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{{Short description|Pseudoscientific approach to psychotherapy}}
{{otheruses4|the personal development model|the neuroscience|neurolinguistics}}
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{{Infobox interventions
| Name = Neuro-linguistic programming
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{{Neuro-linguistic programming}} {{Neuro-linguistic programming}}
'''Neuro-linguistic programming''' ('''NLP''') is a set of techniques, ] and ]s, that adherents use primarily as an approach to ]. NLP was influenced by the ideas of the ] era as well as beliefs in ]. The initial ideas of NLP were developed around 1973 by ], a student, and ], a professor of ], in association with the social scientist ].


'''Neuro-linguistic programming''' ('''NLP''') is a pseudoscientific approach to communication, personal development and ], that first appeared in ] and ]'s 1975 book '']''. NLP asserts that there is a connection between neurological processes, language and acquired behavioral patterns, and that these can be changed to achieve specific goals in life.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tosey |first1=Paul |last2=Mathison |first2=Jane |title=Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming |publisher=Centre for Management Learning & Development, School of Management, University of Surrey. |url=http://www.som.surrey.ac.uk/NLP/Resources/IntroducingNLP.pdf |access-date=12 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190103020411/http://www.som.surrey.ac.uk/NLP/Resources/IntroducingNLP.pdf |archive-date=3 January 2019}}</ref>{{sfn|Dilts|Grinder|Bandler|DeLozier|1980|p=2}} According to Bandler and Grinder, NLP can treat problems such as ]s, depression, ]s, ]es, ],{{efn|name=nscc}} ], the ],{{efn|name=nscc|Note that, in a seminar, {{harvnb|Bandler|Grinder|1982|p=166}}, said that a single session of NLP combined with hypnosis could eliminate certain eyesight problems such as myopia and cure the common cold (op.cit., pp. 169, 174).}} and ]s,<ref>Archived at {{cbignore}} and the {{cbignore}}: {{cite AV media |people=Bandler, Richard |year=2008 |title=What is NLP? |medium=Promotional video |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vlcsFJyEXQ |access-date=1 June 2013 |quote=We can reliably get rid of a phobia in ten minutes – every single time. |publisher=NLP Life}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Grinder|Bostic St. Clair|2001|loc=Chapter 4: Personal Antecedents of NLP}}.</ref> often in a single session. They also say that NLP can model the skills of exceptional people, allowing anyone to acquire them.{{sfn|Bandler|Grinder|1975|pp=5–6}}{{efn|{{harvnb|Bandler|1993|p=vii}}: "In single sessions, they can accelerate learning, neutralize phobias, enhance creativity, improve relationships, eliminate allergies, and lead firewalks without roasting toes. NLP achieves the goal of its inception. We have ways to do what only a genius could have done a decade ago." }}
NLP is based on the idea that all language and behaviors (whether functional or dysfunctional) are highly structured. <ref name="frogs">{{cite book | author=Bandler, Richard & John Grinder | title=Frogs into Princes: Neuro Linguistic Programming | location=Moab, UT | publisher=Real People Press | year=1979 | pages=15,24,30,45,52.}}</ref> It seeks to uncover the structure of subjective experience and by modeling language and behavior, change beliefs and behaviors and treat traumas. It teaches that if someone excels at something, we can learn how they do it and then teach it to others. <ref name="structure1">{{cite book | author=Bandler, Richard & John Grinder | title=The Structure of Magic I: A Book About Language and Therapy | location=Palo Alto, CA | publisher=Science & Behavior Books | year=1975}}</ref> NLP uses several techniques to effect changes in the way we think, learn and communicate.<ref name="nlpvol1">{{cite book | author=Dilts, Robert B, Grinder, John, Bandler, Richard & DeLozier, Judith A. | title=Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Volume I - The Study of the Structure of Subjective Experience | publisher=Meta Publications | date=1980 | pages=3-4,6,14,17}}</ref>


NLP has been adopted by some ]s as well as by companies that run seminars marketed as ] to businesses and government agencies.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dowlen |first=Ashley |title=NLP – help or hype? Investigating the uses of neuro-linguistic programming in management learning |journal=Career Development International |date=1 January 1996 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=27–34 |doi=10.1108/13620439610111408}}</ref><ref name="von Bergen-1997" />
NLP was and continues to be controversial as a therapy, and after 3 decades of existence remains scientifically unvalidated.


There is no ] supporting the claims made by NLP advocates, and it has been called a ].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Science and Pseudoscience in Social Work Practice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nE9FCQAAQBAJ&q=nlp&pg=PA166 |publisher=Springer Publishing Company |date=2015 |isbn=978-0-8261-7769-8 |first1=Bruce A. |last1=Thyer |first2=Monica G. |last2=Pignotti |pages=56–57, 165–167 |quote=As NLP became more popular, some research was conducted and reviews of such research have concluded that there is no scientific basis for its theories about representational systems and eye movements.}}</ref><ref name="Sharpley-1987" /><ref name="Witkowski-2010">{{cite journal |last=Witkowski |first=Tomasz |title=Thirty-Five Years of Research on Neuro-Linguistic Programming. NLP Research Data Base. State of the Art or Pseudoscientific Decoration? |journal=Polish Psychological Bulletin |date=1 January 2010 |volume=41 |issue=2 |doi=10.2478/v10059-010-0008-0|quote=All of this leaves me with an overwhelming impression that the analyzed base of scientific articles is treated just as theater decoration, being the background for the pseudoscientific farce which NLP appears to be. Using "scientific" attributes, which is so characteristic of pseudoscience, is manifested also in other aspects of NLP activities... My analysis leads undeniably to the statement that NLP represents pseudoscientific rubbish|doi-access=free }}</ref> Scientific reviews have shown that NLP is based on outdated metaphors of the brain's inner workings that are inconsistent with current neurological theory, and that NLP contains numerous factual errors.<ref name="von Bergen-1997">{{cite journal |last=von Bergen |first=C. W. |last2=Gary |first2=Barlow Soper |last3=Rosenthal |first3=T. |last4=Wilkinson |first4=Lamar V. |title=Selected alternative training techniques in HRD |journal=Human Resource Development Quarterly |year=1997 |volume=8 |issue=4 |pages=281–294 |doi=10.1002/hrdq.3920080403}}</ref><ref name="Druckman-2004">{{cite journal |last=Druckman |first=Daniel |title=Be All That You Can Be: Enhancing Human Performance |journal=Journal of Applied Social Psychology |date=1 November 2004 |volume=34 |issue=11 |pages=2234–2260 |doi=10.1111/j.1559-1816.2004.tb01975.x}}</ref> Reviews also found that research that favored NLP contained significant methodological flaws, and that there were three times as many studies of a much higher quality that failed to reproduce the claims made by Bandler, Grinder, and other NLP practitioners.<ref name="Sharpley-1987">{{cite journal |last=Sharpley |first=Christopher F. |title=Research findings on neurolinguistic programming: Nonsupportive data or an untestable theory? |journal=Journal of Counseling Psychology |date=1 January 1987 |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=103–107 |doi=10.1037/0022-0167.34.1.103}}</ref><ref name="Witkowski-2010" />
==History and development==
{{main|History of neuro-linguistic programming}}


== Early development ==
Neuro-linguistic Programming is an ] field, and covers a wide array of aspects of ]. NLP practitioners deal with issues ranging from reframing negative beliefs, to dealing with stage fright by reducing simple ], and more generally, communications and motivation. Some trainers offer techniques for ], ], ], or ], as well as peak performance assistance business or sports. NLP as an approach to ] has been frequently de-emphasized as the primary purpose for NLP. At the same time, others within the NLP community consider ] to be a core application, and advocate its importance. NLP and its techniques have been widely adopted for use in ], adult learning, and management and sales training, often being mixed with ] and other applications outside of mainstream.
According to Bandler and Grinder, NLP consists of a ] termed ''modeling'', plus a set of techniques that they derived from its initial applications.{{sfnm|1a1=Bandler|1a2=Grinder|1y=1975|1p=6|2a1=Grinder|2a2=Bostic St. Clair|2y=2001|2loc=Chapter 2: Terminology}} They derived many of the fundamental techniques from the work of ], ] and ].{{sfn|Bandler|Grinder|1979|p=8}} Bandler and Grinder also drew upon the ] of ], ] and ] (particularly ]).{{sfn|Bandler|Grinder|1975|p=6}}<ref name="Stollznow-2010" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Wake |first=Lisa |title=Neurolinguistic psychotherapy: a postmodern perspective |year=2008 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0-415-42541-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8wIy20m_u9kC}}</ref>


Bandler and Grinder say that their methodology can codify the structure inherent to the therapeutic "magic" as performed in therapy by Perls, Satir and Erickson, and indeed inherent to any complex human activity. From that codification, they say, the structure and its activity can be learned by others. Their 1975 book, ''The Structure of Magic I: A Book about Language and Therapy'', is intended to be a codification of the therapeutic techniques of Perls and Satir.{{sfn|Bandler|Grinder|1975|p=6}}
===1970s: Founding and early development===
"Neuro-linguistic programming" denotes an interconnected relationship between ] and ] (''neuro''), ] patterns (''linguistic''), and the organization of those parts into systemic patterns (''programming''). It was co-founded and developed jointly by ] and UCSC assistant professor of linguistics ] under the tutelage of noted ] ], at the ], during the 1960s and 1970s. At that time the Californian ] were developing into a viable industry. ] had influenced Gregory Bateson and several schools of thought, including those at ] in California. Most notably, the idea that ']' and ideas about human modeling were adopted by Bandler and Grinder<ref name="structure1"/>. From 1972, the co-founders of NLP had an interest in the exceptional communications skills of gestalt therapist ], family therapist ] and founding president of the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis, ]. Subsequently ''Structure of Magic Series (1975)'' and ''Patterns of Milton H. Erickson (1976, 1977)'' were published using those therapists as models. In the late 1970s, ], ], ], and ] worked with the co-founders and separately to contribute to the development of NLP. Dilts & Delozier (2000) state "NLP is rooted in the synthesis of three areas of modern science: ], ] and ] (computer programming)"<ref name="diltsdelozier2000">{{cite book | last = Dilts | first = Robert B | coauthors = DeLozier, Judith A | title = Encyclopedia of Systemic Neuro-Linguistic Programming and NLP New Coding | publisher = NLP University Press | date = 2000 | url = http://www.nlpuniversitypress.com/ | id = ISBN 0970154003}}</ref> whereas more recent NLP academics such as Tosey and Mathison state it is unrelated to computer ] or ]<ref name="Tosey Mathison 2003"/>.


Bandler and Grinder say that they used their own process of modeling to model Virginia Satir so they could produce what they termed the Meta-Model, a model for gathering information and challenging a client's language and underlying thinking.{{sfn|Bandler|Grinder |1975|p=6}}<ref name="Clancy-1989" /> They say that by challenging linguistic distortions, specifying generalizations, and recovering deleted information in the client's statements, the transformational grammar concept of surface structure yields a more complete representation of the underlying deep structure and therefore has therapeutic benefit.<ref>John Grinder, Suzette Elgin (1973). "A Guide to Transformational Grammar: History, Theory, Practice." Holt, Rinehart and Winston. {{ISBN|0-03-080126-5}}. Reviewed by Frank H. Nuessel, Jr. ''The Modern Language Journal'', Vol. 58, No. 5/6 (September–October 1974), pp. 282–283</ref><ref name="Bradley-1985">{{cite journal |first1=E. Jane |last1=Bradley |last2=Biedermann |first2=Heinz-Joachim |title=Bandler and Grinder's neurolinguistic programming: Its historical context and contribution |journal=Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training |date=1 January 1985 |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=59–62 |doi=10.1037/h0088527 |issn=0033-3204 |oclc=1588338}}</ref> Also derived from Satir were anchoring, future pacing and representational systems.<ref name="Spitzer-1992">{{cite journal |last=Spitzer |first=Robert |title=Virginia Satir & Origins of NLP |journal=Anchor Point Magazine |issue=July |page=? |year=1992 |url=http://www.social-engineer.org/archives/NLP/NLP-Satir395.pdf |access-date=5 June 2013}}</ref>
===1980s: New developers, new styles, and scientific assessment===


In contrast, the Milton-Model—a model of the purportedly hypnotic language of Milton Erickson—was described by Bandler and Grinder as "artfully vague" and ]ic.{{sfn|Bandler|Grinder|1982|p=240}} The Milton-Model is used in combination with the Meta-Model as a softener, to induce "trance" and to deliver indirect therapeutic suggestion.{{sfn|Bandler|Grinder|1981}}
In the 1980s, shortly after publishing ''Neuro-linguistic Programming Volume 1'' <ref name="nlpvol1">{{cite book | author=Dilts, Robert B, Grinder, John, Bandler, Richard & DeLozier, Judith A. | title=Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Volume I - The Study of the Structure of Subjective Experience | publisher=Meta Publications | date=1980 | pages=3-4,6,14,17}}</ref> with Robert Dilts and Judith Delozier, Grinder and Bandler fell out. Amidst acrimony and ] lawsuits, NLP started to be developed haphazardly by many individuals. During the 1980s John Grinder and Judith Delozier collaborated to develop a form of NLP called the ] which attempted restore a whole mind-body systemic approach to NLP. Richard Bandler also published new processes with ] and ] as in ''Using Your Brain: For a Change (1984)''. Meanwhile ] who taught NLP in the late 1970s, began mass marketing products incorporating aspects of NLP (renamed as '']''). Other practitioners and trainers modified, renamed and developed their own variations of NLP. ] offered NLP with ] and ] offered NLP with ]<sup>&#153;</sup>. New and influential developers ], and Connirae and ] also emerged during this time. Given the multiplicity of developers and trainers, there was to be no single definitive system of NLP.<ref name="druckman">Druckman and Swets (eds) (l988) , National Academy Press.</ref>


Psychologist ] writes that Chomsky's theories "appear to be irrelevant" to NLP.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mercer |first1=Jean |editor1-last=Cautin |editor1-first=Robin L. |editor2-last=Lilienfeld |editor2-first=Scott O. |title=The Encyclopedia of Clinical Psychology, Volume II |date=2015 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-4706-7127-6 |page=759 |chapter=Controversial Therapies |doi=10.1002/9781118625392.wbecp515}}</ref> Linguist ] describes Bandler's and Grinder's reference to such experts as ]. Other than Satir, the people they cite as influences did not collaborate with Bandler or Grinder. Chomsky himself has no association with NLP, with his work being theoretical in nature and having no therapeutic element. Stollznow writes, "ther than borrowing ], NLP does not bear authentic resemblance to any of Chomsky's theories or philosophies—linguistic, ] or political."<ref name="Stollznow-2010">{{cite journal |last1=Stollznow |first1=Karen|author-link=Karen Stollznow|year=2010 |title=Not-so Linguistic Programming |journal=] |volume=15 |issue=4 |page=7 |url=http://www.skeptic.com/magazine/archives/vol15n04.html |access-date=1 June 2013}}</ref>
In the late 1980s, Sharpley's (1984, 1987) research reviews in experimental ] and by the ] gave NLP an overall negative assessment. Thereafter, except for sporadic articles on NLP in different fields, there was a marked decrease in NLP research.


