NLP, Neuro Linguistic Programming

NLP, Neuro-Linguistic Programming is a brand and trend in practical psychology with its own history, personas, language, methods and traditions. In fact, it is a set of technologies united by a common language and methodology that allows a person to act more effectively in situations that are problematic for him. A positive result is achieved by mastering the client with an expanded set of behavioral patterns, that is, the freedom to choose responses.

The creators of NLP are Richard Bandler, John Grinder, Frank Pucelik, Gregory Bateson, Robert Dilts. In Russia, A. Pligin, T. Gagin, A. Gerasimov, M. Ginzburg, S. Kovalev, M. Pelekhaty, Anthony Robbins made a great contribution to the development and promotion of NLP.

For the creators of NLP, a person is a complex information machine that has its own languages ​​and programs. The affective sphere, emotions, feelings and will are described only as resource or not states created by certain programs, but not having their own nature and patterns. NLP works with both the unconscious and the conscious; works a lot and in detail with the structure of subjective experience, moving away from the question of the objectivity of what is happening.

“The map does not equal the territory” is one of the favorite theses of NLP, which focuses on the study of how a person perceives, interprets and structures the information that comes to him.

NLP is little interested in the past subjective experience of the client, he does not look for reasons in the past, but studies the way of perception and builds the present and future on this basis. Phylogeny, ontogenesis, the formation of personality or mental functions — all this is outside the interests of NLP. NLP is focused primarily not on explanation, but on change. The goal of NLP is real personal change, not why, but HOW. NLP is interested in theories only as much as it is necessary for practice, while emphasizing that these theories for him are not the truth, but only working models. Nothing more than working models. Traditional NLP position: “Everything we tell you is not true. The point is that it works.»

This approach has its pros and cons. Pluses — practicality, healthy pragmatism, minuses — indifference to a specific picture of the world, which is essentially inspired by the client. When using shamanic techniques often used in NLP, the client changes the materialistic picture of the world for a mystical one.

​​​​​​​A curious feature of NLP adherents is their indifference to reasonable justifications and the conviction that all communicative interactions between people are only and exclusively suggestion. And nothing but suggestions. Reasonable justifications NLPers are considered only as a kind of suggestion that is effective for people with a personality type «rational», and in dealing with rationals, they model reasonable justifications only to the extent that these seemingly justifications look convincing. «Truth,» «logic,» «validity,» «objectivity,» and «scientific honesty» are just ridiculous words for adherents of the NLP philosophy to naive people, in the place of which NLP puts «efficiency» and «ecology.»

NLP strives for manufacturability and uses a step-by-step description of change procedures, where each step has sensory obvious signs — this attracts people who are inclined to an engineering-rational approach. On the other hand, in psychotherapeutic work, NLP uses a predominantly trance (altered) state of the client’s psyche during the implementation of its techniques, which gives the approach an aura of «magic» and attracts those who like to get results without conscious effort.

A collection of NLP techniques are almost exclusively techniques of influencing through the unconscious and suggestions that operate covertly, in addition to and outside of conscious control. Ignoring open and reasonable options for interaction between a psychologist and a client clearly impoverishes the NLP tools, on the other hand, giving it a coloring of magic and sorcery that attracts many.

NLP is primarily a technology, primarily an instrumental rather than a value approach. NLP does not tell how to live correctly, does not solve questions of the meaning of life or the reorganization of society. Clients come with their problems — NLP reformulates this into tasks and helps in solving it, cutting off only clearly unsustainable options.

In NLP, there is no concept of a “right person” at all, both at the level of values ​​and at the level of behavioral strategies. This approach does not use the concept of «correct behavior» or «non-adaptive behavior» as behavior, there is behavior more or less appropriate for the context. Sometime attention is focused on undesirable behavior and its correction, sometime on new choices of behavior, it is not so important, it is important to enable a particular person in this context to choose something more suitable (effective, environmentally friendly, reliable, affordable).

