Why isn’t NLP a Mainstream Approach?
| 17 responses
Here’s a great quote from a new book titled “Beyond Rapid Therapy: Modern NLP Concepts & Methods” by European NLP trainer, Rasa Galatiltyte.
Why isn’t NLP a Mainstream Approach?
By: Rasa Galatiltyte
There you have it. This is one of the most difficult, if not THE most disturbing, questions to answer. As active practitioners in the field, we get this question quite a lot. Mostly, from other NLP advocates! Rarely a client would come in and ask such questions. Since you bought this book and kept reading beyond the first few pages, here is an answer that should / could / would (we hope) ease your mind.
Here is a known fact:
Neuro Linguistic Programming has had a significant influence on psychotherapy, counseling, sales, coaching, leadership, and plenty of other professional fields. Trainers and therapists have borrowed techniques from Neuro Linguistic Programming or been influenced by it. However, Neuro Linguistic Programming has not gained a lasting place in academic work, and few mainstream therapists acknowledge it.
There are several primary reasons.
One reason is that it attracted very diverse, and not always competent or honest advocates. We know some of these people, do we not?
Another reason is that serious academic research institutes and leaders were not supportive of NLP, for their own reasons.
Unfortunately, researchers focused on the wrong things. They chose aspects that were easy to research, but didn’t really represent NLP. Also, a fair amount of the initial writings on NLP (excluding The Structure Of Magic, volume I and II) was mostly for self-help and less-academically-educated readers, and there was no widely accepted central body to establish standards.
Because the most central fundamental nature of Neuro Linguistic Programming is as a means of modeling and creating training, it was destined to sprout offshoots that were quite diverse.
On top of this, people tend to confuse NLP with the techniques that come from it. They get the impression that NLP has no cohesive identity or that it is just a way to promote success seminars or hypnotize people. We had the same conception of this field before studying it thoroughly.
We are not going to point fingers and blame anyone for that unfortunate development. Who’s fault it is and why it had to come about this way – these are questions for historians, not for therapists. The average self-help seeker jumped on the NLP-training-wagon instantly.
This was certainly the same impression that academics got. They looked for clear-cut ideas, but found in NLP a mish-mash of unscientific thinking that obscured the essence and contributions of NLP. For them, there was no “there” there. The result is that many therapists use techniques that have sprouted from NLP, but without knowing (or acknowledging) where it came from.
This has left NLP to be identified with the more outlandish or marginalized practitioners, or simply disregarded or forgotten.
Much of the writing of NLP practitioners also detracted from its credibility because it had a scattered or pedantic style. It appears that NLP’s emphasis on innovation, “bite-sized” techniques, and grandiose promises tended to attract people with unaddressed symptoms of attention deficit disorder (ADD/ADHD) or other problems in need of insight.
This seems to have produced a self-perpetuating cycle that sealed the fate of NLP in so far as the mainstream is concerned.
This meant that the greatest assets left to promote NLP were the clients of the NLP practitioners. Their voices, though largely positive, were not collectively strong enough to propel NLP into a status as lasting as cognitive psychotherapy, but NLP did have a strong wave of interest that lasted roughly twenty years.
Ok, we are not here to cry over the past or protest or smash any researcher’s door (or window). We are here to learn how to help our clients better and “do NLP” the right way. Perhaps, as time goes by and more clients reach their outcomes, the mainstream mental health field will acknowledge and recognize the enormous contribution we all had to their own professional growth.
One mission of Beyond Rapid Therapy is to bridge the gap between psychotherapy and NLP. I hope you will agree that it provides well-grounded approaches that can be of great practical value to therapists and other consultants in providing rapid help for many issues as well as bolstering longer-term work.
We now know that many concepts that found their way into Neuro Linguistic Programming training, some more than four decades ago, were not really supported by adequate observation, experience, or scientific understanding.
Nonetheless, you can still find a lot of those out-dated old-fashioned concepts and methodologies in many NLP programs today. This is testimony to the power of traditions, groupthink, and wishful thinking. In contrast, this book you’re holding brings the core assumptions and functions of NLP into the foreground, showing them at work in modern practices.
We hope you find that it makes NLP more accessible as it provides fresh techniques and explanations that expand your repertoire in a scientifically defensible way.
What we remind ourselves every day are the words of Richard Bandler, the famous co-founder of Neuro Linguistic Programming:
“NLP is an attitude and a methodology that leaves behind a trail of techniques.”
Any attitudes and methodologies are bound to improve and change in time. We truly believe that now is the best time to acknowledge that fact and take a new perspective when studying this field.
The following web site has an interesting discussion of views and opinions on NLP that you may find of value:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro_Linguistic_Programming
This was a useful discussion – thank you!
After reading this – I am still left wondering (conversley)….why ’should’ NLP be mainstream?’ Surely a list, citing the reasons for mainstreaming NLP(rather than reasons why not) would also be of great value here?
Thanks
Who says that NLP is not mainstream? I argue that it is exactly the opposite – we have already too much of NLP.
