinished communication
- Not the same as living-dead
- Trigger events stay acute for years
relationship with the deceased not transformed
-
Shame as linchpin
- Privacy frame around the presentation
- 'I am wrong', not 'I did wrong'
- Often beneath other complaints
- Self-diminishing body language
identity level, not behaviour level
-
Imposter pattern
- Incongruent achievement perception
- 'They'll expose me'
- Conditional-love imprint
- Avoids status increase
often high-performing clients
-
Perfectionism
- Critical inner voice
- Procrastination paradox
- Burnout susceptibility
- Voice often a parent or teacher
the voice has a protective function
-
Pleaser pattern
- 'I can't say no'
- Body symptoms in parallel
- Needs-are-a-burden imprint
- Often parentified too young
often parentified young
-
Addiction pattern
- Behaviour regulates an underlying emotion
- Willpower approach never works
- Clinical scope limit required
- Shame cluster underneath
the behaviour is the solution, not the problem
-
Attachment pattern
- Avoidant OR anxious
- Primarily in intimate relationships
- Early-attachment imprint carries it
- Pattern repeats across partners
don't pigeonhole; a workable pattern
Going deeper
For practitioners who work with this typology there are separate write-ups available. Per pattern: the working route, the key phrasings to listen for, choice points within a session and signals to switch to another technique or route. Those documents live inside the IEMT Practitioner curriculum and are available to participants and supervisees.
Want to know more?
These 17 patterns are one side of the method. The other pieces in the hub cover what IEMT is, how it works, its indications and limits, the trauma layer, and how IEMT relates to other methods.