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Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is a set of techniques, postulates and beliefs that adherents use primarily as an approach to psychotherapy, healing, communication (both verbal and non-verbal) and personal development. Influenced by the New Age era and beliefs in human potential, NLP was developed from around 1973, initially by Richard Bandler and Associate Professor of Linguistics John Grinder, as a set of models and principles to describe the relationship between mind (neuro) and language (linguistic) and how their interaction might be organized (programming) to affect an individual's mind, body and behavior.

Based upon Language patterns and body language cues derived from the observation of renowned therapists such as Virginia Satir, Fritz Perls, and Milton Erickson , NLP focused on areas such as behavior change, transforming beliefs, and treatment of traumas through techniques such as reframing and "meta modeling" proposed for exploring the personal limits of belief as expressed in language. While NLP has been applied to a number of fields such as sales, psychotherapy, communication, education, coaching, sport, business management, interpersonal relationships, seduction, and spirituality, it was metaphorically described by the original developers as "therapeutic magic" and 'the study of the structure of subjective experience" and is predicated upon the assumption that behaviors have a practically determinable structure

Due in part to its open-ended philosophy, NLP is controversal. It is often criticized in the scientific estabishment as unproven or pseudoscientific, and amongst those who watch for fraud, for exaggerated claims and unethical approaches by a number of practitioners. There is also some dispute amongst its developers and proponents as to what exactly NLP is and what is not. On the other hand, a wide range of credible bodies worldwide, including law enforcement, clinicians, government bodies, professional psychological bodies, educators and business coaches, have given strongly worded support for its use, if taught by a skilled and competent trainer and used appropriately.

Overview

Philosophical stance

NLP is sometimes described as an empirical epistemology. That is, it is a way of knowing whose evidence is experiment and observation, rather than results derived from some overall theory. It is eclectic, that is, it draws heavily on results from other fields if felt useful, and acts as a "toolbox" in the sense that it is silent as to any pre-specified purpose or application, leaving that ultimately to the end user(s) to decide. As such, it studies processes (or form), rather than content.

Its approach and philosophy have also been described as closer to a technology than a science, and often identified as similar to engineering, in the sense that its question is "what works" rather than "what is true". Its ultimate end products are, ideally, systematized models and utilizable approaches, rather than beliefs or facts.

Despite originally claiming not to be interested in theory, many developers create and promote NLP-based theories of human experience, often based upon a personal synthesis of core observable NLP combined with other personal or new age concepts. Likewise, although NLP is a means of study and it is implicit that there is no certainty in any given method, many developers promise it will produce results, sometimes extraordinary in nature, often on slender or no evidence.

Self-declared scope

NLP does not recognize any ultimate mediator in the structure and organization of subjective human thought except the senses, sensory representations, and human neurology and physiology. However it does not place a limit on what may be represented within or by those systems, possibly via synesthesia. So NLP considers it a legitimate question to study the subjective experience, and subjective processes, of anything that humans claim to experience. This has led to wide proliferation covering for example:

• Recognized communication phenomenae such as negotiation and parent-child communication
• Psychological phenomenae such as phobias and regression
• Medical phenomenae such as pain control, or ways to influence illness/wellness
• Phenomenae mediated primarily by the unconscious such as post-hypnotic suggestion, unconscious communications, trance induction and utilization, and perception changes
• Broadly recognized but non-scientific phenomenae such as meditation and enlightenment
• Altered states such as alcoholism, depression, dissociation, addiction and religious fervor
• Parapsychological phenomenae such as ESP
• Body and lifestyle change such as breast enlargement and finding sexual partners
• Business situations such as sales and management coaching
• "Unpacking" of skills and situations previously regarded holistically, to reveal a way to make them separable and examine them analytically.
• Modelling of dead or famous people from what is known of them, such as Jesus Christ or Nelson Mandela. (That is to say, identifying subjectively what the experience of being these people might be like, and proposing detailed suggestions of the internal ways of thinking, based upon observed evidence, which enable them to be as they are/were)
• Development and systemization of more efficient and varied approaches to working with communication, and human beliefs and subjective reality.

Descriptions by its major developers and promoters

Richard Bandler (Time for a Change, 1993, p. 2-5):

You want to become competent at whatever you do. That does not mean to get phobics, who shake in their boots while their blood pressure blows through the roof, to believe, "This is not fear." The object is to get them to stay calm and alert, and to stay in their own lane, and to drive across the bridge, which remains standing.

Ask yourself; "Can we build better?" To build those things we have to be able to suspend whatever belief system we already have. Keep it out of the way... Those things get very, very personal. We're talking about basic beliefs regarding human capability. Here's the only truth about that. Nobody knows.

The technology presented here only make transformation expeditious. It is not "true" yet. It probably will be at some time, because it has been so functional for so many people. By having them make it so that they believe that they can, suddenly they can do all these things. In part, that's because they do actually do them. In technical terms, they stop screwing around. They go for it.

Steve and Connierae Andreas (Change your mind and keep the Change, 1987, p. x - xi)

We have presented these patterns as explicitly and systematically as we can, in order to make it easy for you to learn them. We have presented them in great detail, and warned you about all the mistakes we and others have made with them, to make it hard for you to use them inappropriately. Once you have taken the time to learn these methods thoroughly, you can become more flexible and artistic in utilizing them with clients, with confidence that your behavior will remain systematic and effective.

Theory

Robert Dilts says that "NLP is theoretically rooted in neurology, psychophysiology, linguistics, cybernetics and communication theory" . Other NLP proponents say it is not based on theory, it is based on modeling (and Richard Bandler states that he does not "do theory". Dilts et al. state that NLP is more interested in what works than what is true .

NLP and science

In scientific terms, NLP is a protoscience -- that is, a body of purported knowledge that is still being evaluated by the scientific community. Reports vary from concluding that it has no benefit, to concluding it has very strong benefits. Many reports concluding that it shows evidence of "something", but that further study is required to determine within scientific standards where it stands.

Patrick Merlevede, M.Sc., a cognitive scientist and NLP practitioner states:

Even if by today's cognitive science research standards some of the original NLP research must be called inadequate, we now can classify NLP research projects as fitting in the field of cognitive science."

By way of comparison, Lakoff & Johnson describe "the major findings of cognitive science" as (1) abstact concepts being largely metaphorical (ie "The map is not the territory") and (2) the mind being inherently embodied (ie "Body and Mind form a systemic whole").

Meaning of "Neuro Linguistic Programming"

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The developers of NLP, Bandler and Grinder, explain NLP follows Korzybski's ideas; that our maps of the world are distorted representations due to neurological functioning and constraints. ( p12). “Information about the world arrives at the receptors of the 5 senses and is then subjected to various neurological transforms (F1) and linguistic transforms (F2) even before our first access to the information, meaning we never experience an objective reality that hasn't been shaped by our language and neurology. (Grinder, 2001, Pgs 127, 171, 222)

NLP Developer Robert Dilts (1983 p61) explains neural functioning in relation to the adding of new connections, Hebbian cell assemblies (Hebbian engrams), causal loops, and digital circuitry. From his observation of the work of scientist Konrad Lorenz, Dilts states that when learning experiences occur in our life, new neural networks are imprinted in our brains recording events and their associated meaning. Basing his conclusions in part on Timothy Leary's 8-Circuit Model of Consciousness, Dilts states that these imprints "established at neurologically critical periods," could be later reimprinted or reprogrammed. (Dilts, 1990, p76,77). Practitioners such as Derks, Singer, and Goldblatt theorize that NLP processes can be explained through the neurological concepts of programming and reprogramming engrams. According to Derks , NLP anchors are conditioned stimuli which work by activating engrams which are proposed "to give a patterned response which has been stabilized at the level of unconscious competence"

Brain lateralization

Hemispheric differences (brain lateralization) is used to support assumptions in NLP. Robert Dilts propose eye movements (and sometimes gestures) correspond to visual/auditory/kinesthetic representations systems and to the specific regions in the brain . For example, the left side is said to be more logical/analytical than the right side, which is said to be more creative/imaginative or that regions of the brain are specialised for certain functions such as mathematics or language .