NLP that is being used to brainwash citizens by politicians.
NLP that is being used to sell you stuff you don’t need.
NLP that is being used to create motivational practices in companies, that fuck with your mind and leave you drooling with two goals in your mind – how to sell your soul to the devil.
Please, stop it.
Although I agree with many of the observations made in this article I find something absent that is also helpful to look at.
Back in 1991 Geoffrey Moore wrote a very influential marketing book entitled:
Crossing the Chasm. This book describes something called the “Technology Adoption Lifecycle.”
Moore discovered that there was a very distinct pattern – a sequence that all ‘disruptive innovations’ go through before they go mainstream. NLP was and still is a disruptive system with premises that challenge many traditional approaches; psychology, linguistics, and science itself.
Moore recognized there were five main segments of the population; innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards.
According to Moore, “marketers” should focus on one group of customers at a time, using each group as a base for marketing to the next group. If you have something new and disruptive you must start with innovators (group 1) and then move to the early adopters (group 2) and so on…
Important to our discussion is realizing that the most difficult step is making the transition between group 2, the early adopters and mainstream pragmatists (group 3: early majority). This is the “chasm” that Moore refers to.
The solution for crossing the chasm into the mainstream is a D-Day effort to conquer a beachhead or foothold in the marketplace.
Bandler and Grinder could have decided to focus all their efforts in making the fast phobia cure an accepted process. They could have modeled someone with a skill that mainstream (or corporations) wanted badly and marketed that installation over and over again until NLP was king of the heap.
Obviously, this never happened. The maverick founders of NLP were not business men and making money may have caused them to lose focus. The high degree of agreement required wasn’t there.
In contrast, Tony Robbins is a true marketer and so has been the closest individual to making NLP mainstream. He decided to call his approach NAC instead.
I’m asking you to consider ‘marketplace reality’ as a factor – not just the economic marketplace, but marketplace of ideas. Rarely do we NLPers look at the affect of making money on the founders, their lack of business and marketing acumen, and their lack of unity as the reason for NLP’s reputation and slow demise.
For a long time I tended to look at the merits of technology and I miss the fact that it was the people behind the technology that early on determined its future.
I also believe there are a couple of other reasons that NLP isn’t mainstream.
1. Similar to most therapeutic technologies if the AMA cannot control it there seems to be a problem with acceptance, accreditation and of course there is the problem of getting the insurance companies to pay the practitioner.
2. Another reason could be that during the peak of expansion for NLP in the late 70’s and early 80’s there was an incident in which one of the founders of NLP was implicated in the death of his girlfriend.
Although acquitted of the allegation, the medical community has a strange opinion of murder charges, alleged cocaine trafficking and the use of firearms as a therapeutic metaphor.
The last reason, I believe it is important to mention that NLP is a wonderful tool for coaching and for business strategies. At the time of it’s introduction, it was being used in a niche industry (psychotherapy) as a “brief-er therapy”. In some cases too brief for the existing medical community to accept that change could occur in “1 session” which was the presiding thought that was being taught while I was learning NLP in the early 80’s.
It is possible to change someone in “1 session” but should that be the norm?
What if the client has other issues that are related to but not immediately obvious to the client, who now thinks that everything is just fine or does it give the client a false sense of resolution?
It reminds me of some of the goal setting seminars I attended and there was always some guy who had never made more that 20,000 dollars in a year in his whole life and suddenly he sets a goal to make 10 million dollars. Sure it’s totally possible, but there may be some ecology issues and a some need for adjustment in his identy so that he can make the money ethically and there’s the whole question of now that he has made the money; does he have the necessay strateiges for keeping it?
NLP is a great tool just like many others. Perhaps one day NLP will experience the credit it deserves, in the meantime, we just need to keep doing good work and teaching as many people as possible this technology until we reach a tipping point where NLP has to be accepted as a viable alternative to traditional therapy.
Chiropractic medicine had this same issue of acceptance, bad PR and dis-information. They finally had to sue the AMA to get the strangle hold off of their business; we may have to as well.
My two cents
Michael Harris, PhD
Perhaps NLP would be more mainstream if more NLP practitioners spoke in plain English.
Bob, what are you trying to say? ;~)
Neuro Linguistic Programming; “What the hell does that mean?” is not an atypical reaction and could be a contributory factor in NLP not going mainstream.
LangueFolie, you mention >>>NLP …being used to brainwash citizens / to sell you stuff you don’t need. / create motivational practices in companies, that fuck with your mind and leave you drooling <<<
True enough, but that was happening before NLP and happens without NLP.
Also, NLP is not the fault, it is people who seek to brainwash, con and mindfuck other people.
NLP offers Other People skills, insights and awareness that will reduce the likelihood of getting hooked, conned, mindfucked or in other ways being bamboozled by politicians, employers or exploitative salesfolk – even those selling NLP.
I run Crafty Listening workshops and training on a range of topics, including for Adoption Professionals. Recently a delegate expressed disappointment that I had used a theoretical model that had gone out of fashion in the 1980s!