According to ], a researcher in the field of hypnosis, "the major weakness of Bandler and Grinder's linguistic ] is that so much of it is built upon untested hypotheses and is supported by totally inadequate data."{{sfn|Weitzenhoffer|1989|p=304}} Weitzenhoffer adds that Bandler and Grinder misuse ] and mathematics,{{sfn|Weitzenhoffer|1989|pp=300–301}} redefine or misunderstand terms from the ] ] (e.g., ]),{{efn|{{harvnb|Weitzenhoffer|1989|pp=304–305}}: "I have chosen ] to explain what some of the problems are in Bandler and Grinder's linguistic approach to Ericksonian hypnotism. Almost any other linguistic concept used by these authors could have served equally well for the purpose of showing some of the inherent weaknesses in their treatment."}} create a scientific façade by needlessly complicating Ericksonian concepts with unfounded claims,{{efn|{{harvnb|Weitzenhoffer|1989|p=307}}: "As I have mentioned in the last chapter, any references made to left and right brain functions in relation to hypnotic phenomena must be considered as poorly founded. They do not add to our understanding of nor our ability to utilize hypnotic phenomena in the style of Erickson. Indeed, references such as Bandler and Grinder make to these functions give their subject matter a false appearance of having a more scientific status than it has."}} make factual errors,{{efn|{{harvnb|Weitzenhoffer|1989|p=306}}: "This work , incidentally, contains some glaring misstatements of facts. For example, ] and ] were depicted as contemporaries!"}} and disregard or confuse concepts central to the Ericksonian approach.{{efn|{{harvnb|Weitzenhoffer|1989|p=306}}: One of the most striking features of the Bandler/Grinder interpretation is that it somehow ignores the issue of the existence and function of suggestion, which even in Erickson's own writings and those done with Rossi, is a central idea."}}
===1990s: Controversy, division, and marketing===


More recently, Bandler has stated, "NLP is based on finding out what works and formalizing it. In order to formalize patterns I utilized everything from linguistics to ] ... The models that constitute NLP are all formal models based on mathematical, ]al principles such as ] and the mathematical ]."<ref>{{cite web |last=Bandler |first=Richard |title=NLP Seminars Group – Frequently Asked Questions |website=NLP Seminars Group |url=http://www.purenlp.com/nlpfaqr.html |year=1997 |access-date=8 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130622080317/http://www.purenlp.com/nlpfaqr.html |archive-date=22 June 2013}}</ref> There is no mention of the mathematics of holography nor of holography in general in Spitzer's,<ref name="Spitzer-1992" /> or Grinder's<ref>{{harvnb|Grinder|Bostic St. Clair|2001}}.</ref> account of the development of NLP.
In July of 1996 after many years of legal controversy, Bandler filed a lawsuit against John Grinder et al, claiming retrospective sole ownership of NLP, and the sole right to use the term under trademark.<ref name="nlp knowledge centre">Cite web: </ref><ref name="nlp schedule">Cite web: </ref> NLP critic ] quotes Bandler as saying the term NLP was "phrased on the fly from several book titles on the floor of his car one night when a policeman asked his occupation."<ref name="singer97">{{cite book | author= Singer, Margaret & Janja Lalich | title=]: What Are They? Do They Work? | publisher=Jossey Bass | year=1997 | id=0787902780 | p.169}}</ref>. Contemporaneous with Bandler's suits in the ], ] (a UK practitioner) asked the UK High Court to revoke Bandler's UK ] of "NLP", in order to clarify legally whether this was a generic term rather than intellectual property. The UK High Court found in favor of Clarkson, and that NLP was deemed to be a generic term. <ref name="anlp news">Cite web: </ref> Partly due to the legally-driven fragmentation of NLP practice, and partly due to lack of a defining and regulating structure to oversee the rapidly growing field, it seemed for a time that NLP could be (and was) promoted as the "latest thing", a ], or universal miracle solution.<ref name="platt">{{cite web | author=Platt, G. | title=NLP - No Longer Plausible? | url=http://www.sueknight.co.uk/Publications/Articles/NLP_Plausible.htm | publisher= | accessdate=2001}}</ref><ref>Guidance Counsellor's handbook, section 1.4.5: http://www.ncge.ie/resources_handbooks_guidance.htm section 1.4.5 (DOC)</ref> Dubious models and practices burgeoned, in parallel with bona fide. For a number of these new practices, profit, marketability or New Age appeal proved a stronger motive than ] or ].


On the matter of the development of NLP, Grinder recollects:
===2000s: Legal settlement, government regulation, and new fields===


{{blockquote|text=My memories about what we thought at the time of discovery (with respect to the classic code we developed—that is, the years 1973 through 1978) are that we were quite explicit that we were out to overthrow a ] and that, for example, I, for one, found it very useful to plan this campaign using in part as a guide the excellent work of ] ('']'') in which he detailed some of the conditions which historically have obtained in the midst of ]s. For example, I believe it was very useful that neither one of us were qualified in the field we first went after—psychology and in particular, its therapeutic application; this being one of the conditions which Kuhn identified in his historical study of paradigm shifts.<ref>{{cite web |last=Grinder |first=John |others=Interviewed by Chris Collingwood and Jules Collingwood |title=1996 Interview with John Grinder PhD, co-creator of NLP |website=Inspiritive |url=http://www.inspiritive.com.au/grinterv.htm |date=July 1996 |access-date=8 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130428225949/http://www.inspiritive.com.au/grinterv.htm |archive-date=28 April 2013}}</ref>}}
Whilst the NLP community became ], most NLP material acknowledged the early work of the co-founders, Bandler and Grinder, and the development group that surrounded them in the 1970s. Around 2001, the law suits were finally settled with Bandler and Grinder formally agreeing to be known as co-founders of NLP. Following attempts in the 1990s to put NLP on a more formally regulated footing in countries such as the ], some governments began certifying NLP course providers and their course, such as in ] for example, where a in Neuro-linguistic programming is accredited under the ].<ref name="ntis">Cite web: </ref> With different authors, individual trainers and practitioners having developed their own methods, concepts and labels, often branding them as "NLP":<ref name="skepdic">{{cite web | author=Carroll, Robert T. | title=The Skeptic's Dictionary | url=http://skepdic.com/neurolin.html | publisher=. | accessdate=2003}}</ref>, the training standards and quality differed greatly.<ref name="schutz"/> Since 1978, NLP practitioner certification had been 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 has been promoting their training in line with European therapy standards. The length of training varies from a short hobby course, to a 20 day course, to longer courses for trainers and professionals. However the multiplicity and general lack of controls has led to difficulty discerning the comparative level competence, skill and attitude in different NLP trainings.<ref name="schutz">Peter Schütz () </ref>


The philosopher ] responded that Grinder has not understood Kuhn's text on the ], ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions''. Carroll replies: (a) individual scientists never have nor are they ever able to create ''paradigm shifts'' volitionally and Kuhn does not suggest otherwise; (b) Kuhn's text does not contain the idea that being unqualified in a field of science is a prerequisite to producing a result that necessitates a ''paradigm shift'' in that field and (c) ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' is foremost a work of ''history'' and not an instructive text on ''creating'' paradigm shifts and such a text is not possible—extraordinary discovery is not a formulaic procedure. Carroll explains that a ''paradigm shift'' is not a planned activity, rather it is an outcome of scientific effort within the dominant paradigm that produces ] that cannot be adequately accounted for within the current paradigm—hence a ''paradigm shift'', i.e. the adoption of a new paradigm. In developing NLP, Bandler and Grinder were not responding to a paradigmatic crisis in psychology nor did they produce any data that caused a paradigmatic crisis in psychology. There is no sense in which Bandler and Grinder caused or participated in a paradigm shift. "What did Grinder and Bandler do that makes it impossible to continue doing psychology ... without accepting their ideas? Nothing," argues Carroll.<ref name="Carroll-2009">{{cite web |last=Carroll |first=R. T. |author-link=Robert Todd Carroll |publisher=] |url=http://skepdic.com/neurolin.html |title=Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) |access-date=25 June 2009 |date=23 February 2009}}</ref>
==Concepts and methods==
===Principles===
{{main|Principles of NLP}}


=== Commercialization and evaluation ===
NLP is predicated on the idea rather than responding directly to the world we respond to ] of the world. Because our maps, beliefs and perceptions filter our experience and mediate behavior, to affect a change in behavior we must change our maps.<ref name="frogs" /><ref name="reframing">{{cite book | author=Bandler, Richard & John Grinder | title=Reframing: Neurolinguistic programming and the transformation of meaning | location=Moab, UT | publisher=Real People Press. | year=1983 | pages=appendix II, p.171}}</ref><ref name="structure1" /> An NLP practitioner seeks to free up impoverished maps of the world through modeling the communication and patterns of change of several exceptional ]s<ref name="frogs">{{cite
By the late 1970s, the ] had developed into an industry and provided a market for some NLP ideas. At the center of this growth was the ] at ]. Perls had led numerous ] seminars at Esalen. Satir was an early leader and Bateson was a guest teacher. Bandler and Grinder have said that in addition to being a therapeutic method, NLP was also a study of communication and began marketing it as a business tool, writing that, "if any human being can do anything, so can you."<ref name="Clancy-1989">{{cite journal |last1=Clancy |first1=Frank |last2=Yorkshire |first2=Heidi |year=1989 |title=The Bandler Method |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DOcDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA22 |journal=] |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=22–28 |issn=0362-8841 |access-date=26 April 2024 |via=}}</ref> After 150 students paid $1,000 each for a ten-day workshop in ], Bandler and Grinder gave up academic writing and started producing popular books from seminar transcripts, such as ''Frogs into Princes,'' which sold more than 270,000 copies. According to court documents relating to an intellectual property dispute between Bandler and Grinder, Bandler made more than $800,000 in 1980 from workshop and book sales.<ref name="Clancy-1989" />
book | author=Bandler, Richard & John Grinder | title=Frogs into Princes: Neuro Linguistic Programming | location=Moab, UT | publisher=Real People Press | year=1979 | pages=15,24,30,45,52.}}</ref>. It is self-described as ''the study of the structure of ]''.<ref name="sharpley87">{{cite journal | author=Sharpley C.F.| title=Research Findings on Neuro-linguistic Programming: Non supportive Data or an Untestable Theory| journal=Communication and Cognition | year=1987 | volume=Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1987 Vol. 34, No. 1 | pages=103-107,105 | url=http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?nfpb=true&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ352101&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=eric_accno&objectId=0900000b8005c1ac}}</ref><ref name="nlpvol1">{{cite book | author=Dilts, Robert B, Grinder, John, Bandler, Richard & DeLozier, Judith A. | title=Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Volume I - The Study of the Structure of Subjective Experience | publisher=Meta Publications | date=1980 | pages=3-4,6,14,17}}</ref> Furthermore NLP is predicated upon the principle that all ]s (whether functional or ]al) are not random, but have a structure which can be ].<ref name="structure1">{{cite book | author=Bandler, Richard & John Grinder | title=The Structure of Magic I: A Book About Language and Therapy | location=Palo Alto, CA | publisher=Science & Behavior Books | year=1975}}</ref><ref name=purenlp>.</ref>


A community of psychotherapists and students began to form around Bandler and Grinder's initial works, leading to the growth and spread of NLP as a theory and practice.<ref>{{cite book |title=Social Engineering |publisher=John Wiley & Sons Inc |last1=Hadnagy |first1=Christopher |last2=Wilson |first2=Paul |access-date=24 May 2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9LpawpklYogC |date= 2010 |isbn=978-0-470-63953-5}}</ref> For example, ] trained with Grinder and utilized a few ideas from NLP as part of his own ] and motivational speaking programmes.<ref>{{cite book |title=Sham: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless |year=2006 |publisher=Crown Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-4000-5410-7 |last=Salerno |first=Steve |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lmmxX81cEmMC}}</ref> Bandler led several unsuccessful efforts to exclude other parties from using NLP.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}} Meanwhile, the rising number of practitioners and theorists led NLP to become even less uniform than it was at its foundation.<ref name="Stollznow-2010" /> Prior to the decline of NLP, scientific researchers began testing its theoretical underpinnings ]ly, with research indicating a lack of empirical support for NLP's essential theories.<ref name="Witkowski-2010" /> The 1990s were characterized by fewer scientific studies evaluating the methods of NLP than the previous decade. ] attributes this to a declining interest in the debate as the result of a lack of empirical support for NLP from its proponents.<ref name="Witkowski-2010" />
The philosophy of NLP can be summarised in the ] of ] and ] that ]. That is, rather than acting directly upon the world, we act based on our maps of the world. Because these maps are limited and do not always serve us, the job of an NLP practitioner is to increase choice and flexibility with these imporverished maps; and enhance performance in the world.<ref name="structure1"/> Bateson's influence is not only found in map-territory but also systemic ideas that life ] are ], <ref name="turtles">{{cite book | author=Grinder, John & Judith DeLozier | page=pp.xx, xxi, xix,62,197 | title=Turtles All the Way Down: Prerequisites to Personal Genius | location=Scots Valley, CA | publisher=Grinder & Associates | year=1987 | id=ISBN 1-55552-022-7}}</ref><ref name="whispering">{{cite book | author=Grinder, John & Carmen Bostic St Clair | title=Whispering in the Wind | location=CA | publisher=J & C Enterprises | year=2001. | pages=127, 171, 222, ch.3, Appendix | id=-}} </ref> and that ] are better than one.


== Main components and core concepts ==
There are a number of ] expressions which serve to construct practical models for learning and communication. NLP focuses on the present and thinks about past experiences, even failures, as resources so that ''there is no failure, only feedback''. While this may not be necessarily true, by acting '']'', for example, ''all human action has a ]'' it presupposes that at some level even the most negative behavior is attempting to express some positive intention. This serves as a means to arrive at '']'' rather than what is ''true'' and encourages the feedback cycle to drive the interactions. <ref name="as if">{{cite web | author=Vaihinger, H.| title=The Philosophy of "As If." (originally published, 1924) | publisher=Routledge, Kegan and Paul Ltd, London, England | url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9009756 | accessdate=- | ID=-}}</ref>. This is also evident in the aphorism, ''the meaning of your communication is in the response.'' This early stance of Bandler and Grinder could be seen as ]{{dubious}}<!-- I think this could be expressed more clearly -->; at the same time, it encourages the individual to be responsible for their own learning by way of enriching personal resources and by freeing up their impoverished ].<ref name="Tosey Mathison 2003"/>
NLP can be understood in terms of three broad components: subjectivity, consciousness, and learning.


According to Bandler and Grinder, people experience the world subjectively, creating ] of their experiences. These representations involve the five senses and language. In other words, our conscious experiences take the form of sights, sounds, feelings, smells, and tastes. When we imagine something, recall an event, or think about the future, we utilize these same sensory systems within our minds{{sfn|Bandler|Grinder|1976|pp=3–8}}{{efn|{{harvnb|Dilts|Grinder|Bandler|DeLozier|1980|pp=13–14}}: "There are three characteristics of effective patterning in NLP which sharply distinguish it from behavioural science as it is commonly practiced today. First, for a pattern or generalization regarding human communication to be acceptable or well–formed in NLP, it must include in the description the human agents who are initiating and responding to the pattern being described, their actions, their possible responses. Secondly, the description of the pattern must be represented in sensory grounded terms which are available to the user. This user–oriented constraint on NLP ensures usefulness. We have been continually struck by the tremendous gap between theory and practice in the behavioural sciences—this requirement closes that gap. Notice that since patterns must be represented in sensory grounded terms, available through practice to the user, a pattern will typically have multiple representation—each tailored for the differing sensory capabilities of individual users Thirdly, NLP includes within its descriptive vocabulary terms which are not directly observable ."}} Furthermore it is stated that these subjective representations of experience have a discernible structure, a pattern.{{sfn|Dilts|Grinder|Bandler|DeLozier|1980|p=7}}
===Modeling===
{{main|Modeling (NLP)}}
{{RRevised|December 17 2006}}
"Modeling" in NLP is the process of adopting the behaviours, language, strategies and beliefs of another. Neuro-linguistic programming approaches to human ] led to the development of a specific method of ''']'''.<ref>(Bander & Grinder 1975, 1976; Einspruch & Forman 1985; Grinder & Bostic St Clair 2001).</ref> This ] holds that masters of a skill often fail to take into account the implicit processes involved in carrying out complex skills when they are teaching novices. To combat these tendencies, NLP modeling methods are designed to unconsciously assimiate the ]; what the master is doing of which the master is not aware.<ref name="Jacobson 1994">Jacobson, S. (1994) "Neuro-Linguistic Programming" INFO-LINE, ''American Society For Training and Development'', . Adapted from </ref> As Bandler and Grinder state "the function of NLP modeling is to arrive at descriptions which are useful."<ref name="frogs"/> In order for modeling to be successful, the learner attempts to minimise preconceptions, must have access to the master (although modeling from books, historical records of people's words, or video is not unknown), must engage in unconscious micro-muscle modeling, and must be able to reproduce the desired skill accurately. "When modeling another person the modeler suspends his or her own beliefs and adopts the structure of the physiology, language, strategies, and beliefs of the person being modeled. After the modeler is capable of behaviorally reproducing the patterns (of behavior, communication, and behavioral outcomes) of the one being modeled, a process occurs in which the modeler modifies and readopts his or her own belief system while also integrating the beliefs of the one who was modeled."<ref name="einspruch">Einspruch, Eric L., Forman, Bruce D. (1985): "Observations Concerning Research Literature on Neuro-Linguistic Programming." Journal of Counseling Psychology. October, Vol. 32(4) pp. 589-596.</ref>


Bandler and Grinder assert that behavior (both our own and others') can be understood through these sensory-based internal representations. Behavior here includes verbal and non-verbal communication, as well as effective or adaptive behaviors and less helpful or "pathological" ones.{{efn|{{harvp|Dilts|Grinder|Bandler|DeLozier|1980|p=36}}: "The basic elements from which the patterns of human behaviour are formed are the perceptual systems through which the members of the species operate on their environment: vision (sight), audition (hearing), kinesthesis (body sensations) and olfaction/gustation (smell/taste). The neurolinguistic programming model presupposes that all of the distinctions we as human beings are able to make concerning our environment (internal and external) and our behaviour can be usefully represented in terms of these systems. These perceptual classes constitute the structural parameters of human knowledge. We postulate that all of our ongoing experience can usefully be coded as consisting of some combination of these sensory classes."}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grinder |first1=John |last2=Bandler |first2=Richard |title=Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson: Volume 2 |edition=1st |year=1977 |publisher=Meta Publications |pages=11–19 |isbn=978-1-55552-053-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u_gbkgAACAAJ}}</ref> They also assert that behavior in both the self and other people can be modified by manipulating these sense-based subjective representations.{{sfnm|1a1=Bandler|1a2=Grinder|1y=1979|1pp=5-78|2a1=Bandler|2a2=Grinder|2y=1981|2pp=240-50|3a1=Hall|3a2=Belnap|3y=2000|3pp=39–40|3loc=#2 Pacing Or Matching Another's Model of the World|4a1=Hall|4a2=Belnap|4y=2000|4pp=89–93|4loc=#23 The Change Personal History Pattern|5a1=Hall|5a2=Belnap|5y=2000|5pp=93–95|5loc=#24 The Swish Pattern}}{{efn|{{harvp|Dilts|Grinder|Bandler|DeLozier|1980|p=7}}: "NLP presents specific tools which can be applied effectively in any human interaction. It offers specific techniques by which a practitioner may usefully organize and re–organize his or her subjective experience or the experiences of a client in order to define and subsequently secure any behavioural outcome."}}
===Core techniques===
:''Main articles: ], ], ], ], ]
Though techniques vary between schools there are some core NLP techniques that are shared. In order to communicate more influentially, physical mirroring of posture, breathing or verbal mirroring of keywords, and sensory specific language (predicates) are used to facilitate and maintain ] during a conversation.<ref name="Clabby 2005">John Clabby, PhD; Robert O’Connor, MD (2005) "Teaching Learners to Use Mirroring: Rapport" ''Journal of Family Medicine'' Vol. 36, No. 8 p.541</ref> Furthermore, language pattern techniques from the ], such as ''how specifically'' and ''what specifically'' are used to elicit information or define outcomes for a client in psychotherapy, or more generally for information gathering in conversation. The ] may be combined with ], to induce trance, pace belief, and make ].