Users of NLP

A wide range of bodies use and support NLP in their work. A more detailed list of usage is given in the associated article. Notable examples include:

• Psychological and other clinical bodies - Used by a wide range of State mental hospitals, and national and state psychological bodies, and as part of continuing professional education (CPE). After "several years of rigorous empirical testing" at least one NLP-based method has been accredited with high level acknowledgement within psychometric testing in the UK.
• Non-profit health organizations - The National Phobics Society (UK) reccommends the NLP phobia cure. MIND (UK) lists NLP as one of only 3 bodies to contact on self-assertation. Utah State University lists NLP as one of only 6 recommendations for eating disorders. The British Stammering Association, University of New Mexico reported positively on NLP in respect of autism. The British Dyslexia Association calls NLP a "powerful" tool and adds "over the years our training in NLP has proved immensely valuable in many of our regular activities". Advocates for Survivors of Child Abuse states NLP can be "particularly useful" for flashbacks.
• Police and law enforcement use - The International Association of Chiefs of Police includes NLP as one of only two named interview methods for advancing gang, trafficking & homicide investigations. The "FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin" (August 2001) covers in depth how NLP can be used in the interview room, and to build rapport, commenting "Experienced investigators continually employ this technique". The State of Georgia's Public Safety Training Center runs courses on NLP stating that its methods are "field proven". The Director of the Memphis Police Department Crisis Intervention Team states that "of three basic strategies identified by a National Institute of Justice study for dealing with the mentally ill, this one in particular has been hailed by professionals in both the law enforcement and mental health fields as perhaps the single most effective method today for dealing with EDP calls". The UK's National Police Leadership Centre includes NLP as a specific element of its Senior Leadership Development Programme intended for "Chief Inspectors, superintendents or police staff who are members of a command team".
• Education (syllabus content) - NLP is on the syllabus at a wide range of colleges and universities. One notable example is the Advanced Trial Advocacy course at the University of Houston Law Center which states "The theoretical orientation of the content material is taken mostly from the science of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). NLP is a practical system... is the leading edge of communication skills training throughout industry, among professions, and within education."
• Management and staff training - The Seattle Federal Executive Board Alternative Dispute Resolution Consortium's calls NLP a "powerful tool for change". The National Center for Guidance in Education (Ireland) Counsellor's Handbook states "In recent years, particularly in the USA and France, NLP has been applied with increasing success in primary and secondary education. NLP is used to great effect in maximising the effectiveness of our group teaching". The National Institutes of Health (USA) and the Local Government Association of NSW (Australia) run NLP courses for staff training, as do many UK universities.
• UK National Health Service use - The country's biggest employer, many UK Health Trusts use NLP internally. Guy's, King's & St.Thomas's Hospitals Medical & Dental Schools introduced NLP training in 2003, commenting that "it is based on ... more than 400 patients whose recovery was considered to be extraordinary in the light of the diagnosis and prognosis they had received. From this it emerged that precise and consistent communication between doctor and patient appeared to be one of the most powerful components of the healing equation." This was echoed by The NHS Cancer Action Improvement Team who comment on their own experience, "Results so far show a strong positive response to training and support from professionals and patients and carers."
• Other government use - U.S. Probation Department "Brooklyn Program" (NLP based) obtains a "remarkable" 55 percent of participants drug free for a year or more "and this is working with individuals whose participation is mandatory, typically the most difficult client population". Argonne National Laboratory uses NLP to evaluate the human complexity involved in nuclear reactor control room design. The UK Cabinet Office's National School of Government runs NLP courses and states " is increasingly used in both public and private sectors to improve performance and flexibility."
• Other serious users - The Phonetics Teaching & Learning Conference 2001 states "the NLP perspective is also advocated as it deals efficiently with affective and emotional factors related to learning pronunciation". George Lakoff (one of America's foremost linguists) credits NLP methods specifically as being responsible for significant Republican voter influence and perception modification in the 1990's, citing three instances in his books.

Fundamentals

Foundational assumptions

Distinct from its formal presuppositions, NLP incorporates a variety of foundational assumptions that precede the presuppositions. These are:

1. Life, mind and body are systemic processes that are interconnected; a change in one affects a change in the other
2. The conscious attention is limited to 7+-2 chunks of information; all other information in the mind and body system is unconscious.
3. The elements of behaviour and skills are comprised of internal state, internal computation (strategies, submodalities) and external behaviour. A change in one will change affect a change in another, and will change a person's state.
4. Verbal and non-verbal cues indicate the type and sequence of our representations that comprise states These strategies of how people's states are organised can be codified; thus models of exceptional people can be discovered and taught to others
5. Behind every behavior is a positive intention - whatever a person does, they are in fact attempting to fulfill some positive intention (of which they may not be aware of consciously). It assumes that the current behaviour exhibited by a person represents the best choice available to them at the time.
6. There is no failure, only feedback - statement about the importance of feedback loops to learning, borrowed from information theory. (William Ross Ashby, Cybernetics)
7. Meaning of the communication is the response it produces
8. Choice is better than no choice (and flexibility is the way one gets choice) - In systems theory the part of the system that can adapt best, be most influential, and has best chance of achieving its goals, is often not the most forceful part, but the part that has most flexibility and least rigidity in its responses
9. It is useful to believe that people have all the personal resources (states, outcomes, beliefs) they need to succeed, they just need to be organised in a way that serves their outcomes.
10. Multiple descriptions are better than one - often a person in a situation cannot see answers that a person standing outside can. So by moving between different perceptual positions, it is claimed that one can see a problem in new ways, or with less emotional attachment, and thus gather more information and develop new choices of response.

Presuppositional beliefs

The presuppositional beliefs or presuppositions of NLP are sometimes described as an epistemology . A presupposition (linguistic term) is a background belief that is treated by the NLP practitioner "as if" it were literally true.

According to Jane Revell, a British NLP trainer, the presuppositions of NLP "are not a philosophy or a credo or a set of rules and regulations. Rather, they are assumptions upon which individuals base future actions and plan for meaningful learning experiences."

The map is not the territory

"NLP epistemology" follows Alfred Korzybski (1933) and Gregory Bateson's (1972, 1979) postulations that there is no such thing as "objective experience." The subjective nature of our experience never fully captures the objective world. In the view of NLP, whether or not there is an objective absolute "reality", individual people in fact do not in general have access to absolute knowledge of reality, but in fact only have access to a set of beliefs they have built up over time, about reality.

Significance - It is considered crucially important when working with people to focus on the understanding that their beliefs about reality and their awareness of things (the "map") are not reality itself or everything they could be aware of ("the territory"). Put another way, NLP does not claim that one is working with reality, ie the "territory", but only ever with peoples subjective perceptions and beliefs about reality, ie some or other "map". (Main article: Map-territory relation)

Life and 'Mind' are Systemic Processes

The processes that take place within a human being and between human beings and their environment are complex systems, and they are processes. Our bodies, our societies, and our planet form an ecology of complex systems and sub-systems all of which interact with and mutually influence each other.

Significance - Such systems tend to produce more complex behavior than simple linear processes, and looking from different vantage points may result in quite different – and yet equally valid – descriptions and emphasis of what is important in the system. (Example: the description of a business problem and what is seen as relevant will be quite different depending if you ask the CEO, a worker on strike, or a client). So it is considered important to gather a lot of information from multiple viewpoints to gain a full appreciation of the complexities involved, before intervening, and the same principle is believed true even when working with one individual person. (Main article: Complex systems)

Behind every behavior is a positive intention

This is a model taken from Virginia Satir's belief system, and means that whatever a person does, they are in fact attempting to fulfill some positive intention (of which they may not be aware). It assumes that the current behaviour exhibited by a person represents the best choice available to them at the time. Generating alternatives from this point of view is thought by NLP proponents to be a useful way of helping people to change unwanted or undesirable behaviours.

In a similar vein, psychiatrist R. D. Laing has argued that the symptoms of what is normally called mental illness are just comprehensible reactions to impossible demands that society and particularly family life places on some sensitive individuals. (Main article: Positive and negative (NLP))

Rapport

Rapport, the term for the relational quality of a connection between two communicating individuals, is a highly subjective term. Good rapport is characterized by a sense of ease with another, trust, and easy flow of dialog. Whilst psychotherapy outcome research - in which the effectiveness of psychotherapy is measured by questionnaires given to patients before, during, and after treatment - has had difficulty distinguishing between the different types of therapy, research has clearly shown, however, that the quality of the relationship between therapist and patient is a crucial predictor of psychotherapy outcome.

