Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a hugely controversial approach to Psychotherapy
and personal and organisational change based on models of interpersonal communication
chiefly concerned with the relationship between successful patterns of behaviour
and the subjective experiences (especially patterns of thought) underlying the experiences.
It proposes a system of alternative therapy based on this which seeks to educate
people in self-awareness and effective communication and to change their patterns
of mental and emotional behaviour.
According to the Association for NLP (2009), it is “a field of study that attempts
to build a set of transferable skills by programming the unconscious mind. NLP is
a collection of models, tools and techniques that enables its Practitioners to:-
- Communicate more effectively
- Achieve excellence in their chosen field
- Overcome performance-limiting behaviours
- Programme themselves to improve performance and results
NLP is a therapeutic technique to detect and reprogramme unconscious patterns of
thought and behaviour in order to alter psychological responses. The basic principle
of NLP is that it is within an individual`s power to change their own subconscious
programming for the better".
Co-founders Richard Bandler & John Grinder (1975) claimed NLP would be instrumental
in "finding ways to help people have better, fuller and richer lives". They coined
the title to denote their belief in a connection between neurological processes (‘neuro’),
language (‘linguistic’) and behavioural patterns that have been learned through experience
('programming') and that can be organised to achieve specific goals in life. (According
to one apocryphal tale, the name actually originated when Bandler was stopped by
police for speeding on his way to a workshop. When asked what the workshop was about,
Bandler, his eyes roving over the books spread over his back seat, noted one about
neurology, one about linguistics and one about computer programming, then answered:
“Neuro-Linguistic Programming.”)
The impetus for the foundation of NLP came from undergraduate Bandler’s transcribing
of recordings of Fritz Perls (father of Gestalt Therapy) and Family Systems therapist
Virginia Satyr for the publishing company of Robert Spitzer (vitriolic critic of
David Rosenhan’s ‘On being Sane in Insane Places’ study and later chief architect
of DSM-III). With the assistance of assistant professor of linguistics Grinder, Bandler
aimed to build an enhanced model of Gestalt Therapy. Bandler & Grinder’s early work
- especially the Meta Model - captured the attention of Gregory Bateson who became
a major influence on the early intellectual foundations of the approach, including
Logical Levels, the Double Bind theory of Schizophrenia, cybernetic epistemology
and cultural relativism. Bateson introduced the co-founders to Milton Erickson, at
that time in his 70's and recognised as the founder of Clinical Hypnotherapy and
a near-legendary therapeutic genius in his own right. These early studies and models
of patterns used by recognised geniuses, such as the Meta-Model and Milton Model,
formed the basis of workshops and seminars.
Bandler and Grinder parted company acrimoniously in 1980, unintentionally freeing
a group of advanced thinkers who had gathered around them - including Judith DeLozier,
Stephen Gilligan, Robert Dilts, Steve Andreas, David Gordon and Bandler’s soon-to-be-ex-wife
Leslie Cameron-Bandler - to develop their own significant contributions to NLP. While
this inevitably diluted what NLP might be defined as, it brought much radical new
thinking into the approach.
The credibility of NLP as an therapeutic approach has been undermined by a number
of factors, most notably:-
- Lack of a cohesive theoretical base
- Massive over-hyping of just what NLP can achieve
- The consistent lack of sound empirical evidence for many of the claims about NLP
- Media interest in Bandler’s personal problems - including a period of cocaine addiction
and being tried for a brutal murder (for which he was acquitted)
- The pushing of NLP into Sales & Marketing which, while extremely lucrative for those
who did it, led eventually to the promotion of sleazy workshops such as How to get
a woman into bed in 10 minutes with NLP
In spite of such image problems, NLP continues to be very popular as an approach
in management training, life coaching and the self-help industry - where both practitioners
and workshop participants claim anecdotal evidence for significant improvements in
performance. A lesser-but-but-by-no-means insignificant body of therapists claim
anecdotal evidence for the successful application of NLP techniques as psychotherapeutic
interventions. (I am one of them! See Personal Therapy.)