NLP posits that ] can be divided into conscious and unconscious components. The part of our internal representations operating outside our direct awareness is referred to as the "unconscious mind".{{efn|{{harvnb|Dilts|Grinder|Bandler|DeLozier|1980|pp=77–80}}: "Strategies and representations which typically occur below an individual's level of awareness make up what is often called or referred to as the 'unconscious mind'."}}
Numerous techniques have been designed for refining goals, elliciting resource states, or reframing negative beliefs. Most of these techniques rely on manipulating thinking processes or sequences of '']''. One such technique called ] involves associating a resourceful state to a certain touch. This resourceful state is then attached to a problem context by thinking about the problem context as the resourceful state is triggered by that same touch. <ref name="Krugman 1985">Krugman, Martin, ''et al.'', (1985): "Neuro-linguistic programming treatment for anxiety: Magic or myth?." Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Aug, Vol. 53(4) pp. 526-530.</ref> Other techniques encourage thinking about different aspects of ]. For example in Robert Dilts' ], strategic vision, spiritual aspects or other beliefs, as well as effects the proposed changes may have in the environmental context may be considered, <ref name="Craft 2001">Craft, A. (2001) The Curriculum Journal Vol.12(1) pp.125-136</ref> whereas John Grinder, in ] prefers to use the more general pattern of ] which temporily engages the ] of others in a relationship by ''stepping into the shoes '' of the others involved<ref name="turtles" />.


Finally, NLP uses a method of learning called "modeling", designed to replicate expertise in any field. According to Bandler and Grinder, by analyzing the sequence of sensory and linguistic representations used by an expert while performing a skill, it's possible to create a mental model that can be learned by others.{{sfnm|1a1=Bandler|1a2=Grinder|1y=1975|1p=6|2a1=Bandler|2a2=Grinder|2y=1979|2pp=7, 9, 10, 36, 123|3a1=Dilts|3a2=Grinder|3a3=Bandler|3a4=DeLozier|3y=1980|3pp=35, 78|4a1=Grinder|4a2=Bostic St. Clair|4y=2001|4pp=1, 10, 28, 34, 189, 227–28}}
===Representational systems===
{{main|Representational systems (NLP)}}


== Techniques or set of practices ==
In ], ] and ] the idea of ] is common place. NLP teaches that if we include what we will see, hear and feel the imagery will be more vivid and engaging because the ] is strongly tied into, and influenced by, how memories and perceptions are processed within each sense in the mind. When people are involved in tasks these representations are being activated at the same time. You may be making conversation, kicking a ball or riding a horse. At the same time you will be making sequences of internal representations made up of ], ], ] (and possibly ] and ]). Moreover these representations are either recalled or constructed.<ref name="druckman" /> The access cue model holds that the various cues indicate the type of these representations. Indicators include: direction of ], changes in posture, shifts in breathing and use of ]. For example, "That ''looks'' good" indicates visual imagery, whereas "I have a firm ''grasp'' of the concept" indicates primarily kinesthetic processing at that time. ] and ] are seen in NLP as offering a valuable therapeutic ] (or metaphor) and potential ], into how the human mind internally organizes and subjectively attaches meaning to events.
{{further|Methods of neuro-linguistic programming}}
]'' (1979). The six directions represent "visual construct", "visual recall", "auditory construct", "auditory recall", "]" and "auditory internal dialogue".]]
According to one study by Steinbach,<ref name="Steinbach-1984">Steinbach, A. (1984). "Neurolinguistic programming: a systematic approach to change". ''Canadian Family Physician'', 30, 147–50. {{PMC|2153995}}</ref> a classic interaction in NLP can be understood in terms of several major stages including establishing rapport, gleaning information about a problem mental state and desired goals, using specific tools and techniques to make interventions, and integrating proposed changes into the client's life. The entire process is guided by the non-verbal responses of the client.<ref name="Steinbach-1984" /> The first is the act of establishing and maintaining rapport between the practitioner and the client which is achieved through pacing and leading the verbal (''e.g.'', sensory predicates{{Explain|date=October 2023}} and keywords) and non-verbal behavior (''e.g.'', matching and mirroring non-verbal behavior, or responding to eye movements) of the client.{{sfn|Bandler|Grinder|1979|pp=8, 15, 24, 30, 45, 52, 149}}


Once rapport is established, the practitioner may gather information about the client's present state as well as help the client define a desired state or goal for the interaction. The practitioner pays attention to the verbal and non-verbal responses as the client defines the present state and desired state and any resources that may be required to bridge the gap.<ref name="Steinbach-1984" /> The client is typically encouraged to consider the consequences of the desired outcome, and how they may affect his or her personal or professional life and relationships, taking into account any positive intentions of any problems that may arise.<ref name="Steinbach-1984" /> The practitioner thereafter assists the client in achieving the desired outcomes by using certain tools and techniques to change internal representations and responses to stimuli in the world.{{sfn|Bandler|1985|pp=134–3}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Masters |first1=B. |last2=Rawlins |first2=M. |last3=Rawlins |first3=L. |last4=Weidner |first4=J. |year=1991 |title=The NLP swish pattern: An innovative visualizing technique |journal=Journal of Mental Health Counseling |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=79–90 |url=http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1991-19473-001}}</ref> Finally, the practitioner helps the client to mentally rehearse and integrate the changes into his or her life.<ref name="Steinbach-1984" /> For example, the client may be asked to envision what it is like having already achieved the outcome.
According to some NLP practitioners, problems can occur when people get "stuck" in one ]. A more controversial idea that originated with NLP is that people have ], ] or ] learning ].<ref name="hines">Hines, Terence (1987). . ''The Academy of Management Review'', 12:4, 600-606.</ref> This idea was criticized by Sharpley (1984, 1987) and its importance has been subsequently deemphasized by some and retained by other practitioners.{{fact}}


According to Stollznow, "NLP also involves fringe discourse analysis and 'practical' guidelines for 'improved' communication. For example, one text asserts 'when you adopt the "but" word, people will remember what you said afterwards. With the "and" word, people remember what you said before and after.'"<ref name="Stollznow-2010" />
===Submodalities===
{{main|Submodalities (NLP)}}
In addition to representational systems, NLP adds '''submodalities''' to the idea of internal imagery, as well as auditory and kinesthetic representations.<ref name="Tosey Mathison 2003">Tosey, P. Jane Mathison (2003) Neuro-linguistic Programming and learning theory: a response ''The Curriculum Journal'' Vol.14 No.3 p.371-388 See also (available online): </ref>, that is the subjective size, location and brightness of ], the volume and location of internal sounds, and the location and intensity of other ] can increase or decrease the quality of our responses. A change in the submodalities will change the maps and then the way we respond in the world.<ref name="brain">{{cite book | author=Bandler, Richard | title=Using your brain - for a change | location=Palo Alto, CA | publisher=Science & Behavior Books | year=1985 | id=- | url=- | pages=-}}</ref>. For example, the ] is a visualization technique designed to change behaviors by switching (or swishing) the cue ] for an unwanted behaviour with the ] doing a desired alternate behavior. <ref name="swishpattern">Masters, B Rawlins, M, Rawlins, L, Weidner, J. (1991) "The NLP swish pattern: An innovative visualizing technique. Journal of Mental Health Counseling. Vol 13(1) Jan 1991, 79-90. " </ref> As with most techniques, the imagined consequences of any proposed changes are also normally considered within a framework of ].<ref name="swishpattern">Masters, B Rawlins, M, Rawlins, L, Weidner, J. (1991) "The NLP swish pattern: An innovative visualizing technique. Journal of Mental Health Counseling. Vol 13(1) Jan 1991, 79-90. " </ref>


== Applications ==
===Milton model===
=== Alternative medicine ===
{{main|Milton model}}
NLP has been promoted as being able to treat a variety of diseases including ], ] and cancer.<ref name="American Cancer Society-2009">{{cite book |publisher=] |title=American Cancer Society Complete Guide to Complementary and Alternative Cancer Therapies |edition=2nd |year=2009 |isbn=9780944235713 |editor=Russell J |editor2=Rovere A |pages= |chapter=Neuro-linguistic programming |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/americancancerso0000unse/page/120 }}</ref> Such claims have no supporting ].<ref name="American Cancer Society-2009"/> People who use NLP as a form of treatment risk serious adverse health consequences as it can delay the provision of effective medical care.<ref name="American Cancer Society-2009"/>


=== Psychotherapeutic ===
In the mid-early 1970s ] sent Bandler and Grinder to visit ], an important figure in ], with the objective of capturing the essense of Milton's techniques. The pair spent many months ] and practising being Milton. When they were confident they had mastered the skills, they began teaching others. The pair implicitly captured several language patterns and ] that Milton was using to communicate with his clients. The resulting '''milton model''' was published in two volumes, lists the key parts of speech and nonverbal patterns that are useful in directing another person's line of thinking by being "artfully vague" and ], and follows Milton's non-verbal technique of building ] with his client by pacing verbal and ] patterns. To model this requires attention being placed primarily on the client's responses. They also borrowed Erickson's notion of ] and ].
Early books about NLP had a psychotherapeutic focus given that the early models were psychotherapists. As an approach to psychotherapy, NLP shares similar core assumptions and foundations in common with some contemporary brief and systemic practices,<ref>Rubin Battino (2002) ''Expectation: The Very Brief Therapy Book''. Crown House Publishing. {{ISBN|1-84590-028-6}}</ref><ref>Kerry, S. (2009) Pretreatment expectations of psychotherapy clients, University of Alberta (Canada)<!--, {{AAT|NR55409}}--></ref><ref name="Beyebach-1999" /> such as ].<ref>Bill O'Connell (2005) Solution-focused therapy (Brief therapy series). Sage; Second Edition </ref><ref>Windy Dryden (2007) Dryden's handbook of individual therapy. 5th edition. Sage. {{ISBN|1-4129-2238-0}} </ref> NLP has also been acknowledged as having influenced these practices<ref name="Beyebach-1999">{{cite journal |last1=Beyebach |first1=M. |last2=Rodríguez Morejón |first2=A. |year=1999 |title=Some thoughts on integration in solution-focused therapy |journal=Journal of Systemic Therapies |volume=18 |pages=24–42|doi=10.1521/jsyt.1999.18.1.24 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Pesut |first=Daniel J. |title=The art, science, and techniques of reframing in psychiatric mental health nursing |journal=Issues in Mental Health Nursing |date=1 January 1991 |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=9–18 |doi=10.3109/01612849109058206 |pmid=1988384}}</ref> with its reframing techniques{{sfnm|1a1=Maag|1y=1999|2a1=Maag|2y=2000}} which seeks to achieve behavior change by shifting its ''context'' or ''meaning'',<ref>{{harvnb|Bandler|Grinder|1982}} as cited in {{harvnb|Maag|1999}} and {{harvnb|Maag|2000}}.</ref> for example, by finding the positive connotation of a thought or behavior.


The two main therapeutic uses of NLP are, firstly, as an adjunct by therapists<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Field |first1=E. S. |title=Neurolinguistic programming as an adjunct to other psychotherapeutic/hypnotherapeutic interventions |journal=The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=174–82 |year=1990 |pmid=2296919 |doi=10.1080/00029157.1990.10402822}}</ref> practicing in other therapeutic disciplines and, secondly, as a specific therapy called Neurolinguistic Psychotherapy.<ref>Bridoux, D., Weaver, M., (2000) "Neuro-linguistic psychotherapy." In ''Therapeutic perspectives on working with lesbian, gay and bisexual clients.'' Davies, Dominic (Ed); Neal, Charles (Ed). (pp. 73–90). Buckingham, England: Open University Press (2000) xviii, 187 pp. {{ISBN|0-335-20333-7}}</ref>
The Model is a means to use deliberately imprecise and metaphoric language to enable a person to work at an ] or ] level rather than a ] level, to resolve clinical issues more effectively.


According to Stollznow, "Bandler and Grinder's infamous ''Frogs into Princes'' and their other books boast that NLP is a cure-all that treats a broad range of physical and mental conditions and learning difficulties, including epilepsy, myopia and dyslexia. With its promises to cure schizophrenia, depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and its dismissal of psychiatric illnesses as psychosomatic, NLP shares similarities with Scientology and the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR)."<ref name="Stollznow-2010" /> A systematic review of experimental studies by Sturt ''et al.'' (2012) concluded that "there is little evidence that NLP interventions improve health-related outcomes."{{sfn|Sturt|2012}} In his review of NLP, ] writes, "NLP is not really a cohesive therapy but a ragbag of different techniques without a particularly clear theoretical basis ... evidence base is virtually non-existent."<ref>{{cite book|last=Briers|first=Stephen|title=Brilliant Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: How to use CBT to improve your mind and your life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6BQ2S3F_eDMC&q=ragbag&pg=PT15|date=27 December 2012|publisher=Pearson UK|isbn=978-0-273-77849-3|page=15}}</ref> Eisner writes, "NLP appears to be a superficial and gimmicky approach to dealing with mental health problems. Unfortunately, NLP appears to be the first in a long line of mass marketing seminars that purport to virtually cure any mental disorder ... it appears that NLP has no empirical or scientific support as to the underlying tenets of its theory or clinical effectiveness. What remains is a mass-marketed serving of psychopablum."<ref>{{cite book|first=Donald A.|last=Eisner|title=The Death of Psychotherapy: From Freud to Alien Abductions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hmcDl6l8uXwC&pg=PA158|year=2000|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-96413-9|pages=158–59}}</ref>
Those who emphasise the ] often use terminology borrowed from Milton H. Erickson and ]. They focus on '']'', such as, the use of ]s, ], ], ], ], and enhanced ].


André Muller Weitzenhoffer—a friend and peer of Milton Erickson—wrote, "Has NLP really abstracted and explicated the essence of successful therapy and provided everyone with the means to be another Whittaker, Virginia Satir, or Erickson? ... failure to do this is evident because today there is no multitude of their equals, not even another Whittaker, Virginia Satir, or Erickson. Ten years should have been sufficient time for this to happen. In this light, I cannot take NLP seriously ... contributions to our understanding and use of Ericksonian techniques are equally dubious. ''Patterns I'' and ''II'' are poorly written works that were an overambitious, pretentious effort to reduce hypnotism to a magic of words."{{sfn|Weitzenhoffer|1989|p=305}}
The ] (general and metaphoric) contrasts with the ] (specifics and information gathering) and together these opposing models form the basis of NLP.