Accordingly, most contemporary schools of psychotherapy focus on the healing power of the therapeutic relationship. NLP adds to this, its own focussed insights into what exactly consitutes rapport, factors which allow it to be built and maintained, and how one may distinguish good quality and poor quality rapport in a dialog. (Some content taken from psychotherapy article)

There is no failure, only feedback

NLP (see below) does not view communication in terms of success and failure. Rather it sees in terms of competence or lack thereof, or learning and failure to learn. As a field which utilizes trial and error, not all actions are expected to "work", rather they are intended to explore, and the results should be utilized as a source of valuable learning and new focus, rather than cause for negativity and despair. Do not dwell unnecessarily on the failure, instead explore what you have learned for the next time (c.f. the story of Edison and the lightbulb). This principle is a statement about the importance of feedback loops to learning, borrowed from information theory. (Asbby, Cybernetics).

Choice is better than no choice (and flexibility is the way one gets choice)

A large part of basic NLP is recognizing "stuckness", and learning how to open it out in accordance with the saying "One choice is no choice, two choices is a dilemma, three choices is choice". This is as true for therapist as client. In systems theory the part of the system that can adapt best, be most influential, and has best chance of achieving its goals, is often not the most forceful part, but the part that has most flexibility and least rigidity in its responses. (This ties in with not having assumptions about people, and exquisite observational skills with a broad and flexible repertoire of avenues at the fingertips - all means to achieve this). Richard Bandler word this, The ability to change the process by which we experience reality is more often valuable than changing the content of our experience of reality.

The meaning of your communication is the response you get

Meaning is in the eye of the recipient. This is an "As-if" concept: it may not be true, it may be that the recipient is mistaken, but if you work on the basis that the recipient's understanding of what you say (and not yours) is the important one, it will lead you to communicate in a way that gets the actual message across and heard, even if linguistic gymnastics are needed to do so.

People already have all the resources they need to succeed

It is argued that this is useful for the subject to believe when attempting a change. Christina Hall has argued that people's resources are their sensory representation systems and the manner in which they are organised.

Multiple descriptions are better than one

Because of the systemic nature of human's lives, often a person in a situation cannot see answers that a person standing outside can. So by moving between different perceptual positions, it is claimed that one can see a problem in new ways, or with less emotional attachment, and thus gather more information and develop new choices of response.

Other beliefs

Although the following are not always described as "principles", they are approaches implicit in classical NLP. Sometimes the wording varies widely:

• NLP is generative - it seeks to assist a client to generate new ideas, and successfully explore their previous beliefs about reality in order to help find ways to more effectively achieve their goals.

• Structure matters more than content - if two problems share a common psychological structure, then they can probably be approached similarly. often it is the structure of the problem (how it is maintained, what type of beliefs are reinforcing it, how the client thinks about it to themselves) that matters most, rather than the details of the situation in which it is embedded. This is an embodiment of the form/content distinction, also favored by Western psychiatric medicine (an innovation first argued for by psychiatrists Karl Jaspers and Kurt Schneider).

• If you always do what you've always done, you will always get what you always got - also sometimes described as "If what you are doing isn't working, try something else". NLP views goals as rich subjects to explore, and the principle of constantly back-tracking to find new solutions and approaches is inherent in the methodology.

• Use whatever works - also known as the principle of utilization. This comes from the work of Milton Erickson, who was famous for turning peoples self-perceived defects, or limitations, to positive use, and NLP works on the basis that if it helps, then it can be considered usable. Thus Erickson used a girl's poor dental appearance (which she was convinced made her deeply unappealing) as a positive means to find a husband, a man's Jesus delusion to obtain him work as a carpenter as part of his eventual healing and rehabilitation, and Bandler describes shouting at a client to leave, then calling out of the window to his wife to catch the client as he left when he was in a different state of mind, to actually do the real work with him.

• There are no resistant clients; there are only incompetent (or less skilled) therapists - resistance is a communication. It is providing information about a client's inner world. It should be respected, explored, treated as valuable information about how the patient's psyche is trying to help them (sometimes dysfunctionally), and utilized to inform the client and make changes more beneficial. In previous therapies, resistance was treated as a hostile force to be fought, beaten and overcome, and the basis for a belief that "the patient wasn't ready to change".

NLP does not believe in patient-blaming. In NLP's view, resistance to change is an unconscious communication saying "Not that way, this way!" and a client finds their attempt to change blocked, only if and so long as, they are trying to force change without understanding or respecting their other needs and values (that is, without regard to ecology). Patients who do not change, are usually respecting some other need; the more competent the therapist, the more likely such needs can be helped to be met in other more useful ways.

• If something can be done effectively and ecologically in ten minutes, don't spend an hour doing it - NLP is critical of the belief that many sessions are needed for some problems. It is supportive of brief therapy and brief intervention, that is, it believes that an appropriate change to how a person thinks about a situation is often all that is needed to help them, and that therefore the job of therapy is to explore efficiently, how a person subjectively understands, represents and experiences their problem, how they are holding it in place, and how they may be encouraged to further their goals by changing those underderstandings about it.

• NLP incorporates the body as well as the mind - the body impacts on the mind, as the mind impacts on the body. How one stands, walks, moves, breathes, and holds muscle tensions, will have an impact on a person's emotional state.

• NLP is based upon sensory observation - evidence of patterns and structures seen in others are always in principle both tangible and objectively visible. NLP (at least in its original version) rejects as "evidence" anything which has not been received through the senses (internally or externally). Thus "mind-reading" or supposition is not acceptable as a basis for belief in what is going on, although speculation, hypothesis and logic are normal means of determining possible patterns and directions to explore. These however must be tested, again through sensory evidence, and not assumed to be true. Richard Bandler words this, All distinctions human beings are able to make concerning our environment and our behavior can be usefully represented through the senses.

• Good NLP is 90% information gathering and testing, and 10% changework - Since NLP is the study of personal subjective reality, which is idiosyncratic, and human situations are systemic and complex, and the subject is not fully understood, NLP employs a heuristic and (in some ways) iterative approach, whereby a situation is explored without preconception rather than analyzed or categorized.

It is claimed by practitioners that a sufficient understanding and appropriate experience will often make clear how a situation can be better helped, even if this takes considerable time, and so a practitioner is continually trying an approach, observing feedback, forming hypotheses, and testing their understanding with the client. In the end, formal changework (ie, change techniques as opposed to exploratory techniques) is often a minor component compared to the benefit to the client through good exploration.

Note that the divide between exploration and formal change is an artificial one: good exploration will encourage spontaneous re-evaluation and change, and changework is valued and not considered a 'failure', even if it does not progress the situation, because it is still a valuable source of information.

• Conscious understanding is not always needed - unlike traditional therapies, effective change, and/or learning at an unconscious level, are emphasised over and above conscious understanding. According to NLP, change does not always require interpretation and analysis, it requires development of ones map of beliefs about the world and oneself, so that what was previously inaccessible becomes possible, and this can be effected in very many ways. Thus according to Haley, Erickson was notable amongst psychiatrists, because he would respond to metaphor with other metaphors, rather than by attempting to "interpret".

"He does not translate unconscious communication into conscious form. Whatever the patient says in metaphoric form, Erickson responds in kind. By parables, by interpersonal action, and by directives, he works within the metaphor to bring about change. he seems to feel that the depth and swiftness of that change can be prevented if the person suffers a translation of the communication." (Haley, "Uncommon therapy", 1973 + 1986, p.28)

• Everyone is different, always check, never assume a pattern is universal - NLP asserts that this internal structuring, or organizing, of personal experience is highly idiosyncratic. That is, it is either unique to each individual and develops during their life, or any higher organizational function that would explain its development is not yet identified so it might as well be unique to each individual.

So whilst it is claimed there are consistently useful ways to approach studying an individual's subjective experience, every pattern is a generalization and will have exceptions or new variations. So even core NLP models such as the VAK model, cannot always be assumed to hold true, but must be tested or confirmed first.

