NLP History and the Presuppositions of NLP | NLP Manchester
The History of NLP
NLP started in the early seventies from the collaboration of Dr John Grinder, an Assistant Professor of linguistics at the University of California, Santa Cruz and Richard Bandler, a computer scientist and Gestalt therapist. Together they produced a linguistic model that identified the language patterns of a few gifted individuals such as the world-famous hypnotherapist, Milton Erickson, MD, Fritz Perls, of Gestalt therapy, anthropologist Gregory Bateson and Virginia Satir of family systems therapy. The synthesis of their findings, a blend of cognitive and behavioural science, resulted in the technology known as Neuro Linguistic Programming. In the 30+ years since it was first developed, NLP has grown, changed and expanded, and it continues to do so today. It has given rise to a trail of techniques that can be used both personally and professionally. They are used internationally in fields such as therapy, sports, business, sales, education and self development.
The Presuppositions of NLP
- The ability to change the process by which we experience reality is more often valuable than changing the content of our experience of reality.
- The meaning of the communication is the response you get.
- All distinctions human beings are able to make concerning our environment and our behaviour can be usefully represented through the visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, and gustatory senses.
- The resources an individual needs in order to effect a change are already within them.
- The map is not the territory. In other words our perceptions of the world around us is not necessarily what is happening in reality.
- The positive worth of the individual is held constant, while the value and appropriateness of internal and/or external behavior is questioned.
- There is a positive intention motivating every behaviour, and a context in which every behaviour has value.
- Feedback vs. Failure – All results and behaviours are achievements, whether they are desired outcomes for a given task/context, or not.
Confused about NLP
There appears to be some confusion over what NLP actually is. The general public, and perhaps much more alarmingly, a proportion of NLP practitioners and therapists seem to think NLP is the NLP techniques and patterns, such as the Swish pattern and the New Behaviour Generator. But NLP is not the techniques and patterns, the core of NLP is actually the underlying modelling processes and modelling skills that then enabled the creation of the well known NLP techniques and patterns in the first place.
If a practitioner does not have the NLP modelling skills, or does not understand the NLP modelling process, then they are not really doing NLP. They are just repeating parrot fashion NLP techniques and patterns that were created by someone else, without any real understanding about what they are doing or why it works. A real NLP therapist should be able to create a model of a clients presenting problem, and from that model create a solution that is unique to that individual.
It is a little bit like the difference between someone baking a cake by following a recipe, and a master baker who understand fully what all the ingredients and cooking processes do. Both approaches are fine until a problem arises or you need to adapt the recipe. Only the master baker has the skill and understanding to make the adjustments necessary to work around the problem and still produce a quality cake.
NLP Manchester
If you are looking for an NLP Therapist in the Greater Manchester area or online, who goes beyond the repetition of simple NLP techniques then contact Nigel on 0161 881 4333 now, or use the contact form.
NLP Manchester
Nigel Magowan is a Manchester based accredited psychotherapist who has also undergone in-depth NLP based Psychotherapy training lasting several years. He also holds two NLP Master Practitioner certificates, an NLP Practitioner certificate, and an NLP Coaching certificate. He is a highly experienced NLP Therapist, with almost ten thousand of hours real experience of using NLP in a therapeutic environment at his practice in Manchester.