Clinical psychologist Stephen Briers questions the value of the NLP maxim—a ''presupposition'' in NLP jargon—"there is no failure, only feedback".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dilts |first1=Robert |last2=DeLozier |first2=Judith |title=Encyclopedia of Systemic Neuro-Linguistic Programming and NLP New Coding |edition=1st |year=2000 |publisher=NLP University Press |location=Santa Cruz |isbn=978-0-9701540-0-2 |page=1002 |url=http://nlpuniversitypress.com/html2/PrPu25.html |access-date=16 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921060637/http://nlpuniversitypress.com/html2/PrPu25.html |archive-date=21 September 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Briers argues that the denial of the existence of failure diminishes its instructive value. He offers ], ] and ] as three examples of unambiguous acknowledged personal failure that served as an impetus to great success. According to Briers, it was "the crash-and-burn type of failure, not the sanitised NLP Failure Lite, i.e. the failure-that-isn't really-failure sort of failure" that propelled these individuals to success. Briers contends that adherence to the maxim leads to self-deprecation. According to Briers, personal endeavour is a product of invested values and aspirations and the dismissal of personally significant failure as mere feedback effectively denigrates what one values. Briers writes, "Sometimes we need to accept and mourn the death of our dreams, not just casually dismiss them as inconsequential." Briers also contends that the NLP maxim is narcissistic, self-centered and divorced from notions of moral responsibility.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Briers |first1=Stephen |title=Psychobabble: Exploding the myths of the self-help generation |edition=1st |year=2012 |publisher=Pearson Education Limited |location=Santa Cruz |isbn=978-0-273-77239-2 |chapter=MYTH 16: There is no failure, only feedback |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2zsQeth9yRAC}}</ref>
===Ecology===


=== Other uses ===
"Ecology" in NLP is used in the sense of "how disparate things co-exist in balance."{{citequote}} ] encompasses the exploration of behavior and how changes in behavior might have ] in the environment or for other people, and 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 ] of the work done, the beneficial nature of goals sought, any ]s effected, and so on. If there are any objections, alternative resolutions may be found. <ref name="frogs"/> The same process has been applied to business ] or ] and in this case could also be seen as a ] philosophy. It is considered an essential principle in some training and explicit ecological checks feature in some NLP techniques such as the "six step reframe". This usage can also be seen in ]'s 1972 collection '']'', published around the same time NLP was being developed. {{fact}}<ref name="Bateson">Gregory Bateson ''Steps to an Ecology of Mind'' (1972) is cited in: Bandler and Grinder 1975, 1975 (epistemology); Dilts et al 1980; Dilts 1983; Grinder & Delozier, 1984; Dilts & Delozier, 2000; Grinder & Bostic St Clair 2001; Tosey & Mathison 2003; Malloy et al 2005</ref>
Although the original core techniques of NLP were therapeutic in orientation their generic nature enabled them to be applied to other fields. These applications include ],<ref>{{cite book | last1=Gass | first1=Robert H | last2=Seiter | first2=John S | title=Persuasion: Social Influence and Compliance Gaining | publisher=Routledge | date=2022-04-06 | isbn=978-1-000-55677-3 | page=}}</ref> sales,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zastrow |first1=C. |title=Social Workers and Salesworkers |doi=10.1300/J283v04n03_02 |journal=Journal of Independent Social Work |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=7–16|year=1990 }}</ref> negotiation,<ref>Tosey P. & Mathison, J., "Fabulous Creatures of HRD: A Critical Natural History of Neuro-Linguistic Programming", University of Surrey Paper presented at the 8th International Conference on Human Resource Development Research & Practice across Europe, Oxford Brookes Business School, 26–28 June 2007</ref> management training,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Yemm |first=Graham |title=Can NLP help or harm your business? |journal=Industrial and Commercial Training |date=1 January 2006 |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=12–17 |doi=10.1108/00197850610645990}}</ref> sports,<ref>Ingalls, Joan S. (1988) "Cognition and athletic behavior: An investigation of the NLP principle of congruence." ''Dissertation Abstracts International.'' Vol 48(7-B), p. 2090. {{OCLC|42614014}}</ref> teaching, coaching, team building, public speaking, and in the process of hiring employees.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) explained |url=https://www.ionos.com/startupguide/productivity/neuro-linguistic-programming-nlp/ |access-date=2022-04-04 |website=IONOS Startupguide |language=en}}</ref>


== Scientific criticism ==
==Reception of NLP==
In the early 1980s, NLP was advertised as an important advance in ] and ], and attracted some interest in counseling research and clinical psychology. However, as controlled trials failed to show any benefit from NLP and its advocates made increasingly dubious claims, scientific interest in NLP faded.<ref name="Devilly-2005">{{cite journal |last=Devilly |first=Grant J. |title=Power Therapies and possible threats to the science of psychology and psychiatry |journal=Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry |date=1 June 2005 |volume=39 |issue=6 |pages=437–45 |doi=10.1080/j.1440-1614.2005.01601.x |pmid=15943644|s2cid=208627667 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Gelso |first=C. J. |last2=Fassinger |first2=R. E. |title=Counseling Psychology: Theory and Research on Interventions |journal=Annual Review of Psychology |date=1 January 1990 |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=355–86 |doi=10.1146/annurev.ps.41.020190.002035 |quote=Neurolinguistic programming, focused on such variables as sensory mode preference and use (''e.g.'', Graunke & Roberts 1985) and predicate matching (''e.g.'', Elich et al 1985; Mercier & Johnson 1984) had shown promise at the beginning of the decade, but after several years of conflicting and confusing results, Sharpley (1984, 1987) reviewed the research and concluded that there was little support for the assumptions of NLP. This research is now clearly on the decline, underscoring the value of thoughtful reviews and the publication of nonsupportive results in guiding empirical efforts. |pmid=2407174}}</ref>
{{unbalanced-section}}
{{Missing information|The positive reception of NLP by the public, by publishers, by clinicians, and corporations. A reception section should detail the history of how NLP has been received everywhere, not just by psychologists and scientific reviewers.}}
{{RRevised|December 17 2006}}


Numerous literature reviews and ] have failed to show evidence for NLP's assumptions or effectiveness as a therapeutic method.{{efn|See, for instance, the following:
===Views neither supportive nor critical in various disciplines===
* Sharpley, 1984<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sharpley |first1=Christopher F. |title=Predicate matching in NLP: a review of research on the preferred representational system. |journal=Journal of Counseling Psychology |volume=31 |issue=2 |year=1984 |pages=238–48 |doi=10.1037/0022-0167.31.2.238}}</ref> and 1987<ref name="Sharpley-1987" />
<!-- These "Views of..." subheadings are to help us organise the different views. Hopefully we can then arrive at something approaching NPOV when they are merged. -->
* Druckman and Swets, 1988<ref name="Druckman-1988">{{cite book | editor1-last=Druckman | editor1-first=D. | editor2-last=Swets | editor2-first=J. | title=Enhancing Human Performance: Issues, Theories, and Techniques | publisher=National Academies Press | publication-place=Washington, D.C. | date=1988-01-01 | isbn=978-0-309-03792-1 | doi=10.17226/1025 | pages=138–149 | chapter=8: Social Processes | chapter-url=https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/1025/chapter/11#138}}
While NLP has been coordinated within some psychotherapy and ]s, NLP has remained an eclectic field with no inherent controls over training and ].<ref name="schütz">{{cite web | author=Schütz, P. | title=A consumer guide through the multiplicity of NLP certification training | url=http://www.nlpzentrum.at/institutsvgl-english.htm | publisher=. | accessdate=December 2006}}</ref><ref name="platt">{{cite web | author=Platt, G. | title=NLP - No Longer Plausible? | url=http://www.sueknight.co.uk/Publications/Articles/NLP_Plausible.htm | publisher=. | accessdate=2001}}</ref><?-- these two citation only partly support the statement. However, there is plenty to choose from to support these statements. Please find more. -->
</ref>
A literature review by Sharpley (1984) found "little research evidence supporting its usefulness as an effective counseling tool"<ref name="Buckner 87">Buckner, Meara, Reese, and Reese (1987) Journal of Counselling Psychology , Vol. 34(3), pp.283-287</ref> and no reproducible support for ] and predicate matching.<ref name="sharpley84">Sharpley, C. F. (1984). Predicate matching in NLP: A review of research on the preferred representational system. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 31(2), 238-248.</ref> Einspruch and Forman (1985) broadly agreed with Sharpley but disputed the conclusions identifying a failure to address methodological errors in the research reviewed. They argued that the researchers lacked a full understanding of ] as part of advanced NLP training and furthermore, that there was inadequate ], an unfamiliarity with NLP as an approach to therapy, inadequate definitions of ] and numerous '']'' in the ].<ref name="Einspruch">Einspruch, E. L., & Forman, B. D. (1985). Observations Concerning Research Literature on Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 32(4), 589-596. See also: </ref> Sharpley (1987) replied with more experiments stating "certainly research data do not support the rather extreme claims that proponents of NLP have made as to the validity of its principles or the novelty of its procedures." and also that NLP may be ] stating "perhaps NLP principles are not amenable to research evaluation. This does not necessarily reduce NLP to worthlessness for counseling practice. Rather, it puts NLP in the same category as ], that is, with principles not easily demonstrated in laboratory settings but, nevertheless, strongly supported by ] in the field. Not every therapy has to undergo the rigorous testing that is characteristic of the more ] to counseling to be of use to the therapeutic community, but failure to produce data that support a particular theory from ] does relegate that theory to questionable status in terms of professional accountability."<ref name="sharpley87" />
* Heap, 1988<ref>{{cite book |last=Heap |first=M. |year=1988 |title=Neurolinguistic programming – an interim verdict |publisher=Croom Helm |location=London |pages=268–280 |chapter=Hypnosis: Current clinical, experimental and forensic practices |url=http://www.mheap.com/nlp1.pdf |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070615185758/http://www.mheap.com/nlp1.pdf |archivedate=15 June 2007}}</ref>
In ] (1996) ]<ref name="singer97">{{cite | author= Singer, Margaret & Janja Lalich | title=Crazy Therapies: What Are They? Do They Work? | publisher=Jossey Bass | year=1997 | id=0787902780}}</ref> 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".
* von Bergen et al., 1997<ref name="von Bergen-1997" />
* Druckman, 2004<ref name="Druckman-2004" />
* Witkowski, 2010<ref name="Witkowski-2010" />}} While some NLP practitioners have argued that the lack of empirical support is due to insufficient research which tests NLP,{{efn|See the following:
* Einspruch and Forman, 1985<ref>{{cite journal |last=Einspruch |first=Eric L. |author2=Forman, Bruce D. |title=Observations concerning research literature on neuro-linguistic programming. |journal=Journal of Counseling Psychology |date=1 January 1985 |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=589–96 |doi=10.1037/0022-0167.32.4.589}}</ref>
* Murray, 2013<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Murray |first1=Laura L. |title=Limited evidence that neurolinguistic programming improves health-related outcomes. |journal=Evidence-Based Mental Health |date=30 May 2013 |url=http://ebmh.bmj.com/content/early/2013/05/29/eb-2013-101355.extract |doi=10.1136/eb-2013-101355 |pmid=23723409 |volume=16 |issue=3 |page=79 |s2cid=150295 }}</ref>
* Sturt et al., 2012{{sfn|Sturt|2012}}
* ''Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Research''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.som.surrey.ac.uk/NLP/Research/index.asp |title=Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Research |access-date=22 February 2010 |archive-date=3 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190103034855/http://www.som.surrey.ac.uk/NLP/Research/index.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* Tosey and Mathison, 2010<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tosey |first1=P. |last2=Mathison |first2=J. |doi=10.1108/17465641011042035 |title=Exploring inner landscapes through psychophenomenology: The contribution of neuro-linguistic programming to innovations in researching first person experience |journal=Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management |volume=5 |pages=63–82 |year=2010 |url=http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/7448/126/Mathison_Tosey_QROM_final_Oct_2009_amended_Jan_2010.pdf |access-date=28 January 2019 |archive-date=19 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180719120020/http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/7448/126/Mathison_Tosey_QROM_final_Oct_2009_amended_Jan_2010.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
}} the consensus scientific opinion is that NLP is ]{{efn|See the following:
* Witkowsi, 2010<ref name="Witkowski-2010" />
* '']'', 2009<ref name="Carroll-2009" />
* Beyerstein, 1990<ref name="Beyerstein-1990">{{cite journal |last=Beyerstein |first=B. L. |year=1990 |title=Brainscams: Neuromythologies of the New Age |journal=International Journal of Mental Health |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=27–36 (27) |doi=10.1080/00207411.1990.11449169 }}</ref>
* Corballis, in Della Sala and Anderson, 2012<ref>{{cite book| editor1-last = Della Sala| editor1-first = Sergio| editor2-last = Anderson| editor2-first = Mike |last1=Corballis |first1=Michael C. |author-link=Michael Corballis |title=Neuroscience in Education: The good, the bad, and the ugly |chapter=Chapter 13 Educational double-think |quote=The notion of hemisphericity is also incorporated into such cult activities as Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP).... In any event, NLP is a movement that is still going strong, but has little scientific credibility. |edition=1st |year=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-960049-6 |pages=225–26 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pFE5UCaFwEQC}}</ref>
* ] and ]<ref>] & ] (1997). '']'' Jossey Bass, pp.&nbsp;167–95 (169). {{ISBN|0-7879-0278-0}}.</ref>
* Lilienfeld, Lynn and Lohr, 2004<ref>(Eds.) Lilienfeld, S., Lynn, S., & Lohr, J. (2004). ''Science and Pseudo-science in Clinical Psychology''. The Guilford Press.</ref>
* Della Sala, 2007<ref>{{cite book |last1=Della Sala |first1=Sergio |title=Tall Tales About the Mind and Brain: Separating Fact from Fiction |chapter=Introduction: The myth of 10% and other Tall Tales about the mind and brain |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eftFztxKBAwC&pg=PR20 |page=xx |publisher=Oxford University Press |edition=1st |year=2007 |location=Oxford |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eftFztxKBAwC |isbn=978-0-19-856876-6}}</ref>
* Williams, 2000<ref>William F. Williams, ed. (2000), ''Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience: From Alien Abductions to Zone Therapy'', ], {{ISBN|978-1-57958-207-4}} p.&nbsp;235</ref>
* Lum, 2001<ref name=Lum-2001>{{cite book |title=Scientific Thinking in Speech and Language Therapy |publisher=] |last=Lum |first=C. |year=2001 |page=16 |isbn=978-0-8058-4029-2}}</ref>
* Lilienfeld, Lohr and Morier, 2001<ref name=Lilienfeld-2001>{{cite journal |last=Lilienfeld |first=Scott O. |author2=Lohr, Jeffrey M. |author3=Morier, Dean |title=The Teaching of Courses in the Science and Pseudoscience of Psychology: Useful Resources |journal=Teaching of Psychology |date=1 July 2001 |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=182–91 |doi=10.1207/S15328023TOP2803_03|citeseerx=10.1.1.1001.2558 |s2cid=145224099 }}</ref>
* Dunn, Halonen and Smith, 2008<ref name="Dunn-2008">{{cite book |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |vauthors=Dunn D, Halonen J, Smith R |title=Teaching Critical Thinking in Psychology |url=https://archive.org/details/teachingcritical00dunn |url-access=limited |year=2008 |page= |isbn=978-1-4051-7402-2}}</ref>
* Molfese, Segalowitz and Harris, 1988<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Molfese |editor1-first=Dennis L. |editor2-last=Segalowitz |editor2-first=Sidney J. |last1=Harris |first1=Lauren Julius |title=Brain Lateralization in Children: Developmental Implications |edition=1st |year=1988 |publisher=Guilford Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-89862-719-0 |page= |quote=NLP began in 1975 and has quickly achieved cult status. |chapter=Chapter 8 Right-Brain Training: Some Reflections on the Application of Research on Cerebral Hemispheric Specialization to Education |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=un-AIyRU328C |url=https://archive.org/details/brainlateralizat0000molf/page/214 }}</ref>
}}{{efn|For a description of the social influence tactics used by NLP and similar pseudoscientific therapies, see Devilly, 2005<ref name="Devilly-2005" />}} and that attempts to dismiss the research findings based on these arguments "s an admission that NLP does not have an evidence base and that NLP practitioners are seeking a post-hoc credibility."<ref name="Roderique-Davies-2009">{{Cite journal |last1=Roderique-Davies |first1=G. |year=2009 |title=Neuro-linguistic programming: Cargo cult psychology? |journal=Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=58–63 |doi=10.1108/17581184200900014}} </ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rowan |first1=John |title=NLP is not based on constructivism |journal=The Coaching Psychologist |volume=4 |issue=3 |date=December 2008 |pages=160–163 |doi=10.53841/bpstcp.2008.4.3.160 |s2cid=255903130 |issn=1748-1104 |url=http://www.sgcp.org.uk/sgcp/publications/the-coaching-psychologist/the-coaching-psychologist-4.3$.cfm}}</ref>