Conscious and unconscious process

Unusually, NLP maintains that while understanding is often useful, it is sometimes not necessary for a person to understand themselves, provided the person helping them does and can help them reach a useful end-point. Several common explanations are given for this:

• Conscious understanding can often be used counter-beneficially, not to self-help, but as a basis for reinforcing problematic beliefs and self-images, and for self-sabotage.
• "Understanding" is not as desirable as "change", nor is it always essential for it. (In the same way that "understanding" was usually not needed for dysfunctional patterns to become established, NLP does not see it as essential for beneficial patterns either)
• More behavior and mental habits are mediated by the unconscious mind than the conscious so this is where the work usually has to be. (Under this view, "understanding" is a placebo given to placate and distract the conscious mind whilst the "real work" is done by the client's unconscious mind)

Meta model and Milton model

The meta model of NLP is a set of thirteen language patterns developed from their observations of Virginia Satir and Fritz Perls, and is proposed as an information gathering tool, and to challenge (theoretical) distortions, generalizations or deletions in the speaker's language . The meta model can be reduced to the asking "What specifically", or "How specifically?" to clarify the thinking of a client (or unspecified syntactic elements)

The meta model involves the identification of the abandoned theoretical concepts of Chomsky's transformational grammar . “These are the three features which are common to all human modeling processes: Deletion, Distortion, and Generalization. These are the universal processes of human modeling - the way that people create any representation of their experience" (Bandler and Grinder1 1975page44). However, in contrast with Chomsky's abandoned theory and with linguistics theory, distortions, generalizations and deletions are considered by Bandler and Grinder to be universally applicable to any language, and are applied directly as a prescription from untested theory to empirically untested application .

The inverse of the meta model is the Milton model a collection of "artfully vague" language patterns elicited from the work of Milton H. Erickson. It is said that the use of non-specific language patterns can allow the client to make their own meaning for what is being said.

Modeling

NLP modeling is a method that is promoted for duplicating behaviour, expertise or excellence, or reproducing "magic" abilities of experts . It is considered by Grinder to be at the heart of NLP . It can be thought of as the process of discovering relevant distinctions within these experiential components, as well as sequencing these components, aiming to achieve a specific result. NLP proponents claim that it is used to discover and codify patterns of excellence as demonstrated consistently by top performers in any field .

Since NLP is open ended as to what may be part of "human experience and skill", modelling has ranged from the prosaic and mundane, through to sports skills, through to the esoteric. NLP modeling has also been applied to clinical conditions, such as the "skill" of schizophrenia and notable people of whom we have only writings, such as Jesus of Nazareth and Sherlock Holmes . It has been argued that modeling from writings is unverifiable (both within and outside NLP).

Anchoring

Anchoring is a neuro-linguistic programming term for the process by which memory recall, state change or other responses become associated with (anchored to) some stimulus, in such a way that perception of the stimulus (the anchor) leads by reflex to the anchored response occurring. The stimulus may be quite neutral or even out of conscious awareness, and the response may be either positive or negative. They are capable of being formed and reinforced by repeated stimuli, and thus are analogous to classical conditioning. In classical terms, the anchor effect is probably a mixture of stimulus-response, and expectation (and for deliberately created anchors, possibly the placebo effect).

Anchoring (or focalism) is also a term used in psychology generally, to describe the common human tendency to rely too heavily, or "anchor," on one trait or piece of information, such as the price of a car, or the looks of a person, when making decisions. (Main article: Anchoring)

Types of anchor

Anchors (the "trigger", or stimulus) can come in an infinitude of possible forms: verbal phrases, physical touches or sensations, certain sights and sounds, or internally, such as words one says to oneself, or memories and states one is in. An extreme view is that almost everything one perceives acts as an anchor, in the sense that perceiving it tends to trigger reflexively some thought or feeling or response.

Anchoring is a natural process that usually occurs without our awareness, and may have positive impact, or be maladaptive. For example, a voice tonality that resembles the characteristics of one's perception of an "angry voice" may not actually be as a result of anger, but will usually trigger an emotional response in the person perceiving the tonality to have the traits of anger.

There are certain speculations as to what criteria must be met before an Anchor can be properly formed. Most agree that the trigger must be

• Specific - otherwise the subject will not begin to sensitize to it
• Intermittent - if it were constant then desensitization would eventually occur
• Generate a unique and prompt reaction - otherwise the anchor will fail to elicit and reinforced any one single response due to many different reactions being associated to the trigger.

Examples

• If, when young, you participated in family activities that gave you great pleasure, the pleasure was associated with the activity itself, so when you think of the activity or are reminded of it you tend to re-experience some pleasurable feeling.
• Flicking through an old family photo album stirs pleasant memories and some of the feelings associated with them.
• A childs' comforter in an unfamiliar situation.
• An old love song re-awakens a romantic mood.
• The smell of freshly baked apple pies brings back memories of a happy care-free childhood.
• Phobias in this sense can be studied as one example of very powerful anchor - see spider, feel terrified and nauseous.

An unusual use of anchoring was studied by Ellen Langer in her study of two groups of 75-80 year old men at Harvard University. For 5 days, both groups were isolated at a retreat, with one group was engaged in a series of tasks encouraging them to think about the past in general (to write an autobiography, to discuss the past etc), and the other group engaged in a series of tasks which anchored them back into a specific past time - they wrote an autobiography up to 1959, describing that time as "now", watched 1959 movies, had 1959 music playing on the "radios", and lived with only 1959 artifacts. Before and after the 5 days, both groups were studied on a number of criteria associated with aging. While the first group stayed constant or actually deteriorated on these criteria, the second group dramatically improved on physical health measures such as joint flexibility, vision, and muscle breadth, as well as on IQ tests. They were anchored back physically to being 50 years old, by the sights and sounds of 1959. (Langer, "Mindfulness", Addison Wesley 1989)

Usage

NLP-style anchoring is a process that goes on around and within us all the time, whether we are aware of it or not. Most of the time we are not consciously aware of why we feel as we do - indeed we may not realize we have responded in some cases, which makes it a much more powerful force in our lives.

Anchoring is used in NLP to facilitate state management. In this sense an anchor is set up to be triggered by a consciously chosen stimulus, deliberately linked by practice to a known useful state, to provide reflexive access to that state at will. This may be used for exam nerves, overcoming fear, feelings such as happiness or determination, or to recollect how one will feel if a good resolution is kept.

Anchoring is also used by skillful film makers to evoke suspense in the audience. Think of your own psychological changes that occurred when you heard the soundtrack’s amplified, pounding heartbeat rhythm in the moments leading up to each of the appearances of the huge killer shark in the movie ‘Jaws.’ What anchor was established in you by the crescendo of the sound of the music meeting the shark? Did your heartbeat increase? Did your palms begin to sweat? Did you have to see the shark, or was the thumping music enough to start your slide to the edge of your seat? Likewise the finale of classical symphonies, or "mood music" such as romantic, climactic, or apprehensive in films. Leitmotivs — recurring themes — in music and literature also serve to restimulate a previously established response.

For trauma victims, sudden noises or movement can serve as terrifying anchors capable of recollecting the traumatic experience. In this case, amongst other approaches, NLP might be used in a slightly different way - to desensitize the stimulus and perhaps instead also sensitize it to some more neutral or positive feeling.

Relationship therapy

I asked, "Is this why you got married? So you could argue? Is that what you were thinking about at the time?" Then I looked at him. I said, "When you first decided you wanted to spend your life with your wife, what was on your mind then?"

Talk about something worth anchoring! Chheeeesssshhhh! Because I wanted that glow in his face, I anchored it. Then, every time she started to bring up a subject, I fired off the anchor. he'd look at her with that look of passion. That will re-anchor the crap out of a relationship. I like that manouver. As I did this, the husband kept saying "I know you're anchoring me and it's not working." And she kept saying "It is working! It is working!" It's fun. It wasn't about lost control. He was such a control freak he couldn't have some kinds of experiences he wanted.

(Bandler, "Time for a change", p.133 - 134)

Political campaign usage

During the 1988 presidential campaign, Republican partisans began employing an unusually skillful use of language and advertising technique. The Willie Horton ads, for example, used an old NeuroLinguistic Programming (NLP) technique of "Anchoring via Submodalities," linking Dukakis, at an unconscious level in the viewer’s mind, to Willie Horton by the use of color versus black-and-white footage, and background sound. After a few exposures to these psy-ops ads, people would "feel" Willie Horton when they "saw" Dukakis.

