Neuro-lin­guist­ic pro­gram­ming (NLP) explained

NLP’s origins go back to the 1970s. The then math student and later psy­cho­lo­gist Richard Bandler and linguist John Grinder jointly developed neuro-lin­guist­ic pro­gram­ming as a new method in short-term psy­cho­ther­apy. The goal was to treat patients faster and easier. The decisive factor in its de­vel­op­ment was an in­vest­ig­a­tion into why the recovery rate was sig­ni­fic­antly higher for some ther­ap­ists. The resulting thesis was the following: It’s not about the type of therapy – whether depth psy­cho­logy, be­ha­vi­our­al therapy, or psy­cho­ana­lys­is – that leads to the success of a treatment, but rather the com­mu­nic­at­ive aspects involved, such as language and behaviour.

The term neuro-lin­guist­ic pro­gram­ming is now heard more and more in other areas. But what is NLP? The primary goal of NLP is to feel good more often and feel bad less often. It combines ap­proaches from psy­cho­logy, hypnosis, and lin­guist­ics to influence our thinking and actions through language and com­mu­nic­a­tion, always under the as­sump­tion that processes in the brain (neuro) can be modified using language (lin­guist­ic) based on sys­tem­at­ic in­struc­tions (pro­gram­ming).

Neuro-lin­guist­ic pro­gram­ming is based on five com­mu­nic­a­tion channels, VAKOG for short:

1. Visual (sense of sight)
2. Auditory (sense of hearing)
3. Kin­aes­thet­ic (sense of touch)
4. Olfactory (sense of smell)
5. Gustatory (sense of taste)

The VAKOG model is a typical rep­res­ent­a­tion system of NLP. The system describes how we perceive the world through the influence of the five sensory channels.

NLP is not seen as a closed teaching system but rather offers in­di­vidu­al tools or models that can be used to un­der­stand how we perceive and influence our en­vir­on­ment and how our en­vir­on­ment perceives and in­flu­ences us.

Various NLP formats are used for this in neuro-lin­guist­ic pro­gram­ming. There is no stand­ard­ised procedure because NLP does not provide its own theory. With most methods, the first step is to try to create a rapport (i.e. a bond) with the other person. The starting point for the NLP format used is the client’s inner map. This is made up of mental images that arise from the bodily feelings, pictorial thoughts, and inner lin­guist­ic ex­pres­sion of the client. The client is made aware of their own per­cep­tion of the problem through this map in order to sub­sequently change it using the NLP formats and to develop new be­ha­vi­our­al strategies.

There are different formats that are used in neuro-lin­guist­ic pro­gram­ming. We will present six of the tech­niques used:

• Meta-programs: Meta-programs play a major role in NLP. They provide insight into how people perceive, think about, and act in their en­vir­on­ment (mostly sub­con­sciously). Those who un­der­stand the meta-programs can also un­der­stand them­selves and others better, and also un­der­stand reactions or actions. An example of a meta-program is “action”. A dis­tinc­tion is made between proactive and re­flect­ive action. If a person is 100% proactive, they act without thinking. However, if they are 100% re­flect­ive, they will think most of the time but never act.
• Anchor technique: An anchor is the con­nec­tion between a certain reaction and an external stimulus. For example, the typical scent of cinnamon and oranges is as­so­ci­ated with Christmas in many people’s minds. Or you may associate a certain song with your first kiss. All of these stimuli – from sounds to images to smells, tastes, and gestures – have shaped us and create a certain feeling. The anchor technique in NLP uses these auto­mat­ic­ally occurring feelings and creates a link to processes that can be in­flu­enced at will. A stimulus is de­lib­er­ately con­di­tioned with a reaction and feelings are stored. These can then be called up, for example, to help you to better handle tasks. The anchor effect is also used in marketing strategies.
• Swish technique: In order to change unwanted habits, the swish technique builds strong positive mo­tiv­a­tions. Assuming that inner images are linked to emotions, a negative inner image is re­peatedly overlaid and covered up with a positive inner image. The goal is to make it im­possible for the client, when thinking about the negative inner image, to avoid thinking directly about the second positive image and evoking the as­so­ci­ated emotions.
• Reframing: Neuro-lin­guist­ic pro­gram­ming did not invent reframing but developed methods through which a therapist or coach can find helpful reframing tech­niques. For example, there is the six-step reframing format. Neg­at­ively-charged issues are said to be perceived more pos­it­ively or put through an emotional re­as­sess­ment with the help of reframing. The client and coach create a framework within which ad­di­tion­al positive aspects can be gained from the negative ex­per­i­ence so that the behaviour or situation can be viewed from different per­spect­ives. This is meant to free the mind and make it flexible and increase the number of options in difficult situ­ations.
• Autonom­ous eye movement: According to some NLP theses, par­tic­u­lar thinking processes are linked to un­con­trol­lable eye movements. Overall, the thesis is based on six different eye movements. Looking up, for example, means that the person opposite you is imagining something visually. They are calling up mental images. However, the validity of this thesis has already been refuted by sci­entif­ic studies.
• Pacing: Pacing refers to re­flect­ing both the verbal com­mu­nic­a­tion as well as the non-verbal com­mu­nic­a­tion of the other person. Gestures and be­ha­viours are mimicked verbally and non-verbally. A rapport with the in­ter­locutor and a positive at­mo­sphere are created in this way.

As mentioned above, neuro-lin­guist­ic pro­gram­ming was developed as a new method in short-term psy­cho­ther­apy. Today, however, NLP is used in com­mu­nic­a­tion processes in various areas of life and work:

• In personnel de­vel­op­ment, for example, to reduce mental blocks and self-doubt among employees or to raise awareness among employees on topics such as social en­gin­eer­ing.
• When selecting personnel, NLP meta-programs can be used to find the right people for the ad­vert­ised position. The first step is to define which position is to be filled and which meta-programs the candidate must bring with them for the position. Each applicant considers specific questions that have been stand­ard­ised for these char­ac­ter­ist­ics.
• In sales, the com­mu­nic­a­tion tools of pacing and leading are es­pe­cially helpful for being more con­vin­cing when con­tact­ing customers and for re­spond­ing more ap­pro­pri­ately to an in­ter­locutor.

Neuro-lin­guist­ic pro­gram­ming has been re­peatedly cri­ti­cised. It is often called ma­nip­u­lat­ive, not least because cults like the Church of Sci­ento­logy use these practices.

The central problem, however, is the over­es­tim­a­tion of its ef­fect­ive­ness by users who sometimes make NLP look dubious. NLP has become virtually in­de­pend­ent in its further de­vel­op­ment over the decades. There are now countless pub­lic­a­tions in which prac­tic­ally every author has con­trib­uted their own ideas and views. The use of tools and rep­res­ent­a­tion of models is often done entirely at your own dis­cre­tion.

Laypeople who have learned certain methods may be tempted to use these methods in healing therapies. However, this can have dangerous con­sequences, es­pe­cially in com­bin­a­tion with trance induction, trauma treat­ments, or con­front­a­tion therapy – par­tic­u­larly if the methods are used in­cor­rectly. That’s why pro­fes­sion­al training that creates risk awareness and teaches the correct ap­plic­a­tion of the methods should have top priority.