Surveys in the academic community have shown NLP to be widely discredited among scientists.{{efn|In 2006, Norcross and colleagues found NLP to be given similar ratings as ], ], ], scared straight programmes, and ].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Norcross |first=John C. |author2=Koocher, Gerald P. |author3=Garofalo, Ariele |title=Discredited psychological treatments and tests: A Delphi poll. |journal=Professional Psychology: Research and Practice |date=1 January 2006 |volume=37 |issue=5 |pages=515–22 |doi=10.1037/0735-7028.37.5.515|s2cid=35414392 }}</ref> In 2010, Norcross and colleagues listed it as seventh out of their list of ten most discredited drug and alcohol interventions.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Norcross |first=John C. |author2=Koocher, Gerald P. |author3=Fala, Natalie C. |author4=Wexler, Harry K. |title=What Does Not Work? Expert Consensus on Discredited Treatments in the Addictions |journal=Journal of Addiction Medicine |date=1 September 2010 |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=174–180 |doi=10.1097/ADM.0b013e3181c5f9db |pmid=21769032|s2cid=41494642 }}</ref> Glasner-Edwards and colleagues also identified it as discredited in 2010.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Glasner-Edwards |first=Suzette |author2=Rawson, Richard |title=Evidence-based practices in addiction treatment: Review and recommendations for public policy |journal=Health Policy |date=1 October 2010 |volume=97 |issue=2–3 |pages=93–104 |doi=10.1016/j.healthpol.2010.05.013 |pmid=20557970 |pmc=2951979}}</ref> }} Among the reasons for considering NLP a pseudoscience are that evidence in favor of it is limited to ] and personal testimony<ref name="Bradley-1985" /><ref name="Tye-1994">{{cite journal |last1=Tye |first1=Marcus J.C. |title=Neurolinguistic programming: Magic or myth? |journal=Journal of Accelerative Learning & Teaching |volume=19 |issue=3–4 |pages=309–42 |year=1994 |issn=0273-2459 |id=2003-01157-001}}</ref> that it is not informed by scientific understanding of ] and ],<ref name="Bradley-1985" /><ref>{{cite journal |author-link=Willem Levelt |last1=Levelt |first1=Willem J.M |title=u voor neuro-linguistische programmering |journal=Skepter |volume=9 |issue=3 |year=1996 |language=nl |url=http://www.skepsis.nl/nlp.html }}</ref> and that the name "neuro-linguistic programming" uses jargon words to impress readers and obfuscate ideas, whereas NLP itself does not relate any phenomena to neural structures and has nothing in common with linguistics or programming.<ref name="Witkowski-2010" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Corballis |first=M.C. |title=Mind Myths: Exploring Popular Assumptions About the Mind and Brain |year=1999 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |location=Chichester, UK |isbn=978-0-471-98303-3 |page=41 |edition=Repr. |editor=S.D. Sala |chapter=Are we in our right minds?}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Drenth |first1=Pieter J.D |title=Growing anti-intellectualism in Europe; a menace to science |journal=Studia Psychologica |volume=45 |pages=5–13 |year=2003 |url=http://www.allea.org/Pages/ALL/4/881.bGFuZz1FTkc.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616080310/http://www.allea.org/Pages/ALL/4/881.bGFuZz1FTkc.pdf |archive-date=16 June 2011}}</ref><ref name="Beyerstein-1990" />{{efn|For more information on the use of neuroscience terms to lend the appearance of credibility to arguments, see Weisburg et al., 2008<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1162/jocn.2008.20040 |title=The Seductive Allure of Neuroscience Explanations |journal=Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=470–77 |year=2008 |last1=Weisberg |first1=D. S. |last2=Keil |first2=F. C. |last3=Goodstein |first3=J. |last4=Rawson |first4=E. |last5=Gray |first5=J. R. |pmid=18004955 |pmc=2778755}}</ref>}} In education, NLP has been used as a key example of pseudoscience.<ref name="Lum-2001"/><ref name="Lilienfeld-2001"/><ref name="Dunn-2008"/>
===Views of supporters in various disciplines===
{{stub-section}}<!-- These "Views of..." subheadings are to help us organise the different views. Hopefully we can then arrive at something approaching NPOV when they are merged. -->


== As a quasi-religion ==
===Views of critics in various disciplines===
Sociologists and anthropologists have categorized NLP as a quasi-religion belonging to the ] and/or ]s.{{sfnm|1a1=Cresswell|1a2=Wilson|1y=1999|1p=|2a1=Edwards|2y=2001|2p=573|3a1=Clarke|3y=2006|3pp=440–41|4a1=Walker|4y=2007|4p=235|5a1=Hammer|5a2=Rothstein|5y=2012|5p=}}


Medical anthropologist Jean M. Langford categorizes NLP as a form of ]; that is to say, a practice with symbolic efficacy—as opposed to physical efficacy—that is able to effect change through nonspecific effects (e.g., placebo). To Langford, NLP is akin to a syncretic folk religion "that attempts to wed the magic of folk practice to the science of professional medicine".{{sfn|Langford|1999}}
Sharpley (1987) stated, in the ''] psychological tradition'',<ref name="Thompson et al 1996">John E Thompson, Lisa Courtney, D Dickson. (2002) The effect of neurolinguistic programming on organisational and individual performance: A case study ''Journal of European Industrial Training.'' Bradford. Vol. 26, Iss. 6/7; p. 292 (7 pages)</ref>{{dubious}}<!-- this is currently being discussed on the talk page. --> that the techniques and underlying theory of NLP, as a counseling tool, were both empirically unvalidated and unsupported.<ref name="sharpley87">{{cite journal | author=Sharpley C.F.| title=Research Findings on Neuro-linguistic Programming: Non supportive Data or an Untestable Theory| journal=Communication and Cognition | year=1987 | volume=Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1987 Vol. 34, No. 1 | pages=103-107,105 | url=http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?nfpb=true&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ352101&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=eric_accno&objectId=0900000b8005c1ac}}</ref> Subsequent peer-reviewed psychological and experimental literature in NLP has been sporadic. Moreover ] (eg. Lilienfeld, Beyerstein) are generally concerned about the adoption of scientifically unvalidated techniques in the ] (listing various forms of pyschotherapies including NLP) and also the spread of misconceptions about ].<ref name="Lilienfeld 2002"/> <ref name="Beyerstein 1990"/>


Bandler and Grinder were influenced by the ] described in the books of ].{{sfnm|1a1=Grinder|1a2=DeLozier|1y=1987|1p={{page needed|date=May 2024}}|2a1=Grinder|2a2=Bostic St. Clair|2y=2001|2p={{page needed|date=May 2024}}}} Concepts like "double induction"{{citation needed|date=May 2024}} and "stopping the world", central to NLP modeling, were incorporated from these influences.{{sfn|Grimley|2013|p=}}


Some theorists characterize NLP as a type of "psycho-shamanism", and its focus on modeling has been compared to ritual practices in certain syncretic religions.<ref name="Tye-1994"/>{{sfn|Fanthorpe|Fanthorpe|2008|p=}} The emphasis on lineage from an NLP ] has also been likened to similar concepts in some ].{{sfn|Hunt|2003}} Aupers, Houtman, and Bovbjerg identify NLP as a New Age "psycho-religion".{{sfn|Aupers|Houtman|2010|p={{page needed|date=May 2024}}}} Bovbjerg argues that New Age movements center on a transcendent "other".{{sfn|Bovbjerg|2011|p={{page needed|date=May 2024}}}} While monotheistic religions seek communion with a divine being, this focus shifts inward in these movements, with the "other" becoming the unconscious self. Bovbjerg posits that this emphasis on the unconscious and its hidden potential underlies NLP techniques promoting self-perfection through ongoing transformation.{{sfn|Bovbjerg|2011|p={{page needed|date=May 2024}}}}
Elich et al (1985) stated that "NLP has achieved something akin to a cult status when it may be nothing more than another psychological fad" (p.625)."<ref name="elich">Elich, M., Thompson, R. W., & Miller, L. (1985). Mental imagery as revealed by eye movements and spoken predicates: A test of neurolinguistic programming. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 32(4), 622-625. </ref> (p.625). NLP is considered a "dubious therapy" by Dryden (2001).<ref name="dryden">Dryden. W. 2001 Brunner-Routledge 0415229804</ref> and as a "dubious technique" by Keith Dobson in ''Handbook of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies'' (2001)<ref name="dobson">Dobson, Keith (2001) p.331</ref> .
NLP has been criticized by some clinical psychologists, management scholars, linguists, and psychotherapists,{{who}} concerning ineffectiveness, pseudoscientific explanation of linguistics and neurology, ethically questionable practices, promotion by exaggerated claims, and promises of extraordinary therapeutic results.{{fact}} Some reviews have characterized NLP as mass-marketed ].<ref name="drenth">Drenth, J.D. (2003). in ''ALLEA Annual Report'' pp.60-72</ref><ref name="williams">Williams, W F. general editor. (2000) Publisher: Facts On File, New York.</ref> Many proponents point to the 30 years history of doing "what works" while Sanghera, a news columnist for Financial Times (London, 2005) contends that "critics say NLP is simply a half-baked conflation of pop psychology and pseudoscience that uses ] to disguise the fact that it is based on a set of banal, if not incorrect, presuppositions"<ref name="sanghera">''Look into my eyes and tell me I'm learning not to be a loser'', Financial Times (First addition), London (UK), Sanghera. </ref>{{dubious}}<!-- this is disputed because this quote was removed from the second edition on this day -->


Bovbjerg's secular critique echoes the conservative Christian perspective, as exemplified by ]. He argues that NLP's emphasis on self-transformation and internal power conflicts with the Christian belief in salvation through divine grace.{{sfn|Jeremiah|1995}}
===Research reviews===
''Main articles: ], ]''


== Legal disputes ==
Sharpley (1987) states "there are conclusive data from the research on NLP, and the conclusion is that the principles and procedures of NLP have failed to be supported by those data".<ref name="sharpley87"/>
===Founding, initial disputes, and settlement (1979–1981)===
In 1988 a report by Druckman and Swets from the ], 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 ]". They also concluded influence techniques of NLP were unsupported (including matching representational systems to gain ]). Moreover "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". They stated that the idea of ] "merits further consideration" <ref name="druckman" /> but NLP itself was not included in a follow up study on modeling (amongst other matters) by Swets and Bjork (1991) except by way of acknowedgement for the idea which has been pursued through other disciplines.<ref name="NRC 1991">John A. Swets and Robert A. Bjork (1991) Enhanncing human performance: An Evaluation of "New Age" Techniques Considered by the U.S</ref>
In 1979, Richard Bandler and John Grinder established the Society of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) to manage commercial applications of NLP, including training, materials, and certification. The founding agreement conferred exclusive rights to profit from NLP training and certification upon Bandler's corporate entity, Not Ltd. Around November 1980, Bandler and Grinder had ceased collaboration for undisclosed reasons.<ref name="Clancy-1989" />


On September 25, 1981, Bandler filed suit against Grinder's corporate entity, Unlimited Ltd., in the ] seeking injunctive relief and damages arising from Grinder's NLP-related commercial activities; the Court issued a judgment in Bandler's favor on October 29, 1981.<ref>{{cite court|litigants=Not Ltd v. Unlimited Ltd et al (Super. Ct. Santa Cruz County, 1981, No. 78482)|vol=|reporter=|opinion=|pinpoint=|court=Super. Ct. Santa Cruz County|date=29 October 1981|url=http://63.197.255.150/openaccesspublic/civil/casereport.asp?casenumber=CV078482&courtcode=A&casetype=CIS}}{{Dead link|date=October 2020|fix-attempted=yes}}<!-- might be able to find it by searching the court's cases - https://www.santacruz.courts.ca.gov/online-services/case-lookup --></ref> The subsequent settlement agreement granted Grinder a 10-year license to conduct NLP seminars, offer NLP certification, and utilize the NLP name, subject to royalty payments to Bandler.<ref name="Legal1997">{{cite web |title=Summary of the Legal Proceedings January 1997 – June 23, 2003 |url=http://www.steverrobbins.com/nlpschedule/random/lawsuit-text.html |access-date=12 June 2013 |archive-date=10 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150410011826/http://www.steverrobbins.com/nlpschedule/random/lawsuit-text.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Efran and Lukens (1990) stated that the "original interest in NLP turned to disillusionment after the research and now it is rarely even mentioned in psychotherapy".<ref name="efran">Efran, J S. Lukens M.D. (1990) Language, structure, and change: frameworks of meaning in psychotherapy, Published by W.W. Norton, New York.</ref>(p.122).


===Further litigation and consequences (1996–2000)===
{{unbalanced}}
Bandler commenced further civil actions against Unlimited Ltd., various figures within the NLP community, and 200 initially unnamed defendants in July 1996 and January 1997. Bandler alleged violations of the initial settlement terms by Grinder and sought damages of no less than US$10,000,000.00 from each defendant.<ref name="Legal1997"/>
] (1990) asserts that "though it claims neuroscience in its pedigree, NLP's outmoded view of the relationship between cognitive style and brain function ultimately boils down to crude analogies."<ref name="Beyerstein 1990"/> With reference to all the 'neuromythologies' covered in his article, including NLP, he states "In the long run perhaps the heaviest cost extracted by neuromythologists is the one common to all pseudosciences—deterioration in the already low levels of scientific literacy and critical thinking in society. "<ref name="Beyerstein 1990"/>


In February 2000, the Court ruled against Bandler. The judgment asserted that Bandler had misrepresented his exclusive ownership of NLP intellectual property and sole authority over Society of NLP membership and certification.<ref>{{cite court |litigants=Richard W Bandler et al v. Quantum Leap Inc. et al (Super. Ct. Santa Cruz County, 2000, No. 132495) |vol= |reporter= |opinion= |pinpoint= |court=Super. Ct. Santa Cruz County |date=10 February 2000 |url=http://63.197.255.150/openaccesspublic/civil/casereport.asp?casenumber=CV132495&courtcode=A&casetype=CIS}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=NLP Matters 2 |url=http://www.anlp.org/anlpnews2.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010210021504/http://www.anlp.org/anlpnews2.htm |archive-date=10 February 2001 |access-date=12 June 2013}}</ref>
According to Von Bergen et al (1997) NLP was dropped from the ] research stream. They stated that "in relation to current understanding of ] and ], NLP is in error" and that "NLP does not stand up to ]" <ref name="Von Bergen 1997">{{cite journal | author=Von Bergen, C W, Barlow Soper, Gary T Rosenthal, Lamar V Wilkinson | title=Selected alternative training techniques in HRD | journal=Human Resource Development Quarterly | year=1997 | volume=8(4) | pages=281-294}}</ref>.


===Trademark revocation (1997)===
] (2000) in 'The Death of Psychotherapy', states that not "one iota of clinical research supports their (NLP proponents) claims. Apparently, no peer-reviewed researched has been published in over a decade. Moreover, there has been virtually no ] recently that assesses NLP's effectiveness." Eisner (2000) believes that with no clinical support, NLP proponents make grossly misleading claims about its effectiveness.<ref name="eisner" />
In December 1997, a separate civil proceeding initiated by Tony Clarkson resulted in the revocation of Bandler's UK ] of NLP. The Court ruled in Clarkson's favor.<ref>{{cite web |title=NLP Matters |url=http://www.anlp.org/anlpnews.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010406091232/http://www.anlp.org/anlpnews.htm |archive-date=6 April 2001 |access-date=12 June 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Case details for trade mark UK00002067188 |url=http://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/1/UK00002067188 |date=13 June 2013 |access-date=25 July 2015}}</ref>


===Resolution and legacy (2000)===
] psychologist Lilienfield et al (2002)), describes NLP as "a scientifically unsubstantiated therapeutic method that purports to "program" brain functioning..." and include it in their description "(Quick Fix + Pseudoscientific Gloss) x Credulous Public = High Income".<ref name="lilienfeld">Scott O. Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn, Jeffrey M. Lohr (eds) (2004) </ref>
Bandler and Grinder reached a settlement in late 2000, acknowledging their status as co-creators and co-founders of NLP and committing to refrain from disparaging one another's NLP-related endeavors.{{sfn|Grinder|Bostic St. Clair|2001|loc=Appendix A}}


Due to these disputes and settlements, the terms 'NLP' and 'Neuro-Linguistic Programming' remain in the ]. No single party holds exclusive rights, and there are no restrictions on offering NLP certifications.{{sfn|Hall|2010}}<ref>{{cite web |title=3.5. Who Owns NLP? |website=NLP Archives – Frequently Asked Questions about NLP |url=http://users.telenet.be/merlevede/nlpfaq35.htm |access-date=12 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130624042934/http://users.telenet.be/merlevede/nlpfaq35.htm |archive-date=2013-06-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=((This page contains the ruling in the case of Richard Bandler against many others in the NLP community)) |website=NLP Archives – Frequently Asked Questions about NLP |url=http://users.telenet.be/merlevede/lawsuit.htm |access-date=12 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130627031836/http://users.telenet.be/merlevede/lawsuit.htm |archive-date=2013-06-27}}</ref><ref name="Trademark Status and Document Retrieval-2013">{{cite web |title=75351747 |website=Trademark Status and Document Retrieval |publisher=United States Patent and Trademark Office |url=http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=75351747&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch |date=13 June 2013 |access-date=14 June 2013 }}</ref><ref name="Trademark Status and Document Retrieval-2013a">{{cite web |title=73253122 |website=Trademark Status and Document Retrieval |publisher=United States Patent and Trademark Office |url=http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=73253122&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch |date=13 June 2013 |access-date=14 June 2013 }}</ref>
] (2005) who considers NLP to be an unvalidated "]" along with ], states that "at the time of its introduction, NLP was heralded as a breakthrough in therapy and advertisments for training workshops, videos and books began to appears in trade magazines. The workshops provided certification... However, controlled studies shed such a poor light on the practice, and those promoting the intervention made such extreme and changeable claims that researchers began to question the wisdom of researching the area further and even suggested that NLP was an ]"..."NLP is no longer as prevalent as it was in the 1970s or 1980s, but is still practiced in small pockets of the ]. The science has come and gone, yet the ] still remains".<ref name="devilly">Grant J. Devilly (2005) Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry Vol.39 p.437</ref>