It was no accident. Toward the end of that campaign, I was presenting at an NLP conference in New York, and a colleague mentioned to me how the GOP had hired one of our mutual acquaintances to advise them on the tools of persuasion.

Basic anchoring methods

To complete

Basic Anchoring is as easy as: 1.) Eliciting the state. 2.) Setting the Anchor with a unique stimulus. 3.) Breaking their state. 4.) Test the anchor by firing it.

Representational systems

In NLP, thinking process and strategies are modeled in terms of type and sequence of internal representations, primarily consisting of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Dilts et al. (1980) observed that people tended to give away information about their internal processing in the current eye movements patterns, as well as changes in body posture, gestures, fluctuating voice tone, breathing shifts were linked to sensory-based language, "I see that clearly!", "I hear what you are saying" or "let's remain in touch"

One of the earliest NLP models was based on eye movements patterns: See chart :

• Visual: eyes up to left or right according to dominant hemisphere access; high or shallow breathing; muscle tension in neck; high pitched/nasal voice tone; phrases such as "I can imagine the big picture".
• Auditory: eyes left or right; even breathing from diaphragm; even or rhythmic muscle tension; clear midrange voice tone, sometimes tapping or whistling; phrases such as "Let's tone down the discussion".
• Kinesthetic: eyes down left or right; belly breathing and sighing; relaxed musculature; slow voice tone with long pauses; phrases such as "I can grasp a hold of it"

According to Dilts and, Lewis and Pucelik a person’s body type corresponds to and will to an extent be shaped in parallel with their thinking style, since cognitive processes, emotions, and the body and its use are inter-related. A tense thin body with protruding eyes, protruding chin, stiff jerky movements, tight lips and nasal speech are often characteristic of a visually oriented person. A full soft body, big soft lips, and slow speech is characteristic of a kinesthetic person, and an auditory person is somewhere in between. NLP theory explains these breathing and mental processing according to the varying levels of chemical composition in the blood that affects the brain, and notes that people who tend to think “visually” may seem untrustworthy to those who feel their way to answers, for example, since thinking by feeling is inherently a slower process . It is widely held in the NLP world that matching VAK predicates can build rapport with individuals. Some authors use internal Visual/Auditory/Kinesthetic strategies in order to categorize people within a thinking strategies or learning styles framework for instance, that there exist visual, kinesthetic or auditory types of manager.

Other Concepts, Models and Techniques

Aside from the fundamental Meta model, Milton Model, and Representational Systems, NLP proponents also proposed methods for belief change, meta programs, the George A. Miller's T.O.T.E. model. Longstanding practitioners Robert Dilts and Judith Delozier claim that the SMART model, amongst others are also part of NLP .

• Perceptual positions: A situation is considered from different points of view or different descriptions are created of the same event. E.g a situation is considered from the perspective of self, other, neutral observer, "God's eye view" etc .
• Logical levels / logical types: Ordering information into different by type. * Neurological levels: Categorisation of information into a hierarchies consisting of environment, behavior, competency, belief/value, identity and or spirituality (purpose) .
• Visual / kinesthetic dissociation: A process to reduce the negative feeling associated to a memory
• Mirroring/Matching: Mirroring or Matching somebody's verbal (for example, sensory predicates) and non-verbal behavior (gestures, movements, eye movements) in an attempt to gain rapport.
• Submodalities: Deliberately changing the size, brightness, movement of internal images in an attempt to alter the impact of those images

Examples of other patterns:

• Swish pattern: A rapid behavior change technique that involves changing submodalities of a problem state and optionally saying or imagining the sound "SWISSSHHH" for effect.
• Circle of excellence: Imagining a circle on the ground in front of you , filling it with emotion, symbols and archetypes of choice, in order to remove negative feelings or change emotional states.

Historical background

Neuro-linguistic programming was developed jointly by Richard Bandler and John Grinder under the tutelage of anthropologist, social scientist, linguist and cyberneticist Gregory Bateson, at the University of California, Santa Cruz, during the 1960s and 1970s.

Originally a study into how excellent psychotherapists were achieving results they did, it rapidly grew into a field and methodology of its own, based around the skill of modeling as used to identify and confirm aspects of others behaviors and ways of thinking that led them to notability in their field.

The initial three individuals Grinder and Bandler modeled were Fritz Perls (Gestalt Therapy), Virginia Satir (Family therapy) and Milton H. Erickson (Ericksonian Hypnosis). These individuals were considered highly competent in their fields, and the consistent patterns and approaches they appeared to be using, became the basis of NLP. 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. These were the first of what came to be called "modeling" projects. The findings of these projects have been widely used and integrated into many other fields, from health and disability, to law enforcement, to hypnotherapy and coaching.

In the 1960s and 1970s, general semantics influenced several schools of thought, leading to a viable human potential industry and associations with emerging New Age thinking. Human potential seminars, such as Esalen in California began to attract people. Neuro-linguistic programming attracted mostly therapists at first but eventually drew the attention of business people, sales people, artists, and "new-agers" (Hall, 1994). As it expanded, Leslie Cameron-Bandler, Judith DeLozier, Robert Dilts, and David Gordon made further contributions to NLP and the seminars of Bandler and Grinder were transcribed into a book, Frogs into Princes. This became a popular NLP book; demand for seminars increased, which in turn became successful human potential attractions (Dilts, 1991).

With the 1980s, Grinder and Bandler fell out, and amidst acrimony and intellectual property lawsuits, NLP started to be developed haphazard by many individuals, some ethically, and some opportunistically, often under multiple confusing brand names. During the 1990s, tentative attempts were made to put NLP on a more formal and better regulated footing, in countries such as the UK. Around 2001, the law suits finally became settled.

Application

Much of NLP is now largely targeted for niche markets (particularly commercialized, cut down or self-help usage), and may be more controversial or esoteric, sometimes charismatically or evangelistically taught . Some of the original developers, notably Richard Bandler and the stage hypnotist Paul McKenna, have encouraged these trends and the resulting fragmentation and move towards "pop NLP" has discredited the subject in the eyes of many people .

NLP is sometimes applied to coaching and for personal or business development, including motivational communication and systems thinking. . "

Ethics in NLP

In principle, NLP is usually described as a "client-oriented" methodology, in that the client's subjective perception is treated with respect, and to a large degree the client's developing perception of a problem or situation which provides the feedback and basis for guidance within NLP intervention. In business or conflict resolution NLP usually advocates a win-win philosophy. The term "ecology" (borrowed in the sense of "how disparate things co-exist in balance") is used to signify the careful checking needed to ensure that all aspects of a situation are taken into account, such as the well-being of others involved, the ethics of the work done, the beneficial nature of goals sought, any secondary gains affected, and so on.

Because NLP methods can be used unethically, lack of careful regard to ecology is considered unacceptable or inappropriate by most professionals. However, because no central body controls or regulates NLP at this time, there is in practice a wide profusion of individuals and groups using NLP in precisely that way, and this has drawn strong criticism from a wide range of sources.

Criticism

Singer (1996) says that NLP proponents make hypotheses and propose armchair theories . For example, NLP assumes that all human behaviour is neurological, and all human behaviour is based on the 5 senses, rather than attitudes, reason, emotions, mind, morals or ego . According to research reviews , the main tenets of NLP has been found to be conceptually erroneous and false. Stephen Hunt, a sociologist who writes on Christian perspectives in sociology, characterizes NLP as a development with implied religiosity in the healing/self-development field and states that NLP is "an alternative to Scientology". Barrett states that NLP "is used by some religions, and NLP as a philoshopy does exhibit some characteristics which are sometimes found in some religions, but overall the balance comes down against it being labelled as a religion" . Hunt states “While not an alternative religion per se” NLP can be seen as “similar to new religions of eastern origin that trace themselves back through a progression of gurus, and to esoteric movements claiming the authority of authenticity through their descent from previous movements". Winkin (1990) also says that NLP is like a religion .