NLP as Theory
In spite of the regulated curriculum by the International NLP Trainers Association
and that organisation’s insistence that NLP does hang together as a theoretical approach,
it clearly doesn’t. The approach is a rag bag of models and therapeutic techniques
linked together rather tenuously by underlying assumptions about how people represent
mentally both themselves and the world around them. Criticisms of NLP theory include
Christopher Sharpley’s 2 meta-analyses (1984, 1987) of studies into NLP’s claims
about representational systems and found no significant supporting evidence. Daniel
Druckman & John A Swets (1988), on behalf of the United States National Research
Council, found “...little, if any...” evidence to support NLP’s assumptions or to
indicate that it is effective as a strategy for social influence. Matthew Elich,
Richard Thompson & Laurence Miller (1985) concluded that: “NLP has achieved something
akin to cult status when it may be nothing more than a psychological fad.”
Not all research into the assumptions underpinning NLP has reached negative conclusions.
Michael Buckner et al (1987) found support for the claim that specific eye movement
patterns existed for visual and auditory components of thought - and that trained
observers could reliably identify them.
With what little original theory NLP has largely unsupported, it is evident that
the approach, with its modelling of ‘what works’, mostly steals from other approaches
-especially Cognitive Psychology and Behaviourism - though some of the more woolly
practitioners obviously have some elements of Humanistic Psychology in their philosophy.
For all the difficulties in establishing a theoretical basis for NLP, the approach
has produced several powerful models which contribute powerfully to our understanding
of aspects of human psychology - most notably L Michael Hall’s Meta-States (1995),
which links to the Cognitive Triad (popularised by Aaron T Beck et al, 1979) to describe
the process of belief system formation, and meta-programmes (developed by Leslie
Cameron Bandler in the late 1970s). Robert Dilts’ Neurological Levels (1990) have
been heavily criticised on both philosophical grounds - see Peter McNab’s ‘Aligning
Neurological Levels: a Reassessment’ - and for using some outmoded understandings
of how the brain works - see Dilts’ Brain Science. However, as a model, it is vital
to describing the Nominal Level of Adjustment and drawing a distinction between it
and the Deeper Level.
NLP as Therapy
NLP was originally promoted by Bandler & Grinder in the 1970s as an effective and
rapid form of psychological therapy,capable of addressing the full range of problems
which psychologists are likely to encounter, such as phobias, Depression, habit disorder,
psychosomatic illnesses, and learning disorders. It also espoused the potential for
self-determination through overcoming learned limitations and emphasised well-being
and healthy functioning. Later, it was promoted as a ‘science of excellence’, derived
from the study or modelling of how successful or outstanding people in different
fields obtain their results. It was claimed that these skills can be learned by anyone
to improve their effectiveness both personally and professionally.
NLP offers a number of therapeutic techniques that are powerful and effective. Meta-modelling
to unpick someone’s beliefs about themselves and/or others fits entirely with either
of the Cognitive Therapies espoused by Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis respectively.
For all that the likes of Sharpley and Druckman & Swets have failed to find experimental
evidence that supports the linking of representational systems with thought, there
is a vast body of anecdotal evidence from practitioners that submodality work is
effective in addressing many issues to do with faulty thinking/maladaptive schemas,
low self-esteem, problem solving, relationship problems, some phobias and some types
of psychological trauma. A very powerful complement to the NLP practitioner’s portfolio
of techniques in recent years has been Penny Parks’ Inner Child Therapy (1994) which
uses visualisation exercises to revisit negative and even traumatic experiences and
completely restructure the meaning taken from the experience by the client. the pers
While there has been little formal field research into the use of NLP therapies,
their effectiveness has been acknowledged by such authorities as Bill O’Connell (2005)
and Windy Dryden (2007).
Sharpley (1987) did concede that NLP could be put “in the same category as Psychoanalysis,
that is, with principles not easily demonstrated in laboratory settings but, nevertheless,
strongly supported by clinicians in the field.” He went on to say: “NLP may be seen
as a partial compendium of rather than as an original contribution to counselling
practice and, thereby, has a value distinct from the lack of research data supporting
the underlying principles that Bandler & Grinder posited to present NLP as a new
and magical theory. ... if NLP is presented as a theory-less set of procedures gathered
from many approaches to counselling, then it may serve as a reference role for therapists
who wish to supplement their counselling practice by what may be novel techniques
to them."
Buckner et al (1987) called for more research into NLP amongst other treatments that
have “...achieved popularity in the absence of data supporting their utility.”
Note: examples of my own use of NLP therapies are included in Case Studies - Individuals.
Note