The designations "NLP" and "Neuro-linguistic Programming" are not owned, trademarked, or subject to centralized regulation.<ref>{{cite web |title=NLP FAQ |url=http://users.telenet.be/merlevede/nlpfaq35.htm |date=27 July 2001 |access-date=14 June 2013 |archive-date=24 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130624042934/http://users.telenet.be/merlevede/nlpfaq35.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=NLP Comprehensive Lawsuit Response |url=http://www.steverrobbins.com/nlpschedule/random/lawsuit-nlpc.html |access-date=14 June 2013 |archive-date=17 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717201129/http://www.steverrobbins.com/nlpschedule/random/lawsuit-nlpc.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Trademark Status and Document Retrieval-2013"/><ref name="Trademark Status and Document Retrieval-2013a" /> Consequently, there are no restrictions on individuals self-identifying as "NLP Master Practitioners" or "NLP Master Trainers."<ref name="Roderique-Davies-2009" /> This decentralization has led to numerous certifying associations.
===Mental health practice===
{{Main|Therapeutic use of NLP}}
NLP is used or suggested as an approach by some mental health bodies, including the ''National Phobics Society of Great Britain''.<ref name="phobics">Cite web: </ref> ''MIND'',<ref name="assert">Cite Web:(PDF)</ref> ''USU: Student Health and Wellness Center'',<ref name="eating">Cite Web: </ref> the ''British Stammering Association'', the ''Center for Development & Disability at the University of New Mexico Center for autism'',<ref name="autism">Cite Web: </ref> and ''Advocates of Child Abuse Survivors''<ref name="asca">Cite Web: </ref>.
There has been little scientific research conducted to evaluate these NLP techniques for use in psychological care and interventions (psychotherapy). A notable example is ] or the ] which has been taught alongside other "promising treatments" in ] workshops.<ref name="Figley 1997">Charles Figley (December 1997). The active ingredients of the Power Therapies. ''Conference for the Integrative and Innovative Use of EMDR, TFT, EFT, Advanced NLP, and TIR'', Lakewood, CO. </ref><ref name="Bertoli 2003">Bertoli (2003) The Use of Neuro-linguistic Programming and Emotionally focused therapy with Divorcing Couples in Crisis in in Charles R. Figley (Ed) ''Brief Treatments for the Traumatized: A Project of the Green Cross Foundation''</ref> Carbonell & Figley (1999) published an exploratory study on ] a component of NLP and three other novel therapies (] or ] and ]), which was not designed to be a comparison study and the methodology used was the "systematic clinical demonstration (SCD) methodology. This methodology guides the examination, but does not test the effectiveness of clinical approaches".<ref name="Carbonell and Figley 1999">{{cite journal | author = Joyce L. Carbonell, Charles Figley | title=Promising PTSD treatment approaches: Systematic Clinical Demonstration of Promising PTSD Treatment Approaches | journal=TRAUMATOLOGYe | year=1999 | volume=5:1, Article 4 | pages=- | url=http://www.fsu.edu/~trauma/promising.html}} </ref> According to subsequent reviews {{fact}} this was insufficient to demonstrate efficacy.<ref name="devilly">Grant J. Devilly (2005) Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry Vol.39 p.437</ref>


===Decentralization and criticism===
Under the veneer of scientific-sounding language and exaggerated claims, there is a lack of peer-reviewed literature and an over-reliance on ].{{request_quote}}<ref name="krugman">Krugman, Kirsch, Wickless, Milling, Golicz, & Toth (1985). Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology. Vol 53(4), 526-530.</ref> According to Eisner, NLP is also based on some of Freud's most flawed thinking, and continues "There was great initial enthusiasm, but as time passed, it appears the so-called effective results have diminished or disappeared" <ref name="eisner"></ref>{{dubious}} Clinical psychologists have identified characteristics that help to separate unvalidated or scientifically unsupported approaches to psychotherapy from those based on the ]. ] psychologist Lilienfield expresses concern that largely untested treatments, amongst which he includes NLP, comprise a major proportion—in some cases a majority—of the ]s delivered by ]s.<ref name="Lilienfeld 2002"/>
This lack of centralized control means there's no single standard for NLP practice or training. Practitioners can market their own methodologies, leading to inconsistencies within the field.<ref name="Carroll-2009" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Moxom |first1=Karen |title=The NLP Professional: Create a More Professional, Effective and Successful NLP Business |edition=|year=2011 |publisher=Ecademy Press |location=Herts |isbn=978-1-907722-55-4 |pages=46–50 |chapter=Three: Demonstrating Best Practice |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7KEYurmAA8sC}}</ref> This has been a source of criticism, highlighted by an incident in 2009 where a British television presenter registered his cat<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8303126.stm |title=Cat registered as hypnotherapist |publisher=] |date=12 October 2009 |access-date=6 November 2009}}</ref> with the British Board of Neuro Linguistic Programming (BBNLP), demonstrating the organization's lax credentialing. Critics like Karen Stollznow find irony in the initial legal battles between Bandler and Grinder, considering their failure to apply their own NLP principles to resolve their conflict.<ref name="Stollznow-2010"/> Others, such as Grant Devilly, characterize NLP associations as "]s"—a term implying a lack of unifying principles or a shared sense of purpose.<ref name="Devilly-2005"/>
He raises concerns that unvalidated or scientifically unsupported ] practices can be harmful, undermine the general public's confidence in our ], eat away at the scientific foundations of our professions, and can lead individuals to forego effective treatments. He also states "the onus of proof for the demonstration of the validity or effectiveness of new practices falls squarely on the shoulders of the proponents of these practices". <ref name="Lilienfeld 2002"> {{cite journal | author= Lilienfeld, S.O. | title= Our Raisson D’etre | journal= The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice | year=2002 | url= http://www.srmhp.org/0101/raison-detre.html | volume=1(1) | pages=20}}</ref>


== See also ==
===Commercialization===
* ]
{{stub-section}}
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]


'''Notable practitioners'''
NLP is sometimes marketed as a science. This is evident in the popular titles such as ''NLP: The New Technology of Achievement''. It is also evident in some marketing and advertising of NLP.<ref name="cap"></ref> Clinical psychologist ] criticises NLP for appealing to science to raise its profile, stating 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"(p.172). Freelance writer ] is more critical of NLP, portraying NLP as simply part of the ].
* ]
* ]


== Notes ==
Cognitive neuroscience researcher ] argues that "NLP is a thoroughly fake title, designed to give the impression of ]. NLP has little to do with ], ], or even the respectable subdiscipline of ]".<ref name="sala">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 0-471-98303-9 p.41</ref> ] ] states that (translated into English by ]) "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 ]. NLP theory and practice has nothing to do with ] insights or ], nor with ] or theories of ]".<ref name="drenth" /><ref name=levelt>Willem Levelt (1996) Skepter Vol.9(3)</ref>
{{notelist|30em}}


==References==
===Implied religiosity and spirituality===
===Citations===
{{Reflist|30em}}


===Works cited===
Of NLP, Sociologist and Christian scholar, ] says "it is a technique rather than an organised religion and is used by several different ]s" yet that it has an "implied ]".(p.195).<ref name="hunt">Hunt, Stephen J. (2003) ISBN 0-7546-3410-8</ref> Skeptics have described NLP as simply a "New Age" development, especially given its apparent lack of ], but this also has religious connotations.<ref name="Beyerstein 1990">{{cite journal | author=Beyerstein. B.L| title=Brainscams: Neuromythologies of the New Age.| journal= International Journal of Mental Health | year=1990 | volume=19(3) | pages=27-36,27 | url=http://www.sfu.ca/psyc/faculty/beyerstein/research/articles/Brainscams,%20Neuromythologies_of_the_New_Age.PDF}}</ref><ref name="Lilienfeld 2002">{{cite journal | author= Lilienfeld, S.O.| title= Our Raison D’etre| journal= The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice | year=2002 | volume=1(1) | pages=20}}</ref> Regarding ], Dilts states that ] was influenced by Carlos Castaneda's ]<ref name="diltsdelozier2000">Dilts & Delozier (2000) </ref> in developing the "]", ]", and "moving energies into other realities". Grinder was highly critical of that sort of ''energy''. At the same time Grinder contends that any venture into personal beliefs of "spirituality" in psychotherapy or NLP would be an ethical violation. <ref name="whispering"/> Dilts' '']'' are sometimes associated with the ] with spirit linked to the crown chakra.{{dubious}}<!-- check fact about Chakras.. does not seems right--> ] (2001) states that "the brief biographies of NLP Trainers usually give the names of the people they have trained under, this could be seen as similar to new eastern origin religions tracing themselves back through a progression of gurus"<ref name="barrett">David V. Barrett (2001) Available online from Google Books. p.434</ref>, he states in his work ''The New Believers: A Survey of Sects, Cults and Alternative Religions'', NLP is not included as a religion; it is described as a technique or series of techniques, or a process. It is used by some religions, and NLP as a philosophy does exhibit some characteristics which are sometimes found in some religions, but "overall the balance comes down against it being labelled as a religion."(p.26)<ref name=barrett/>
;Primary sources
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bandler |first1=Richard |last2=Grinder |first2=John |title=The Structure of Magic I: A Book about Language and Therapy |year=1975 |publisher=Science and Behavior Books Inc. |isbn=978-0-8314-0044-6 |title-link=The Structure of Magic}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bandler |first1=Richard |last2=Grinder |first2=John |title=The Structure of Magic II |edition=1st |year=1976 |publisher=Science and Behavior Books |location=California |isbn=978-0-8314-0049-1 |title-link=The Structure of Magic}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bandler |first1=Richard |last2=Grinder |first2=John| editor1-last = Andreas| editor1-first = Steve |title=Frogs into Princes: Neuro Linguistic Programming |edition= |year=1979 |publisher=Real People Press |location=Utah |isbn=978-0-911226-19-5 |title-link=Frogs into Princes}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bandler |first1=Richard |last2=Grinder |first2=John |title=Trance-formations: Neuro-linguistic Programming and the Structure of Hypnosis |year=1981 |publisher=Real People Press |isbn=978-0-911226-22-5 |chapter=Appendix II: Hypnotic Language Patterns: The Milton-Model}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bandler |first1=Richard |last2=Grinder |first2=John |year=1982 |title=Reframing: Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the Transformation of Meaning |publisher=Real People Press |isbn=0-911226-25-7}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bandler |first1=Richard |editor1-last=Andreas |editor1-first=Steve |editor2-link=Connirae Andreas |editor2-last=Andreas |editor2-first=Connirae |year=1985 |title=Using Your Brain–for a Change |publisher=Real People Press |isbn=0-911226-27-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Bandler |first=Richard |title=Time for a Change |year=1993 |publisher=Meta Publications |isbn=978-0-916990-28-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/timeforchange00band |url-access=registration }}
* {{cite book |last1=Dilts |first1=Robert |last2=Grinder |first2=John |last3=Bandler |first3=Richard |last4=DeLozier |first4=Judith |title=Neuro-Linguistic Programming |volume=I: The Study of the Structure of Subjective Experience |edition=Limited |year=1980 |publisher=Meta Publications |location=California |isbn=978-0-916990-07-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CwsRAQAAIAAJ }}
* {{cite book |last1=Grinder |first1=John |last2=DeLozier |first2=Judith |title=Turtles All The Way Down: Prerequisites To Personal Genius |edition=1st |year=1987 |publisher=Grinder & Associates |location=California |isbn=978-1-55552-022-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/turtlesallwaydow00grin|url-access=registration }}
* {{cite book |last1=Grinder |first1=John |last2=Bostic St. Clair |title=Whispering in the Wind |year=2001 |publisher=J & C Enterprises |isbn=978-0-9717223-0-9}}
{{refend}}


;Secondary sources
===Manipulation and ethical concerns===
{{refbegin}}
{{Main|Persuasion uses of NLP}}
*{{cite journal| editor1-last = Aupers| editor1-first = Stef| editor2-last = Houtman| editor2-first = Dick |title=Religions of Modernity: Relocating the Sacred to the Self and the Digital | journal = International Studies in Religion and Society|edition=1st |year=2010 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |issn=1573-4293 |isbn=978-90-04-18451-0 |pages=115–132 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l85zsiTI28sC&pg=PA115}}
{{Citecheck|date=December 2006}}
*{{Cite journal |last=Bovbjerg |first=Kirsten Marie |date=2011-05-01 |title=Personal Development under Market Conditions: NLP and the Emergence of an Ethics of Sensitivity Based on the Idea of the Hidden Potential of the Individual |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2011.573333 |journal=Journal of Contemporary Religion |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=189–205 |doi=10.1080/13537903.2011.573333 |s2cid=145148234 |issn=1353-7903}}
*{{cite book| editor1-last = Clarke| editor1-first = Peter B. |title=Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements |edition=1st |year=2006 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0-203-48433-3}}
*{{cite book| editor1-last = Cresswell| editor1-first = Jamie | editor2-last = Wilson| editor2-first = Bryan |title=New Religious Movements: Challenge and Response |edition=1st |year=1999 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0-415-20049-3}}
*{{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=Linda |title=A Brief Guide to Beliefs: Ideas, Theologies, Mysteries, and Movements |edition=1st |year=2001 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |location=Kentucky |isbn=978-0-664-22259-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_s5t3|url-access=registration }}
*{{cite book |last1=Fanthorpe |first1=Lionel |last2=Fanthorpe |first2=Patricia |title=Mysteries and Secrets of Voodoo, Santeria, and Obeah |edition=1st |year=2008 |publisher=New Page Books |location=New Jersey |isbn=978-1-55002-784-6}}
<!-- G -->
*{{cite book |last1=Grimley |first1=Bruce |title=Theory and Practice of NLP Coaching: A Psychological Approach |edition=1st |year=2013 |publisher=Sage Publications Ltd |location=London |isbn=978-1-4462-0172-5}}
*{{cite book |last1=Hall |first1=L. Michael |last2=Belnap |first2=Barbara P. |title=The Sourcebook of Magic: A Comprehensive Guide to the Technology of NLP |orig-year=1999 |year=2000 |publisher=Crown House Publishing Limited |location=Wales |isbn=978-1-899836-22-2}}
*{{cite web |last=Hall |first=L. Michael |title=The lawsuit that almost killed NLP |url=http://www.neurosemantics.com/nlp/the-history-of-nlp/the-lawsuit-that-almost-killed-nlp |date=20 September 2010 |access-date=12 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130627130505/http://www.neurosemantics.com/nlp/the-history-of-nlp/the-lawsuit-that-almost-killed-nlp |archive-date=27 June 2013}}
*{{cite book| editor1-last = Hammer| editor1-first = Olav| editor2-last = Rothstein| editor2-first = Mikael |title=The Cambridge Companion to New Religious Movements |edition=1st |year=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-14565-7}}
*{{cite book |title=Alternative Religions: A Sociological Introduction |publisher=Ashgate Publishing Ltd |location=Hampshire |last1=Hunt |first1=Stephen J. |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7546-3410-2}}
*{{cite book |last1=Jeremiah |first1=David |title=Invasion of Other Gods: The Seduction of New Age Spirituality |edition=1st |year=1995 |publisher=W Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-8499-3987-7 |chapter=Chapter 9: Corporate Takeovers}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Langford |first1=Jean M. |title=Medical Mimesis: Healing Signs of a Cosmopolitan "Quack" |journal=American Ethnologist |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=24–46 |date=February 1999 |jstor=647497 |doi=10.1525/ae.1999.26.1.24|doi-access=free }}
<!-- M -->
*{{cite journal |last=Maag |first=John W. |year=1999 |title=Why they say no: Foundational precises and techniques for managing resistance |journal=Focus on Exceptional Children |volume=32 |page=1 |url=http://altcommtechniques.com/publications/why_they_say_no.pdf |access-date=27 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417095148/http://altcommtechniques.com/publications/why_they_say_no.pdf |archive-date=17 April 2012 |url-status=dead }}
*{{cite journal |last=Maag |first=John W. |year=2000 |title=Managing resistance |journal=Intervention in School and Clinic |volume=35 |page=3 |doi=10.1177/105345120003500301 |issue=3|s2cid=220927708 }}
*{{cite journal |last1=Sturt |first1=Jackie |display-authors=etal |title=Neurolinguistic programming: a systematic review of the effects on health outcomes |journal=British Journal of General Practice |volume=62 |issue=604 |pages=e757–64 |date=November 2012 |doi=10.3399/bjgp12X658287 |pmid=23211179 |id=23211179|pmc=3481516 }}
<!-- W -->
*{{cite book |last1=Walker |first1=James K. |title=The Concise Guide to Today's Religions and Spirituality |edition=1st |year=2007 |publisher=Harvest House Pubslishers |location=Oregon |isbn=978-0-7369-2011-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/conciseguidetoto0000walk|url-access=registration }}
*{{cite book |last1=Weitzenhoffer |first1=André Muller |title=The Practice of Hypnotism |volume=2: Applications of Traditional an Semi-Traditional Hypnotism. Non-Traditional Hypnotism |year=1989 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |location=New York |isbn=978-0-471-62168-3 |chapter=Chapter 8: Ericksonian Hypnotism: The Bandler/Grinder Interpretation}}
{{refend}}