Sanghera, a columinst for Financial Times (London, 2005) writes, "critics say NLP is simply a half-baked conflation of pop psychology and pseudoscience that uses jargon to disguise the fact that it is based on a set of banal, if not incorrect, presuppositions"

NLP has been criticized by clinical psychologists, management scholars, linguists, psychotherapists and cult awareness groups, concerning ineffectiveness, pseudoscientific explanation of linguistics and neurology, ethically questionable, cult-like characteristics, and promotion by exaggerated claims. Peter Schütz, Austrian management consultant, and psychotherapist who applies NLP to his profession, outlines the issues with varying length and quality of NLP training, and the difference between the hobbyist courses and full length training, he outlines some criticism of NLP saying it has even been, "labeled in unfavorable political ways (nazilinguistic programming)"

). In Crazy Therapies (1996), Professor Singer states that "the process involves pretending that a model works, trying it, then if you don’t get results, discard it and try something else".

Scientific analysis

On the questions of “does NLP work?” and “is NLP effective?” Singer (1996) cited the NRC research committee who stated that there was no evidence of its claimed effectiveness. .

Von Bergen et al state that "in relation to current understanding of neurology and perception, NLP is in error", and Druckman et al (1988) say that "instead of being grounded in contemporary, scientifically derived neurological theory, NLP is based on outdated metaphors of brain functioning and is laced with numerous factual errors".

The 1988 US National Committee (a board of 14 prepared scientific experts) report found that "Individually, and as a group, these studies fail to provide an empirical base of support for NLP assumptions...or NLP effectiveness. The committee cannot recommend the employment of such an unvalidated technique". In addition, Edgar Johnson, technical director of the Army Research Institute heading the NLP focused Project Jedi stated that "Lots of data shows that NLP doesn't work". Heap (1989) says "NLP has failed to yield convincing evidence for the NLP model, and failed to provide evidence for its effectiveness" .

Heap says "the conjecture that a person has a preferred representational system (PRS), which is observed in the choice of words, has been found to be false according to rigorous research reviews" . "The assertion that a person has a PRS which can be determined by the direction of eye movements found even less support" .

A single critique by Einspruch and Forman (1985) said that Sharpley's review of NLP contained methodological errors. However, Sharpley refuted this and provided further experimental evidence to demonstrate that NLP is ineffective and in error in both method and model.

Von Bergen et al state that "NLP does not stand up to scientific scrutiny". Thus, objective empirical studies and review papers have consistently shown NLP to be ineffective and reviews or meta-analysis have given NLP a conclusively negative assessment, and the reiterated statement is that there is no neuro-scientific basis for any of NLP's claims, or any scientific support for its claimed efficacy .

Efran and Lukens state that the "original interest in NLP turned to dissolusionment after the research and now it is rarely even mentioned in psychotherapy". Eisner (2000) states that "NLP proponents have provided not one iota of scientific support for their claims"

Devilly states that "controlled studies shed such a poor light on NLP and those promoting the intervention made such extreme and changeable claims that that researchers found it unwise to test the theory any further". "NLP is no longer as prevalent as it was in the 1970s or 1980s, but is still practiced in small pockets: The science has come and gone, yet the belief still remains and some people still enroll".

Beyerstein states that NLP is a pseudoscientific fringe therapy , and explains that "bogus therapies can be explained by the placebo effect, social pressure, superficial symptomatic rather than core treatment , and overestimating some apparent successes while ignoring, downplaying, or explaining away failures." In Brianscams, Beyerstein states that when the New Age brain manipulators such as NLP are challenged, "critics typically encounter anecdotes and user testimonials where there ought to be rigorous pre-and post treatment comparisons" .

NLP as a New Age approach

New Age

Professors Beyerstein and Lilienfeld class NLP as a New Age development , and Kelly says NLP was involved in the foundation of the New Age. This is partly due to related New Age notions that were common at the time of development, such as Dianetics promoted by Perls, the human potential theorist. According to Dilts , Grinder developed NLP rituals from the shamanic teachings of Carlos Castaneda, such as the the NLP double induction process, and perceptual positions, designed to move attention or energy to other realities.

Despite the lack of empirical evidence, NLP adherents continue to believe in its efficacy for personal and spiritual growth, and as such, NLP has been associated with New Alternative Religions and an alternative to Scientology , though its religiosity is more implied and it is less organized than the Church of Scientology.

Psychologists Beyerstein and Lilienfeld, characterize NLP as a New Age therapy. Devilly, professor of psychology considers NLP to be an "alphabet" or "power therapy" similar to Thought Field Therapy or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, Emotional Freedom Technique and Traumatic Incident Reduction. Corballis states that "NLP is a thoroughly fake title, designed to give the impression of scientific respectability. NLP has little to do with neurology, linguistics, or even the respectable subdiscipline of neurolinguistics".

Barrett (2001:238) states that "Like many alternative religions, particularly the Estoeric movements, there is a career ladder within NLP. Many people find the introductory seminar interesting and thirst for more. Practitioner training is the place to go next.

Professors Sharpley, Druckman, and the National Research Council have criticised NLP in research reviews which conclude that its claims are unsupported and that it has failed to show its claimed efficacy in controlled studies . Several reviews have characterized NLP as pseudoscientific and mass-marketed psychobabble. NLP is identified by many scientists as charlatanry and fraudulent as a dubious therapy and a cult described by Winkin and is promoted in the same mold as Dianetics and Scientology. Beyerstein , Lilienfeld , and Eisner express concern over the verification of certain aspects of NLP.

Alternate brands

Individual trainers have often introduced or idiosyncratically developed their own methods, concepts and labels, branding them under the "NLP" name :

• John Grinder teaches New Code of NLP
• Anthony Robbins teaches NAC (Neuro Associative Conditioning)
• Michael Hall teaches Neuro-Semantics
• Tad James teaches Advanced Neuro Dynamics & Time Line Therapy
• Richard Bandler himself now teaches his own offshoot of NLP, called DHE (Design Human Engineering)
• Margo Anand promotes a form of NLP called SkyDancing Tantra

NLP "Therapy"

Dilts and Grinder (1999) have proposed that healing is facilitated by 1; Ritual 2; Prayer, and 3; Relationship to an authority or guardian angel. They propose that this applies equally throughout every healing situation. "Experts such as Beyerstein (1990p31) and consider NLP to be a fringe or alternative therapy . Although studies on NLP have failed to support its claimed effectiveness , NLP is used, or suggested as an approach, by a few mental health bodies, including the National Phobics Society of Great Britain , MIND , , the British Stammering Association , the Center for Development & Disability at the University of New Mexico Center for autism ,. Around 1978, NLP practitioner certification was set up as a 20 day program with the aim of training therapists to apply NLP as an adjunct to their professional qualifications. In Europe, the European NLP therapy association has been promoting their training in line with European therapy standards. Barrett 2001:239) says that NLP promoters sell a biofeedback GSR meter which is "cheaper and perhaps more effective than the Scientology E-meter". The Handbook of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies and others classify NLP as a "dubious therapy".

False claims to science

Professor Singer (1996) states that "NLP often associates itself with science in order to raise its own prestige" . Anthropologist Winkin Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). yet Grinder & Bostic St Clair (2001) say that "the coding phase of NLP modeling is at present an art".

Singer (1996:172) states that "none of the NLP developers have done any research to "prove" their models correct though NLP promoters and advertisers continue to call the originators scientists and use such terms as science, technology and hi-tech psychology in describing NLP". CAP, a UK-based advertising body has issued an advisory in relation to "Stop smoking claims by hypnotherapists" that "references to NLP should avoid implying that it is a new science" .

Psycholinguist Willem Levelt states that (translated into English by Drenth) "NLP is not informed about linguistics literature, it is based on vague insights that were out of date long ago, their linguistics concepts are not properly construed or are mere fabrications, and conclusions are based upon the wrong premises. NLP theory and practice has nothing to do with neuroscientific insights or linguistics, nor with informatics or theories of programming" .

Pseudoscience

NLP has been classed as a pseudoscientific self help development , in the same mold as EST (Landmark Forum) and Dianetics(Scientology). Self-help critic Salerno associates NLP with pseudoscience, and has criticized its promotion as self-help. Psychologists such as Singer and management experts such as Von Bergen (1997) have criticized its use within management and human resources developments.

Numerous extraordinary and unsupported claims have been made by some NLP promoters. There have been claims that the heightening of perception using NLP can allow a novice martial artist to beat an expert , and that it is possible to develop photographic memory through the use of NLP .

Historically, NLP has many pseudoscientific associations such as the explicit and implicit erroneous adherence to the subconscious engram concept , claims to rapid cures and treatment of traumas, the use of popular new age myths such as unlimited potential, left/right brain simplicities, past life regression, and the use marketing/recruitment models similar to that of Dianetics (Scientology) and other cults .

