Neuro-linguistic programming

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is a quasi-spiritual behavior-modification (or "performance psychology") technique whose crux is "modelling," or "NLP modelling" (Raso 2005). NLP practitioners most commonly define NLP as "the study of the structure of subjective experience". How do we do what we do? How do we think? How do we learn? And how do we connect with each other and our world on a physical and spiritual level? (O'Connor & McDermott, 1996) (Dilts et al 1980)(Milliner 1988). Thus, "NLP is about form and not about content" (Dilts et al 1980).

Background of neuro-linguistic programming

One of the earliest influences on NLP were General Semantics (Alfred Korzybski) as a new perspective for looking at the world which included a kind of mental hygiene. This was a departure from the Aristotelian concepts of modern science and objective reality, and it influenced notions of programming the mind that NLP includes.

Related Topics:
General Semantics - Alfred Korzybski - Aristotelian

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General semantics influenced several schools of thought, leading to a viable human potential industry and associations with emerging New Age thinking. By the late 1960s, self-help organizations such as EST, Dianetics, and Scientology had become financially successful, receiving attention and promotion from human potential thinkers such as Fritz Perls who had a great interest in the engram concept, and during this period, promoted and operated a Dianetics clinic (Clarkson and Mackewn 1993). The Esalen human potential seminars in California began to attract people, such as the aforementioned Fritz Perls, as well as Gregory Bateson, Virginia Satir, and Milton Erickson.

Related Topics:
Human potential - New Age - 1960s - EST - Dianetics - Scientology - Engram - Esalen - Gregory Bateson

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The first 3 people Grinder and Bandler modeled were

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• Fritz Perls (Gestalt Therapy)
• Virginia Satir (Family therapy)
• Milton Erickson (Ericksonian Hypnosis)

(source Andreas & Faulkner, 1994)

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But also two others were later modeled:

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• Frank Farrelly (see eg. Provocative Therapy, a lesser known 4th model for NLP).
• Feldenkrais (eg. Feldenkrais Method, Bandler & Grinder modeled Feldenkrais, some says this is the NLP for the body).

These individuals were considered by Grinder and Bandler to be highly competent in their fields, and the patterns they detected in their therapy became the basis of NLP, along with influences from Korzybski and Bateson (who coined the NLP expressions "The map is not the territory", and "the difference that makes the difference", respectively).

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Grinder and Bandler analyzed the speaking patterns, voice tones, word selection, gesticulations, postures, and eye movements of these individuals and related this information to the internal thinking process of each participant. According to their claims, Bandler and Grinder found that eye movements, posture, voice tone, word choice, and breathing changes reveal unconscious patterns affecting a person's emotional state. For people experiencing emotional difficulties or physical illness, Bandler and Grinder suggest that once these unconscious patterns are discovered the client can be assisted I adopting new healthy patterns of thinking that trigger positive immunological responses and guide the mind and body to greater health and wellbeing.

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The practice of neuro-linguistic programming attracted mostly therapists at first. The promise of effective communication patterns and the ability to influence people attracted business people, sales people, artists, and "new-agers" (Hall 1994). As time went by, Leslie Cameron-Bandler, Judith DeLozier, Robert Dilts, and David Gordon made contributions and the seminars of Bandler and Grinder were transcribed into a book, Frogs into Princes. This became a popular NLP book and demand for seminars increased, which in turn became successful human potential attractions (Dilts, 1991).

Related Topics:
Judith DeLozier - Robert Dilts

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NLP's core methods and hypotheses have been tested over the period from the early 1980's to the present and are scientifically unsupported. Presently, the field of NLP is classed as a pseudoscientific self help development in the same mould as that of Dianetics and EST (Lilienfeld 2003).

Related Topics:
Pseudoscientific - Dianetics - EST

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Following the influence of the Esalen Institute, NLP is often promoted in combination with New Age developments such as biofeedback, neurofeedback, intuition development, remote viewing, and psychic development. NLP claims to be nonjudgmental to all creeds and points of view (Andreas & Faulkner, 1994).

Related Topics:
Esalen Institute - New Age - Biofeedback - Neurofeedback - Intuition - Remote viewing - Psychic

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