== Further reading ==
Ethical concerns regarding NLP and persuasion tend to fall into two diametrically opposite camps:
{{Refbegin}}
* NLP is ineffective ] without foundation, and sells methods and products by hype which are worthless to the purchaser.
* {{Cite book |editor1-last=Andreas |editor1-first=Steve |editor1-link=Steve Andreas |editor2-first=Charles |editor2-last=Faulkner |title=NLP: the new technology of achievement |location=New York |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-688-14619-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/nlpnewtechnology00andr |url-access=registration |ref=none}}
* NLP (done well) is extremely powerful, and there is no apparent way to control how these skills are used by individuals.
* {{Cite book |last=Austin |first=A. |title=The Rainbow Machine: Tales from a Neurolinguist's Journal |location=UK |publisher=Real People Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-911226-44-7 |ref=none}}

* {{cite book |last1=Bandler |first1=R. |last2=Grinder |first2=J. |author3-link=Virginia Satir |last3=Satir |first3=V. |year=1976 |title=Changing with Families: A Book about Further Education for Being Human |publisher=Science and Behavior Books |isbn=0-8314-0051-X |ref=none}}
NLP is sometimes referred to by journalists and researchers as a kind of cult or ''psychocult''.<ref name="singer95" /><ref name="novopashin">Novopashin, A (2004) ''Totalitarian Sects and the Democratic State'' in International Conference in Novosibirsk: 9-11</ref><ref name="eisner"/><ref name="sharpley87" />{{dubious}} A German educational authority has forbidden the use of NLP in local schools, citing a similarity to ].<ref name="rekaunt" >Michael Sommer (1998) </ref>{{fact}} <!-- A second source for this is requested because there is no other record that NLP has been banned in teacher training. The only source is in German and the babelfish translation ambiguous. There is no other evidence. -->
* {{cite journal |last1=Bradbury |first1=A. |title=Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Time for an Informed Review |journal=Skeptical Intelligencer |volume=11 |year=2008 |ref=none}}
NLP has been described by Margaret Singer as a ] ]<ref name="singer95">{{cite book | author=Singer, Margaret | title=] : The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace | location=New York, NY | publisher=Jossey Bass | year=1995 | id=ISBN 0-7879-6741-6}}</ref>{{fact}}<!-- does she state both or merely the first assertion? -->
* {{Cite book |last=Burn |first=Gillian |title=NLP Pocketbook |location=Alresford, United Kingdom |publisher=Management Pocketbooks Ltd |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-903776-31-5 |ref=none}}

* {{cite book |last=Dilts |first=R. |year=1990 |title=Changing Belief Systems with NLP |publisher=Meta Publications |isbn=978-0-916990-24-4 |ref=none}}
According to Devilly (2005) it is common for pseudoscientific developments to set up a ] in order to promote in-group rituals and jargon, and to attack critics.<ref name="devilly">(2005 p.441)</ref> Concerns of ] have been raised regarding books such as ''The Unfair Advantage: Sell with NLP'' and ''NLP the New Art and Science of Getting What You Want''.{{fact}} In contrast, therapy and coaching fields require an ethical code of conduct (eg: ).
* {{cite book |last1=Dilts |first1=R. |last2=Hallbom |first2=Tim |last3=Smith |first3=Suzi |year=1990 |title=Beliefs: Pathways to Health & Well-being |publisher=Crown House Publishing |isbn=978-1-84590-802-7 |ref=none}}

* {{Skeptoid | id=4155 | number= 155| title= NLP: Neuro-linguistic Programming| date=26 May 2009 | last= Dunning| first=Brian |ref=none}}
Freelance writer Steve Salerno has criticized NLP for unethically encouraging the belief in non existent maladies and insecurities by otherwise normal individuals {{request quote}}. Salerno claims there are ] in Bandler and Grinder ending up in court over who owned the rights to NLP given NLP's promotion in business for negotiations and conflict resolution. Also in Tony Robbins having become divorced whilst marketing products for the "perfect marriage", an action which disenchanted some followers of ].<ref name="salerno">Steve Salerno (2005) ''Sham: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless'', ISBN 1-4000-5409-5</ref> Drenth (2003) states that NLP is driven by economic motives and "manipulation of credulity" of clients, and that "often pseudoscientific practices are motivated by loathsome pursuit of gain". Drenth states this with reference to "victims of scientology, ] and similar movements".{{fact}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ellerton |first=Roger |title=Live Your Dreams, Let Reality Catch Up: NLP and Common Sense for Coaches, Managers and You |location=Ottawa, Canada |publisher=Trafford Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-4120-4709-8 |ref=none}}

* {{cite book |last=Grinder |first=M. |year=1991 |title=Righting the Educational Conveyor Belt |publisher=Metamorphous Press |isbn=1-55552-036-7 |ref=none}}
In his book ']' Michael Langone expresses a concern about the use of NLP and "]" by cults. Langone states "We know that NLP is also used by some very ] because the NLP method can be used by such groups to instill a reliance upon the cult, and provides a conditioning method to further induce compliance." Langone links NLP to ], ] and ] in that it teaches that the "perceived world is an illusion" but acquits it, unlike est, Transcendental Meditation and Scientology, of providing an alternative mythology, describing NLP as "a tool for generating change for changes sake" . <ref name="langone93">{{cite book | author=Michael D Langone (Ed).| title=Recovery from Cults: Help for Victims of Psychological and Spiritual Abuse | location=New York, NY | publisher=W W Norton & Company}}</ref>{{Verify source}}
* {{cite book |last=O'Connor |first=Joseph |year=2007 |title=Not Pulling Strings: Application of Neuro-Linguistic Programming to Teaching and Learning Music |publisher=Kahn & Averill |place=London |isbn=978-1-871082-90-6 |ref=none}}

* {{Cite journal |last=Platt |first=Garry |title=NLP – Neuro Linguistic Programming or No Longer Plausible? |series=May |journal=Training Journal |year=2001 |volume=2001 |pages=10–15 |ref=none}}
===Human resources===
{{stub-section}} {{Refend}}
Human resource professional Von Bergen considers NLP to be inappropriate for management and human resource training <ref name="Von Bergen 1997">{{cite journal | author=Von Bergen, C W, Barlow Soper, Gary T Rosenthal, Lamar V Wilkinson | title=Selected alternative training techniques in HRD | journal=Human Resource Development Quarterly | year=1997 | volume=8(4) | pages=281-294}}</ref>{{fact}}. Within management training there have been complaints concerning pressured adoption of fundamental beliefs tantamount to a forced religious conversion.<ref name="singer95" /> {{Request quote}}

NLP has influenced some corporate ],<ref name="Bluckert">Peter Bluckert (2004) The state of play in corporate coaching: current and future trends. ''Industrial and Commercial Training''. Guilsborough Vol.36(2) p.53</ref> who provide one-on-one training and collaborative relationships to executive interested in developement skills in career or business and may help resolve related personal issues.{{fact}}

Skinner and Stephens (2003) explored the use the model of representational systems in television marketing and communications.<ref name="Skinner and Stephens">{{cite journal
| author=Skinner, H. and Stephens, P. | title=Speaking the Same Language: Exploring the relevance of Neuro-Linguistic Programming to Marketing Communications | journal=Journal of Marketing Communications | year=2003 | volume=Volume 9, Number 3 / September | pages=177-192 | url=http://journalsonline.tandf.co.uk/openurl.asp?genre=article&eissn=1466-4445&volume=9&issue=3&spage=177}}</ref>

===Education===
{{stub-section}}

NLP views each learner as a unique individual with unique needs and backgrounds and encourages students take responsibility for their own states, and learning experience.<ref name="Craft 2001">{{cite journal | author=Craft A. | title=Neuro-linguistic Programming and learning theory | journal=The Curriculum Journal, Routledge | year=March 2001 | volume=Volume 12, Number 1 | pages=125-136(12) | url=http://www.ingentaconnect.com/search/article?title=neurolinguistic+programming&title_type=tka&author=craft&year_from=1997&year_to=2005&database=1&pageSize=20&index=1}}</ref>. Furthermore Mathison and Tosey (2002) comment that this approach to learning and development appears similar in theory to ] and ].<ref name="Tosey Mathison 2003"/>

==Notes and references==
<div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count:2; column-count:2;">
<references /></div>

==List of most cited books==
{{main|Neuro-linguistic programming: Bibliography}}

#Bandler and Grinder (1979). ''Frogs into Princes: Neuro Linguistic Programming.'' (125 citations)
#Bandler and Grinder (1975) ''The Structure of Magic I: A Book About Language and Therapy'' (112+ citations)<!-- the citations to the German version of this book were excluded from this calculation -->
#Bandler and Grinder (1981) ''Reframing: Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the Transformation of Meaning'' (36 citations)
#Grinder and Bandler (1976) ''Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickon'' (31 citations)
#] (1990) ''Changing belief systems with NLP'' (28 citations)
#Bandler, R., ]) and ](Eds) (1985) ''Using Your Brain-for a Change'' (26 citations)
#] (1991) ''Righting the Educational Conveyor Belt'' (23 citations)
#] (1995) ''Introducing NLP: Neuro-Linguistic Programming'' (21 ciations)
#], ] & ] (1990) ''Beliefs: Pathways to Health & Well-being'' (15 citations)
#], Grinder and Bandler (1976) ''Changing with Families: A Book about Further Education for Being Human'' (14 citations)
#] (2000) ''Nlp at Work: The Difference That Makes a Difference in Business'' (12 citations)

:''Note: This list was compiled based on the number of citations listed in Google Scholar (accessed: 20th December, 2006).''

==See also==
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==External links== ==External links==
*{{Wiktionary inline|Neuro-linguistic programming}}
*{{Commons category-inline|Neuro-linguistic programming}}
*{{Wikiquote-inline|Neuro-linguistic programming}}


{{Seduction community}}
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===Associations===
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* - European accrediting organisation for ]
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===Skeptics===
* {{cite web
| last = Carroll | first = Robert T.
| title=The Skeptic's Dictionary
| url=http://skepdic.com/neurolin.html
| accessdate=
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Latest revision as of 00:02, 4 September 2024

Pseudoscientific approach to psychotherapy Not to be confused with Natural language processing (also NLP). For other uses, see NLP.

Medical intervention
Neuro-linguistic programming
MeSHD020557
[edit on Wikidata]
Neuro-linguistic
programming
Topics
Developers
Practitioners
Organisations

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is a pseudoscientific approach to communication, personal development and psychotherapy, that first appeared in Richard Bandler and John Grinder's 1975 book The Structure of Magic I. NLP asserts that there is a connection between neurological processes, language and acquired behavioral patterns, and that these can be changed to achieve specific goals in life. According to Bandler and Grinder, NLP can treat problems such as phobias, depression, tic disorders, psychosomatic illnesses, near-sightedness, allergy, the common cold, and learning disorders, often in a single session. They also say that NLP can model the skills of exceptional people, allowing anyone to acquire them.

NLP has been adopted by some hypnotherapists as well as by companies that run seminars marketed as leadership training to businesses and government agencies.

There is no scientific evidence supporting the claims made by NLP advocates, and it has been called a pseudoscience. Scientific reviews have shown that NLP is based on outdated metaphors of the brain's inner workings that are inconsistent with current neurological theory, and that NLP contains numerous factual errors. Reviews also found that research that favored NLP contained significant methodological flaws, and that there were three times as many studies of a much higher quality that failed to reproduce the claims made by Bandler, Grinder, and other NLP practitioners.

Early development

According to Bandler and Grinder, NLP consists of a methodology termed modeling, plus a set of techniques that they derived from its initial applications. They derived many of the fundamental techniques from the work of Virginia Satir, Milton Erickson and Fritz Perls. Bandler and Grinder also drew upon the theories of Gregory Bateson, Alfred Korzybski and Noam Chomsky (particularly transformational grammar).

Bandler and Grinder say that their methodology can codify the structure inherent to the therapeutic "magic" as performed in therapy by Perls, Satir and Erickson, and indeed inherent to any complex human activity. From that codification, they say, the structure and its activity can be learned by others. Their 1975 book, The Structure of Magic I: A Book about Language and Therapy, is intended to be a codification of the therapeutic techniques of Perls and Satir.

Bandler and Grinder say that they used their own process of modeling to model Virginia Satir so they could produce what they termed the Meta-Model, a model for gathering information and challenging a client's language and underlying thinking. They say that by challenging linguistic distortions, specifying generalizations, and recovering deleted information in the client's statements, the transformational grammar concept of surface structure yields a more complete representation of the underlying deep structure and therefore has therapeutic benefit. Also derived from Satir were anchoring, future pacing and representational systems.

In contrast, the Milton-Model—a model of the purportedly hypnotic language of Milton Erickson—was described by Bandler and Grinder as "artfully vague" and metaphoric. The Milton-Model is used in combination with the Meta-Model as a softener, to induce "trance" and to deliver indirect therapeutic suggestion.

Psychologist Jean Mercer writes that Chomsky's theories "appear to be irrelevant" to NLP. Linguist Karen Stollznow describes Bandler's and Grinder's reference to such experts as namedropping. Other than Satir, the people they cite as influences did not collaborate with Bandler or Grinder. Chomsky himself has no association with NLP, with his work being theoretical in nature and having no therapeutic element. Stollznow writes, "ther than borrowing terminology, NLP does not bear authentic resemblance to any of Chomsky's theories or philosophies—linguistic, cognitive or political."

According to André Muller Weitzenhoffer, a researcher in the field of hypnosis, "the major weakness of Bandler and Grinder's linguistic analysis is that so much of it is built upon untested hypotheses and is supported by totally inadequate data." Weitzenhoffer adds that Bandler and Grinder misuse formal logic and mathematics, redefine or misunderstand terms from the linguistics lexicon (e.g., nominalization), create a scientific façade by needlessly complicating Ericksonian concepts with unfounded claims, make factual errors, and disregard or confuse concepts central to the Ericksonian approach.

More recently, Bandler has stated, "NLP is based on finding out what works and formalizing it. In order to formalize patterns I utilized everything from linguistics to holography ... The models that constitute NLP are all formal models based on mathematical, logical principles such as predicate calculus and the mathematical equations underlying holography." There is no mention of the mathematics of holography nor of holography in general in Spitzer's, or Grinder's account of the development of NLP.

On the matter of the development of NLP, Grinder recollects:

My memories about what we thought at the time of discovery (with respect to the classic code we developed—that is, the years 1973 through 1978) are that we were quite explicit that we were out to overthrow a paradigm and that, for example, I, for one, found it very useful to plan this campaign using in part as a guide the excellent work of Thomas Kuhn (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions) in which he detailed some of the conditions which historically have obtained in the midst of paradigm shifts. For example, I believe it was very useful that neither one of us were qualified in the field we first went after—psychology and in particular, its therapeutic application; this being one of the conditions which Kuhn identified in his historical study of paradigm shifts.

The philosopher Robert Todd Carroll responded that Grinder has not understood Kuhn's text on the history and philosophy of science, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Carroll replies: (a) individual scientists never have nor are they ever able to create paradigm shifts volitionally and Kuhn does not suggest otherwise; (b) Kuhn's text does not contain the idea that being unqualified in a field of science is a prerequisite to producing a result that necessitates a paradigm shift in that field and (c) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is foremost a work of history and not an instructive text on creating paradigm shifts and such a text is not possible—extraordinary discovery is not a formulaic procedure. Carroll explains that a paradigm shift is not a planned activity, rather it is an outcome of scientific effort within the dominant paradigm that produces data that cannot be adequately accounted for within the current paradigm—hence a paradigm shift, i.e. the adoption of a new paradigm. In developing NLP, Bandler and Grinder were not responding to a paradigmatic crisis in psychology nor did they produce any data that caused a paradigmatic crisis in psychology. There is no sense in which Bandler and Grinder caused or participated in a paradigm shift. "What did Grinder and Bandler do that makes it impossible to continue doing psychology ... without accepting their ideas? Nothing," argues Carroll.

Commercialization and evaluation

By the late 1970s, the human potential movement had developed into an industry and provided a market for some NLP ideas. At the center of this growth was the Esalen Institute at Big Sur, California. Perls had led numerous Gestalt therapy seminars at Esalen. Satir was an early leader and Bateson was a guest teacher. Bandler and Grinder have said that in addition to being a therapeutic method, NLP was also a study of communication and began marketing it as a business tool, writing that, "if any human being can do anything, so can you." After 150 students paid $1,000 each for a ten-day workshop in Santa Cruz, California, Bandler and Grinder gave up academic writing and started producing popular books from seminar transcripts, such as Frogs into Princes, which sold more than 270,000 copies. According to court documents relating to an intellectual property dispute between Bandler and Grinder, Bandler made more than $800,000 in 1980 from workshop and book sales.

A community of psychotherapists and students began to form around Bandler and Grinder's initial works, leading to the growth and spread of NLP as a theory and practice. For example, Tony Robbins trained with Grinder and utilized a few ideas from NLP as part of his own self-help and motivational speaking programmes. Bandler led several unsuccessful efforts to exclude other parties from using NLP. Meanwhile, the rising number of practitioners and theorists led NLP to become even less uniform than it was at its foundation. Prior to the decline of NLP, scientific researchers began testing its theoretical underpinnings empirically, with research indicating a lack of empirical support for NLP's essential theories. The 1990s were characterized by fewer scientific studies evaluating the methods of NLP than the previous decade. Tomasz Witkowski attributes this to a declining interest in the debate as the result of a lack of empirical support for NLP from its proponents.