Pseudoscience is prone to certain fallacies and characteristics. These can be; Overgeneral predictions, pseudoscientific experimentation, dogmatic adherence or recycling of un-validated claims .

Lilienfeld states "the characteristics of pseudoscience are more specifically shown thus", for example:

• "The use of obscurantist language" (eg meta programs, parapragmatics, submodalities etc)
• "The absence of connectivity"
• "Over-reliance on testimonial and anecdotal evidence"
• "An overuse of ad hoc hypotheses and reversed burden of proof designed to immunize claims from falsification"
• "Emphasis on confirmation rather than refutation (eg reliance on asking how rather than why)"
• "Absence of boundary conditions"
• "Reversed burden of proof (away from those making claim (NLP promoters), and towards those testing the claim (Scientists))".
• "The mantra of holism and eclecticism designed to immunize from verifiable efficacy" (Claiming that NLP is unmeasurable due to too many factors or to simplistically “do what works”.
• "Evasion of peer review" (If claims were true, why were they not properly documented and presented to the scientific community?)

Pseudoscientific arguments tend to contain several or all of these factors, as can be seen in this example that shows ad hoc hypotheses and holistic argument as an attempt to explain away the negative findings, and an emphasis on confirmation and reversed burden of proof etc.

Critics point of that NLP is based on outdated metaphors of brain functioning and is laced with numerous factual errors . Modern neuroscience indicates that NLP's notions of neurology are erroneous and pseudoscientific in regards to: left/right brain hemispheric differences , the association of eye movements or body gestures to brain hemispheres. The idea that people have visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning styles which has little substantative evidence .

Professor Robert Carrol states that it is impossible to determine a "correct" NLP model. NLP is also based on some of Freud's most flawed and pseudoscientific thinking that has been rejected by the mainstream psychology community for decades.

Ethical concerns

Ethical concerns of NLP’s encouragement towards manipulation have been raised. As such, NLP is seen as encouraging people to find more ways to manipulate individuals against their will within seduction, sales and business settings. NLP book titles include "The Unfair Advantage: Sell with NLP" and “NLP the New Art and Science of Getting What You Want”.

The therapy and coaching fields require an ethical code of conduct (eg: Psychotherapy and Counseling Federation of Australia Ethical Guidelines). It has been found that NLP certified practitioners often show a weak grasp of ethics .

In addition, Beyerstein states that "ethical standards bodies and other professional associations state that unless a technique, process, drug, or surgical procedure can meet requirements of clinical tests, it is ethically questionable to offer it to the public, especially if money is to change hands". NLP is also criticised for unethically encouraging the belief in non existent maladies and insecurities by otherwise normal individuals. Drenth 2003 explains that NLP is driven by economic motives and "manipulation of credulity" of clients, and explains that "often pseudoscientific practices are motivated by loathsome pursuit of gain". Drenth clarifies this with reference to the well known "financial exploitation of the victims of scientology, avantar and similar movements".

NLP has also been described as a commercial cult, and has been criticised within the business sector for being coercive, including undue and forced adoption of fundamental beliefs and intense confrontational psychological techniques, tantamount to forced religious conversion . Its various forms, such as those promoted by Grinder, and Tony Robbins are said to be ill conceived and coercive in some business settings .

Questionable applications

Currently, there is criticism from psychotherapists about the promotion of NLP and dubious therapies within psychotherapy associations . NLP certification for therapists in general still does not require any professional qualifications .

• Human resources: As with other pseudoscientific subjects, human resource experts such as Von Bergen et al (1997) consider NLP to be inappropriate for management and human resource training . NLP has been found to be most ineffective concerning influence/persuasion and modeling of skills . There is a general view that NLP is dubious and is not to be taken seriously in a business context . Within management training there have also been complaints towards NLP concerning undue and forced adoption of fundamental beliefs tantamount to a forced religious conversion.

Many such courses appear to depend more upon charismatic appeal, wish-fulfillment, quick fixes, and lack of critical faculty, than actual quantifiable results, and so are often considered pseudoscience. The original fad of NLP has undergone further controversy and abandonment since the further realization that it is simply a fad and a cult, and the divorce of Tony Robbins despite his commercial promotion of "Perfect Marriage" counseling has led to a great deal of disenchantment from his own followers . The various claims NLP proponents make have no clinical support and are grossly missleading

• Education: Although Winkin Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).. Beyerstein states that a method should be supported using controlled studies before it is applied in education.

• Cosmetic effect claims: NLP is applied to breast enhancement and penis enlargement. For example, the NLP practitioner, Goodman sells NLP audio recordings of the NLP swish pattern for enlarging penis size. Eisner states that if these miraculous effects are true, then why have they not been properly documented, nor presented to the scientific community?

• Occult and New Age practices: Winkin states that with its promotion with Tai Chi, Meditation, and Dianetics (Scientology), NLP is in the margins of contemporary obscurantism. NLP is often criticised as being a dubious new age therapy . Practitioners sometimes attempt to model spiritual experiences, which inherently, are lacking in scientific support. NLP's new age background often leads to it being sold in combination with shamanic methods of magic such as those by (by Richard Bandler) or Huna (by Tad James) .

Cult characteristics

NLP is sometimes referred to in scientific research reviews as a cult . Others have described it as a psychocult , and in research it is often considered to be akin to a cult . A German educational ministry banned the use of NLP in education and stated that it has a close similarity to Scientology .

Similar to other pseudoscientific subjects such as Dianetics (Scientology) and EST (Landmark) , NLP is adopted as a pretext for applying ritual, authority control, dissociation, reduced rationalization, and social pressure to obtain compliance from the cult's victim or to induce dependence on the cult . According to Devilly it is common for pseudoscientific developments to set up a granfalloon in order to promote in-group rituals and jargon, and to attack critics. Thus, although NLP is ineffective for its stated purposes, it is used as a fake science in a similar way to other psuedoscientific therapies such as primal scream therapy, EST and Dianetics.

See also

• List of NLP topics
• Principles of NLP
• Empiricism
• Epistemology
• Communication
• General Semantics
• Hypnosis
• Humanistic psychology
• Large Group Awareness Training
• Linguistics
• Persuasion
• Transformational grammar
• Subjective character of experience
• Subject-object problem
• List of cognitive biases
• Consensus reality
• Philosophy_of_perception

Developers

• Richard Bandler and John Grinder (co-founders)
• Robert Dilts
• Leslie Cameron-Bandler
• Judith DeLozier
• Stephen Gilligan
• David Gordon

External links

• Official Website of John Grinder; co-creator of NLP
• Official Website of Richard Bandler; co-creator of NLP
• Official Website of Robert Dilts
• Article addressing the scientific criticism on NLP research
• Lee Lady's comments about history and development of NLP
• Criticism from Skeptic's Dictionary
• Neuro Linguistic Psychotherapy & Counselling Association (UK)
• Professional Guild of NLP

