NLP – Neuro-Linguistic Programming

Neuro-Linguistic Programming is a behavioral model as well as a set of techniques and abilities, founded by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in 1976 with the purpose of creating new explicit models of human excellence. O’Connor & Seymour (1993) define NLP as “the art and science of personal efficacy”. The denomination of NLP implies three dimensions:

Neuro: any psychological process has a neurological substrate, our behavior being profoundly connected with the world around us specifically due to our perception of it (the processing of stimuli on a neurological level).
Linguistic: language is being used both internally, in order for us to understand and explain the psychological processes that we are experiencing as well as externally, to communicate the findings to those around.

Programming: stemming from cybernetic sciences and showing that, just like a computer, our brain can be programmed in such a manner to order our thoughts, emotions or the actions that we want to engage in.

By studying the behavior models of people that excel in certain fields, researchers have reached the conclusion that the strategies employed by these true performers in their particular field can also be learned and applied by regular people who want to improve their lives. Thus, they can program their brain to function optimally for their specific purpose, in other words to think positive and to become oriented on solutions rather than on problems and their causes, as they are being advised, for instance, by classical psychology.
Therefore, the purpose of Neuro Linguistic Programming is that of describing the fundamental interaction between mind (neuro) and language (linguistic) and how their reciprocal action is affecting the body and behaviors (programming) (Dilts & DeLozier, 2000).
History

The history of NLP already goes back 40 years, to its beginning in California and the fruitful collaboration between John Grinder and Richard Bandler at the University of Santa Cruz. Both having a keen interest in psychotherapy, they have studied the working methods and strategies of three major therapists from three different schools and orientations (Fritz Perls, Virginia Satir, Milton Eickson) and reached the conclusion that there are similarities between the working methods of the three, even though they were treating different problems in different ways. (Dilts & DeLozier, 2000). Following their research, they set up a new psychological discipline, titled NLP. Shortly, NLP grew in popularity, being successfully applied to domains not having much to do with psychotherapy such as sales, management, education, organizational psychology, negotiations etc.
NLP’s popularity soon grew outside of American borders, being rapidly adopted in Western Europe and becoming massively popular in the UK through the contributions of the anthropologist Bateson, who collaborated in his research with the two founders of NLP. Today, trainings in NLP continue to be hugely popular, even though more and more controversy is arising regarding the validity of the scientific research for this therapeutic method.

The principles of NLP
The map is not the same as the territory. We don’t know the world as it really is, we only have a subjective representation over it. What makes this representation subjective are the filters that separate us from the exterior world: sensations, perceptions, memories, values etc. By changing these filters that are affecting our experience with the world, we can change our general perception of the world, meaning the way we map out reality and, implicitly, our own personal reality.
There are no failures, only feedbacks – any response from the environment to our behavior can be used to regulate our behavior and we don’t have to be negative even when receiving unpleasant answers.

The purpose of communication is the received answer: The communication between two people supposes a battle of the filters that stand between their messages and there is a need for constant sustained effort from both of them to make sure that what’s being communicated by the emitter is what actually reaches the receiver.
If someone can successfully realize something, than so can I… as long as I trust my own resources and I establish goals that I chase systematically.
The mind and the body are parts of the same cybernetic system and the changes in one also determines changes in the other. The harmonizing of the communication of the two parts can lead to a general state of harmony in behavior.
The orientation towards the result, and not the problem – as long as I know where I want to go, how I get there is less important.
Three key techniques stand out in NLP: the clear establishing of objectives, sensory acuteness in order to develop methods of reaching the objectives and flexibility in order to juggle with the various methods, as well as with objectives, if they turn out to be unrealistic (not persisting in the error).

Uses of NLP

NLP can be used as a secondary method in certain therapies (behavioral, as well as humanistic), but also as a self standing therapy, called neuro-linguistic psychotherapy (Bridoux & Weaver, 2000). Researchers in the area of psychotherapy claim that NLP has maximum efficiency and is very fast acting in the treatment of severe problems, such as phobias, depression, learning problems, as well as psychosomatic illnesses (Einspruch & Forman, 1988). In the same time, NLP is used as a technique for improving performance and obtaining excellent results in several domains such as sports, coaching, team building, public speaking, business communication etc.