The focus on efficiency and indifference to values ​​has led to the fact that NLP is firmly associated with manipulative technologies. Indeed, NLP adheres to the position that everything is manipulated at all times, and sets only the task of doing this more consciously.

NLP is used in a wide variety of areas: psychotherapy, advertising, sports, personal growth, coaching, sales, etc. The NLP method proceeds from the fact that if someone knows how to behave successfully in some area, then other people can model this success and reproduce it to one degree or another. Often this idea is put forward as the basis of the NLP approach, arguing that NLP is a technology for modeling success. There is no reason to single this out as a feature of NLP, since almost all authors working in practical psychology (D. Carnegie and B. Tracy, N. Kozlov and S. Covey) created their developments based on an analysis of the characteristics of communication of successful people, an analysis of the life of successful people and leaders of successful companies.

In the field of psychotherapy, NLP models the work of successful psychotherapists; in the field of advertising, it models the work of advertisers who receive stable results. NLP suggests that successful activity is primarily effective behavioral technologies, and if you study the structure of behavior (including internal behavior) in detail, then other people will be able to repeat someone else’s success.

The idea is great, but it has a weakness. Success is not only technology, it is also the ability that different people have different. If the activity of a conductor requires an absolute ear for music, and you do not have it, modeling brilliant conducting will help you to a small extent.

The strength of NLP is the alignment of the learning process. The training course (format: NLP Intensive and NLP Regular) includes popular topics and is focused on the practical application of acquired skills in various areas of life. The cycles «NLP Practitioner», «NLP Master», «NLP Trainer» are well standardized in terms of content and teaching methods, as a result of which those who studied NLP in one training center understand well the graduates of another training center and can continue their education there.

NLP is easily recognizable through its particular language, specific and technical terminology, as opposed to the general and abstract manner adopted in most early psychological schools. Change procedures are described in a methodical, detailed and step-by-step manner, most of the concepts in NLP attempt to be introduced through observable or sensory-obvious cues. Another feature is the scientific nature and seriousness of the description language: if something can be described clearly, or scientifically, in NLP it will be described scientifically.

In the synthon approach, the state when a person glows with joy and charges others with joy will be called the Sun. In the language of NLP, the same thing can be called «Positivity Translated Resource» and described as a resource state visually calibrated as a good mood meta-message.

A very controversial issue is what techniques and techniques are considered to belong to NLP. There is a historical field that is traditionally considered the field of NLP. Calibration, attachments, oculomotor reactions, neurological levels, contracting with the unconscious, reframing, anchoring — when experts hear this, they confidently say: «This is NLP.» On the other hand, many of the techniques that NLPers use and consider their own were created by people who have nothing to do with NLP. The experience of Virginia Satir, Fritz Perls, Milton Erickson was preserved and communicated to people through the efforts of Grinder and Bandler, for which we are very grateful. On the other hand, if some specialist has developed a high-quality psychotechnics, and the nlper spied it and described it, modeled it, whose technique is it now? Modeling has become over time a way of appropriating other people’s developments according to the principle: «What is described in the language of NLP becomes NLP and is sold as NLP.»

Proponents of NLP classify as NLP all the good things that they liked from third-party specialists and were described by them in technologically advanced NLP language. Most often, these are «chips» — techniques that are easy to master, give a quick, «magic»-like effect and sell well. Most of these chips use the unconscious, trance and hypnotic techniques.

In NLP, reframing is popular, used to communicate directly with structures that provide functioning outside of consciousness. Anchoring is another NLP technique used to associate a pleasant feeling from a memory of a past pleasant event with memories that were always accompanied by unpleasant feelings. Working together, reframing and anchoring can evoke pleasant memories and feelings in the moment. When applied psychotherapeutically, NLP provides a cure for many phobias and irrational thoughts in a single session.

The creators of NLP did not create much themselves, but they learned how to skillfully model what was created by others, describe it qualitatively, and sell it vigorously through a training system. NLP did more to popularize practical psychology than any other movement in the late 20th century.

Where can I get NLP training in Moscow? At the Sinton training center:

• NLP intensive course
• NLP course — regular