Notes and references

1. ^ Bandler, Richard & John Grinder (1979). . Moab, UT: Real People Press. pp. p.15, 24, 30, 45, 52. -. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Check |url= value (help)
2. ^ Bandler, Richard & John Grinder (1983). . Moab, UT: Real People Press. pp. appendix II, p.171. -. {{cite book}}: Check |url= value (help)
3. ^ Bandler, Richard & John Grinder (1975a). . Palo Alto, CA: Science & Behavior Books. pp. -. -. {{cite book}}: Check |url= value (help)
4. ^ Sharpley C.F. (1987). "Research Findings on Neuro-linguistic Programming: Non supportive Data or an Untestable Theory". Communication and Cognition. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1987 Vol. 34, No. 1: 103–107, 105.
5. ^ Dilts, Robert B, Grinder, John, Bandler, Richard & DeLozier, Judith A. (1980). . Meta Publications, 1980. . pp. pp.3-4, 6, 14, 17. . {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Check |url= value (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Cite error: The named reference "nlpvol1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
6. .
7. ^ Robert Dilts. Roots of NLP (1983) p.3
8. Philosophy in the Flesh, 1999, introduction
9. ^ (1989 p.28)
10. Cite error: The named reference dilts_modeling was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
11. ^ Bandler, Richard, John Grinder, Judith Delozier (1977). . Cupertino, CA: Meta Publications. pp. p.10, 81, 87. -. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Check |url= value (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Cite error: The named reference "patterns2" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
12. ^ O'Connor, Joseph & Ian McDermott (1996). Principles of NLP. London, UK: Thorsons. ISBN 0722531958.
13. ^ Grinder, John & Judith DeLozier (1987). Turtles All the Way Down: Prerequisites to Personal Genius. Scots Valley, CA: Grinder & Associates. p. pp.xx,xxi,xix,62,197. ISBN 1555520227.
14. ^ Grinder, John & Carmen Bostic St Clair (2001.). Whispering in the Wind. CA: J & C Enterprises. pp. 127, 171, 222, ch.3, Appendix. -. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
15. ^ Dilts, Robert B, DeLozier, Judith A (2000). Encyclopedia of Systemic Neuro-Linguistic Programming and NLP New Coding. NLP Univsersity Press. pp. p.75, 383, 729, 938–943, 1003, 1300, 1303. ISBN 0970154003. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); External link in |Url= (help); Unknown parameter |Url= ignored (|url= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Cite error: The named reference "diltsdelozier2000" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
16. (Bodenhammer 2001.p63)
17. Malloy, T. E., Bostic St Clair, C. & Grinder, J. (2005). "Steps to an ecology of emergence" (PDF). Cybernetics & Human Knowing. Vol. 11, no. 3: 102-119. {{cite journal}}: |volume= has extra text (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
18. Vaihinger, H. "The Philosophy of "As If." (originally published, 1924)". Routledge, Kegan and Paul Ltd, London, England. -. Retrieved -. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
19. John Seymour, an NLP trainer and author, often states that "understanding is the booby prize", in the sense that to understand and not benefit is not the aim of NLP nor is it helpful, whereas to change but not understand fully how it has happened is beneficial. Accordingly some aspects of NLP are very cognitive, such as metamodel and timeline, whilst others such as the Milton model and ideomotor communication are intended to work only with the subconscious (or "unconscious") mind.
20. Grinder, John, Michael (1988). Precision. Scots Valley, CA: Grinder & Associates.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
21. ^ Cite error: The named reference levelt was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
22. Bandler, Richard & John Grinder (1976). . Cupertino, CA: Meta Publications. p. 9. -. {{cite book}}: Check |url= value (help)
23. Grinder, John. "Interview in London on New Codeof NLP". Inspiritive, Sydney Australia. -. Retrieved 2003. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
24. For example, Dilts {ref name="dilts83" p.12} states that psychic states of consciousness can be modelled by changing the sense sequence (instead of getting feelings from what you see, generate images from what you feel).
25. Cognitive Patterns of Jesus of Nazareth, Robert B Dilts. Ben Lomond, CA: Dynamic Learning Publications, 1992.
26. (Lewis and Pucelik, 1990 p.51)
27. Bradbury, A. (1997). . Kogan Page. pp. -. -. {{cite book}}: Check |url= value (help)
28. Molden D. (2000) NLP Business Masterclass. Financial Times Prentice Hall ISBN 0273650165
29. </ref name=cancer>
30. Cite error: The named reference brain was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
31. Steve & Connirae Andreas. 1987 http://www.achievingexcellence.com/p-ch_and4.html. Retrieved .. {{cite web}}: |url= missing title (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
32. ^ The Spirit of NLP, Hall, M. Crown House Publishing, 2001. pp.93-95
33. Ready.R. and Burton.K (2004) NLP for Dummies John Wiley & Sons ISBN 0764570285 p.250
34. Source Andreas & Faulkner, 1994.
35. ^ Eisner, D. A. (2000). The death of psychotherapy: From Freud to alien abductions. Westport, CT: Praeger. pp. p.158. -. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)] Cite error: The named reference "eisner" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
36. ^ (Salerno 2005)
37. Cite error: The named reference pasztor98 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
38. The term "Ecology" in this usage can also be seen in Gregory Bateson's 1972 collection Steps to an Ecology of Mind, published around the same time NLP was being developed.
39. ^ Singer, Margret. (1996). . pp. pp. . {{cite book}}: Check |url= value (help) Cite error: The named reference "singer96" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
40. ^ (Beyerstein 1990) Cite error: The named reference "beyerstein" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
41. (Barrett p.26)
42. ^ Hunt, Stephen J. (2003) A Sociological Introduction, London: Ashgate p.195 ISBN 0754634094
43. Look into my eyes and tell me I'm learning not to be a loser, Financial Times, London (UK), Sanghera.
44. Peter Schütz
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46. ^ (1997 page 291)
47. Cite error: The named reference squires was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
48. ^ Heap, M. (1989). Neuro-linguistic programming: What is the evidence? In D Waxman D. Pederson. I.
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54. ^ Scott O. Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn, and Jeffrey M. Lohr (2003). . Guilford Press, New York. {{cite book}}: Check |url= value (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Cite error: The named reference "lilienfeld" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
55. (Efran & Lukens1990 p.122)
56. ^ (2005 p.441)
57. (1997p20)
58. Beyerstein.B.L (1990). "Brainscams: Neuromythologies of the New Age". International Journal of Mental Health. 19(3): 27–36, 27.
59. Lilienfeld,S.O. (2002). "Our Raisson D'etre". The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice. 1(1): 20.
60. {{cite book | author=Kelly.M.O | title=The Fireside Treasury of Light | location= | publisher=Simon & Schuster. | year=1990 | id=0671685058 | pages=p.25,182
61. Corballis, M. in Sala (ed) (1999) Mind Myths. Exploring Popular Assumptions About the Mind and Brain Author: Sergio Della Sala Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons ISBN: 0471983039 p.41
62. ^ Singer, Margaret & Janja Lalich (1999). unknown. -. -. {{cite book}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
63. Heap, M. (1988). Neuro-linguistic programming, In M. Heap (Ed.) Hypnosis: Current Clinical, Experimental and Forensic Practices. London: Croom Helm, pp 268-280.
64. ^ Williams, W F. general editor. (2000) Encyclopedia of pseudoscience: From alien abductions to Zone Therapy, Publisher: Facts On File, New York.
65. Heap 1991 unknown title
66. Morgan, Dylan A (1993). "Scientific Assessment of NLP (a review of Heap's 1988 conclusions)". Journal of the National Council for Psychotherapy & Hypnotherapy Register. Spring 1993: -.
67. Dryden. W. 2001 Reason to Change: Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) Brunner-Routledge 0415229804
68. (Elich et al 1985 p.625)
69. ^ Winkin Y 1990 Eléments pour un procès de la P.N.L. , MédiAnalyses, no. 7, septembre, 1990, pp. 43-50. Cite error: The named reference "winkin91" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
70. ^ Carroll, Robert T. "The Skeptic's Dictionary". . Retrieved 2003. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
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73. (PDF)
78. Dobson (2001) The Handbook of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies p.438
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83. Winn, C.M , and Wiggins,A.W (2001). Quantum Leaps, in the wrong direction: Where real science ends and pseudoscience begins. Joseph Henry Press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
84. Paine, Michael. "Baloney Detection Kit". Operation Clambake. Retrieved .. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
85. Krugman, Kirsch, Wickless, Milling, Golicz, & Toth (1985). Neuro-linguistic programming treatment for anxiety: Magic or myth? Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology. Vol 53(4), 526-530.
86. ^ Cite error: The named reference hardiman was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
87. (1999 p.26)
88. ^ Singer, Margaret (1995). Cults in Our Midst : The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace. New York, NY: Jossey Bass. ISBN 0787967416.
89. Summers, Lynn. (Jan 1996) Training & Development. Alexandria, VA: American Society for Training & Development: Vol. 50, Iss. 1; pg. 30, 2 pgs
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92. ^ (eg. NLP Rekaunt)
93. ^ Michael D Langone (Ed). (1993.). Recovery from Cults: Help for Victims of Psychological and Spiritual Abuse. New York, NY: W W Norton & Company. -. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
94. Tippet, Gary (3 Apr 1994). "Inside the cults of mind control". Melbourne, Australia: Sunday Age.
95. ^

• Human communication
• Mind-body interventions
• Neuro-Linguistic Programming
• Neuro-Linguistic Programming concepts and methods
• Pseudoscience
• Psychotherapy