Main components and core concepts

NLP can be understood in terms of three broad components: subjectivity, consciousness, and learning.

According to Bandler and Grinder, people experience the world subjectively, creating internal representations of their experiences. These representations involve the five senses and language. In other words, our conscious experiences take the form of sights, sounds, feelings, smells, and tastes. When we imagine something, recall an event, or think about the future, we utilize these same sensory systems within our minds Furthermore it is stated that these subjective representations of experience have a discernible structure, a pattern.

Bandler and Grinder assert that behavior (both our own and others') can be understood through these sensory-based internal representations. Behavior here includes verbal and non-verbal communication, as well as effective or adaptive behaviors and less helpful or "pathological" ones. They also assert that behavior in both the self and other people can be modified by manipulating these sense-based subjective representations.

NLP posits that consciousness can be divided into conscious and unconscious components. The part of our internal representations operating outside our direct awareness is referred to as the "unconscious mind".

Finally, NLP uses a method of learning called "modeling", designed to replicate expertise in any field. According to Bandler and Grinder, by analyzing the sequence of sensory and linguistic representations used by an expert while performing a skill, it's possible to create a mental model that can be learned by others.

Techniques or set of practices

Further information: Methods of neuro-linguistic programming
An "eye accessing cue chart" as it appears as an example in Bandler & Grinder's Frogs into Princes (1979). The six directions represent "visual construct", "visual recall", "auditory construct", "auditory recall", "kinesthetic" and "auditory internal dialogue".

According to one study by Steinbach, a classic interaction in NLP can be understood in terms of several major stages including establishing rapport, gleaning information about a problem mental state and desired goals, using specific tools and techniques to make interventions, and integrating proposed changes into the client's life. The entire process is guided by the non-verbal responses of the client. The first is the act of establishing and maintaining rapport between the practitioner and the client which is achieved through pacing and leading the verbal (e.g., sensory predicates and keywords) and non-verbal behavior (e.g., matching and mirroring non-verbal behavior, or responding to eye movements) of the client.

Once rapport is established, the practitioner may gather information about the client's present state as well as help the client define a desired state or goal for the interaction. The practitioner pays attention to the verbal and non-verbal responses as the client defines the present state and desired state and any resources that may be required to bridge the gap. The client is typically encouraged to consider the consequences of the desired outcome, and how they may affect his or her personal or professional life and relationships, taking into account any positive intentions of any problems that may arise. The practitioner thereafter assists the client in achieving the desired outcomes by using certain tools and techniques to change internal representations and responses to stimuli in the world. Finally, the practitioner helps the client to mentally rehearse and integrate the changes into his or her life. For example, the client may be asked to envision what it is like having already achieved the outcome.

According to Stollznow, "NLP also involves fringe discourse analysis and 'practical' guidelines for 'improved' communication. For example, one text asserts 'when you adopt the "but" word, people will remember what you said afterwards. With the "and" word, people remember what you said before and after.'"

Applications

Alternative medicine

NLP has been promoted as being able to treat a variety of diseases including Parkinson's disease, HIV/AIDS and cancer. Such claims have no supporting medical evidence. People who use NLP as a form of treatment risk serious adverse health consequences as it can delay the provision of effective medical care.

Psychotherapeutic

Early books about NLP had a psychotherapeutic focus given that the early models were psychotherapists. As an approach to psychotherapy, NLP shares similar core assumptions and foundations in common with some contemporary brief and systemic practices, such as solution focused brief therapy. NLP has also been acknowledged as having influenced these practices with its reframing techniques which seeks to achieve behavior change by shifting its context or meaning, for example, by finding the positive connotation of a thought or behavior.

The two main therapeutic uses of NLP are, firstly, as an adjunct by therapists practicing in other therapeutic disciplines and, secondly, as a specific therapy called Neurolinguistic Psychotherapy.

According to Stollznow, "Bandler and Grinder's infamous Frogs into Princes and their other books boast that NLP is a cure-all that treats a broad range of physical and mental conditions and learning difficulties, including epilepsy, myopia and dyslexia. With its promises to cure schizophrenia, depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and its dismissal of psychiatric illnesses as psychosomatic, NLP shares similarities with Scientology and the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR)." A systematic review of experimental studies by Sturt et al. (2012) concluded that "there is little evidence that NLP interventions improve health-related outcomes." In his review of NLP, Stephen Briers writes, "NLP is not really a cohesive therapy but a ragbag of different techniques without a particularly clear theoretical basis ... evidence base is virtually non-existent." Eisner writes, "NLP appears to be a superficial and gimmicky approach to dealing with mental health problems. Unfortunately, NLP appears to be the first in a long line of mass marketing seminars that purport to virtually cure any mental disorder ... it appears that NLP has no empirical or scientific support as to the underlying tenets of its theory or clinical effectiveness. What remains is a mass-marketed serving of psychopablum."

André Muller Weitzenhoffer—a friend and peer of Milton Erickson—wrote, "Has NLP really abstracted and explicated the essence of successful therapy and provided everyone with the means to be another Whittaker, Virginia Satir, or Erickson? ... failure to do this is evident because today there is no multitude of their equals, not even another Whittaker, Virginia Satir, or Erickson. Ten years should have been sufficient time for this to happen. In this light, I cannot take NLP seriously ... contributions to our understanding and use of Ericksonian techniques are equally dubious. Patterns I and II are poorly written works that were an overambitious, pretentious effort to reduce hypnotism to a magic of words."

Clinical psychologist Stephen Briers questions the value of the NLP maxim—a presupposition in NLP jargon—"there is no failure, only feedback". Briers argues that the denial of the existence of failure diminishes its instructive value. He offers Walt Disney, Isaac Newton and J.K. Rowling as three examples of unambiguous acknowledged personal failure that served as an impetus to great success. According to Briers, it was "the crash-and-burn type of failure, not the sanitised NLP Failure Lite, i.e. the failure-that-isn't really-failure sort of failure" that propelled these individuals to success. Briers contends that adherence to the maxim leads to self-deprecation. According to Briers, personal endeavour is a product of invested values and aspirations and the dismissal of personally significant failure as mere feedback effectively denigrates what one values. Briers writes, "Sometimes we need to accept and mourn the death of our dreams, not just casually dismiss them as inconsequential." Briers also contends that the NLP maxim is narcissistic, self-centered and divorced from notions of moral responsibility.

Other uses

Although the original core techniques of NLP were therapeutic in orientation their generic nature enabled them to be applied to other fields. These applications include persuasion, sales, negotiation, management training, sports, teaching, coaching, team building, public speaking, and in the process of hiring employees.

Scientific criticism

In the early 1980s, NLP was advertised as an important advance in psychotherapy and counseling, and attracted some interest in counseling research and clinical psychology. However, as controlled trials failed to show any benefit from NLP and its advocates made increasingly dubious claims, scientific interest in NLP faded.

Numerous literature reviews and meta-analyses have failed to show evidence for NLP's assumptions or effectiveness as a therapeutic method. While some NLP practitioners have argued that the lack of empirical support is due to insufficient research which tests NLP, the consensus scientific opinion is that NLP is pseudoscience and that attempts to dismiss the research findings based on these arguments "s an admission that NLP does not have an evidence base and that NLP practitioners are seeking a post-hoc credibility."

Surveys in the academic community have shown NLP to be widely discredited among scientists. Among the reasons for considering NLP a pseudoscience are that evidence in favor of it is limited to anecdotes and personal testimony that it is not informed by scientific understanding of neuroscience and linguistics, and that the name "neuro-linguistic programming" uses jargon words to impress readers and obfuscate ideas, whereas NLP itself does not relate any phenomena to neural structures and has nothing in common with linguistics or programming. In education, NLP has been used as a key example of pseudoscience.

As a quasi-religion

Sociologists and anthropologists have categorized NLP as a quasi-religion belonging to the New Age and/or Human Potential Movements.

Medical anthropologist Jean M. Langford categorizes NLP as a form of folk magic; that is to say, a practice with symbolic efficacy—as opposed to physical efficacy—that is able to effect change through nonspecific effects (e.g., placebo). To Langford, NLP is akin to a syncretic folk religion "that attempts to wed the magic of folk practice to the science of professional medicine".

Bandler and Grinder were influenced by the shamanism described in the books of Carlos Castaneda. Concepts like "double induction" and "stopping the world", central to NLP modeling, were incorporated from these influences.

Some theorists characterize NLP as a type of "psycho-shamanism", and its focus on modeling has been compared to ritual practices in certain syncretic religions. The emphasis on lineage from an NLP guru has also been likened to similar concepts in some Eastern religions. Aupers, Houtman, and Bovbjerg identify NLP as a New Age "psycho-religion". Bovbjerg argues that New Age movements center on a transcendent "other". While monotheistic religions seek communion with a divine being, this focus shifts inward in these movements, with the "other" becoming the unconscious self. Bovbjerg posits that this emphasis on the unconscious and its hidden potential underlies NLP techniques promoting self-perfection through ongoing transformation.

Bovbjerg's secular critique echoes the conservative Christian perspective, as exemplified by David Jeremiah. He argues that NLP's emphasis on self-transformation and internal power conflicts with the Christian belief in salvation through divine grace.

Legal disputes

Founding, initial disputes, and settlement (1979–1981)

In 1979, Richard Bandler and John Grinder established the Society of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) to manage commercial applications of NLP, including training, materials, and certification. The founding agreement conferred exclusive rights to profit from NLP training and certification upon Bandler's corporate entity, Not Ltd. Around November 1980, Bandler and Grinder had ceased collaboration for undisclosed reasons.

On September 25, 1981, Bandler filed suit against Grinder's corporate entity, Unlimited Ltd., in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Cruz seeking injunctive relief and damages arising from Grinder's NLP-related commercial activities; the Court issued a judgment in Bandler's favor on October 29, 1981. The subsequent settlement agreement granted Grinder a 10-year license to conduct NLP seminars, offer NLP certification, and utilize the NLP name, subject to royalty payments to Bandler.

Further litigation and consequences (1996–2000)

Bandler commenced further civil actions against Unlimited Ltd., various figures within the NLP community, and 200 initially unnamed defendants in July 1996 and January 1997. Bandler alleged violations of the initial settlement terms by Grinder and sought damages of no less than US$10,000,000.00 from each defendant.

In February 2000, the Court ruled against Bandler. The judgment asserted that Bandler had misrepresented his exclusive ownership of NLP intellectual property and sole authority over Society of NLP membership and certification.

Trademark revocation (1997)

In December 1997, a separate civil proceeding initiated by Tony Clarkson resulted in the revocation of Bandler's UK trademark of NLP. The Court ruled in Clarkson's favor.

Resolution and legacy (2000)

Bandler and Grinder reached a settlement in late 2000, acknowledging their status as co-creators and co-founders of NLP and committing to refrain from disparaging one another's NLP-related endeavors.

Due to these disputes and settlements, the terms 'NLP' and 'Neuro-Linguistic Programming' remain in the public domain. No single party holds exclusive rights, and there are no restrictions on offering NLP certifications.

The designations "NLP" and "Neuro-linguistic Programming" are not owned, trademarked, or subject to centralized regulation. Consequently, there are no restrictions on individuals self-identifying as "NLP Master Practitioners" or "NLP Master Trainers." This decentralization has led to numerous certifying associations.

Decentralization and criticism

This lack of centralized control means there's no single standard for NLP practice or training. Practitioners can market their own methodologies, leading to inconsistencies within the field. This has been a source of criticism, highlighted by an incident in 2009 where a British television presenter registered his cat with the British Board of Neuro Linguistic Programming (BBNLP), demonstrating the organization's lax credentialing. Critics like Karen Stollznow find irony in the initial legal battles between Bandler and Grinder, considering their failure to apply their own NLP principles to resolve their conflict. Others, such as Grant Devilly, characterize NLP associations as "granfalloons"—a term implying a lack of unifying principles or a shared sense of purpose.

See also

Notable practitioners

Notes

  1. ^ Note that, in a seminar, Bandler & Grinder 1982, p. 166, said that a single session of NLP combined with hypnosis could eliminate certain eyesight problems such as myopia and cure the common cold (op.cit., pp. 169, 174).
  2. Bandler 1993, p. vii: "In single sessions, they can accelerate learning, neutralize phobias, enhance creativity, improve relationships, eliminate allergies, and lead firewalks without roasting toes. NLP achieves the goal of its inception. We have ways to do what only a genius could have done a decade ago."
  3. Weitzenhoffer 1989, pp. 304–305: "I have chosen nominalization to explain what some of the problems are in Bandler and Grinder's linguistic approach to Ericksonian hypnotism. Almost any other linguistic concept used by these authors could have served equally well for the purpose of showing some of the inherent weaknesses in their treatment."
  4. Weitzenhoffer 1989, p. 307: "As I have mentioned in the last chapter, any references made to left and right brain functions in relation to hypnotic phenomena must be considered as poorly founded. They do not add to our understanding of nor our ability to utilize hypnotic phenomena in the style of Erickson. Indeed, references such as Bandler and Grinder make to these functions give their subject matter a false appearance of having a more scientific status than it has."
  5. Weitzenhoffer 1989, p. 306: "This work , incidentally, contains some glaring misstatements of facts. For example, Freud and Mesmer were depicted as contemporaries!"
  6. Weitzenhoffer 1989, p. 306: One of the most striking features of the Bandler/Grinder interpretation is that it somehow ignores the issue of the existence and function of suggestion, which even in Erickson's own writings and those done with Rossi, is a central idea."
  7. Dilts et al. 1980, pp. 13–14: "There are three characteristics of effective patterning in NLP which sharply distinguish it from behavioural science as it is commonly practiced today. First, for a pattern or generalization regarding human communication to be acceptable or well–formed in NLP, it must include in the description the human agents who are initiating and responding to the pattern being described, their actions, their possible responses. Secondly, the description of the pattern must be represented in sensory grounded terms which are available to the user. This user–oriented constraint on NLP ensures usefulness. We have been continually struck by the tremendous gap between theory and practice in the behavioural sciences—this requirement closes that gap. Notice that since patterns must be represented in sensory grounded terms, available through practice to the user, a pattern will typically have multiple representation—each tailored for the differing sensory capabilities of individual users Thirdly, NLP includes within its descriptive vocabulary terms which are not directly observable ."
  8. Dilts et al. (1980), p. 36: "The basic elements from which the patterns of human behaviour are formed are the perceptual systems through which the members of the species operate on their environment: vision (sight), audition (hearing), kinesthesis (body sensations) and olfaction/gustation (smell/taste). The neurolinguistic programming model presupposes that all of the distinctions we as human beings are able to make concerning our environment (internal and external) and our behaviour can be usefully represented in terms of these systems. These perceptual classes constitute the structural parameters of human knowledge. We postulate that all of our ongoing experience can usefully be coded as consisting of some combination of these sensory classes."
  9. Dilts et al. (1980), p. 7: "NLP presents specific tools which can be applied effectively in any human interaction. It offers specific techniques by which a practitioner may usefully organize and re–organize his or her subjective experience or the experiences of a client in order to define and subsequently secure any behavioural outcome."
  10. Dilts et al. 1980, pp. 77–80: "Strategies and representations which typically occur below an individual's level of awareness make up what is often called or referred to as the 'unconscious mind'."
  11. See, for instance, the following:
    • Sharpley, 1984 and 1987
    • Druckman and Swets, 1988
    • Heap, 1988
    • von Bergen et al., 1997
    • Druckman, 2004
    • Witkowski, 2010
  12. See the following:
    • Einspruch and Forman, 1985
    • Murray, 2013
    • Sturt et al., 2012
    • Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Research
    • Tosey and Mathison, 2010
  13. See the following:
    • Witkowsi, 2010
    • The Skeptic's Dictionary, 2009
    • Beyerstein, 1990
    • Corballis, in Della Sala and Anderson, 2012
    • Singer and Lalich
    • Lilienfeld, Lynn and Lohr, 2004
    • Della Sala, 2007
    • Williams, 2000
    • Lum, 2001
    • Lilienfeld, Lohr and Morier, 2001
    • Dunn, Halonen and Smith, 2008
    • Molfese, Segalowitz and Harris, 1988
  14. For a description of the social influence tactics used by NLP and similar pseudoscientific therapies, see Devilly, 2005
  15. In 2006, Norcross and colleagues found NLP to be given similar ratings as dolphin-assisted therapy, equine-assisted therapy, psychosynthesis, scared straight programmes, and emotional freedom technique. In 2010, Norcross and colleagues listed it as seventh out of their list of ten most discredited drug and alcohol interventions. Glasner-Edwards and colleagues also identified it as discredited in 2010.
  16. For more information on the use of neuroscience terms to lend the appearance of credibility to arguments, see Weisburg et al., 2008

References

Citations

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