Transactional Analysis was the model refered to and, although TA was very 'popular', even say 'fashionable' in the 60s – which was, after all, The Dawning of The Age of Aquarious – it has never, as far as I'm aware, lost credibility as a valid viable and honourable methodolgy and philosophy.
I think NLP, TA and other models of human behaviour and personal evolution are 'just ways of talking about' why and how humans do what we do, and what we need to do to make choices that serve us and others well.
One of the benefits of NLP, for me, is that I can hardly imagine ever again finding another human [being] boring.
A psychiatrist on radio 4, talking about the two young brothers who sexually and sadistically tortured two young boys, was asked how or if the four youngsters could ever 'recover' from the horrors they caused or suffered.
His answer included "… 8 – 12 sessions of EMDR"
Asked what that was, he simply said, Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing. This was accepted without further query, which momentarily surprised me, because it is even more of a mouthful than NeuroL..etc. Upon reflection though,it is propably easy for the passenger on the Clapham omnibus to figure out what it means, with but a moment's pondering.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Teaching the spelling strategy AKA 'Magic Spelling' to all teachers would, I believe, make a profound difference to the efficacy of teaching as well as the process of students'learning.
Not because of spelling per se, but because understanding [NLP] strategies would enrich and enhance teachers' skills to such an extent that e.g., ADHD could be reduced.
The knock on effects of that would be radical and, soon enough, render NLP more mainstream.
go well
I think it’s a useful topics and helpful to all other People.
The funny thing about this whole discussion
is that alternative therapies IE Homeopathy,
kinesiology,Energy healing etc are more excepted by the community than NLP is!
NLP has a huge credibility problem that does
not stem fro it’s creators but from people like Tony Robbins riding on it’s coat tails
and being caught for selling dodgy products.
The teaching so readily accessible found its
way into the wrong hands blackening NLPs name.
People are more likely to spend thousands
on a dodgy idea/product than use/learn NLP
and that says it all.
Speaking as a layman with a long time, casual interest in NLP I would suggest, as others here already have, that the primary issue is with the glaring lack of simple, direct introductory NLP lessons that can be quickly and easily learned and applied by anyone.
Although I am very fond of Mr. Vaknin’s book, from a layman’s point of view, it still lacks a certain cohesion that I would find necessary in order to truly get a sense of how to incorporate NLP in my daily life.
I’ve done a fair amount of research on NLP over the years, and so far the most practical and financially accessible introduction to NLP I’ve found is Richard Bandler’s book “Get the Life You Want.” It’s written in plain language, and presents a comprehensive lesson plan that introduces the reader to a series of practical exercises.
Each lesson creates a foundation of understanding and experience which prepares the reader for the next slightly more complex lesson until, by the end, I finally at least felt that I had scratched the surface of NLP and come away with some meaningful and immediately useful NLP tools and information. And all of this was accomplished without having to wade through a sea of boring NLP jargon. What a concept! No other single NLP resource has done this for me. And for once, the only confusion I felt after reading a book on this subject was why the hell the author didn’t write the thing decades ago!
I guarantee that if Mr. Vaknin were to follow Bandler’s example of writing a bite-sized book with a few carefully selected, interrelated exercises, citing real life applications, written in plain language (hold the jargon please!) I would buy it in a heartbeat.
As it stands, I find the fringe methodologies like EFT (and yes, energy work, acupressure, etc), even with all their quirks, to be far more useful, intuitive, and applicable tools than any single NLP technique I’ve ever come across.
Of course the irony is that EFT itself is clearly rooted at least partially in NLP. But the way in which it’s presented (as it has been by Gary Craig) is so easy to grasp that even children can (and do) learn to use and teach it to each other, yet it’s profound enough to captivate hypnotherapists, psychologists, and all manner of professionals focused on helping clients achieve rapid, positive, and lasting changes in their lives.
If you truly want the masses to seek out NLP, find ways to present NLP for the masses!
/rant
Hi Pan,
To correct something you wrote – I am not the author of the book “Beyond Rapid Therapy”, from which this article is taken (as stated in the beginning of the article).
Schlomo, if you re-read my comment, you’ll see that I did not write that you were the author of “Beyond Rapid Therapy.” I wrote that I was (and am) very fond of *your* book – “The Big Book of NLP Techniques.” I was around when you announced your intentions of writing it and I was quick to purchase it when it became available through Amazon.
I’d be interested in any other comments you may have regarding my remarks.
Hi Pan,
Thanks for clarifying your message. I re-read it, and it still seems to me that you were referring to Rasa’s book while mixing words such as EFT and my name (I have never published EFT methods.. or was I?).
You wrote: ” the primary issue is with the glaring lack of simple, direct introductory NLP lessons that can be quickly and easily learned and applied by anyone.”
I published a book called “NLP for Beginners”. Did you read it? I believe it answers that need for a logical and simple explanation of NLP.
I did not read “Get the life you want” yet (I bought it, though), but I did read some chapters of his other book on Hypnosis, and it’s quite an interesting book. If the first works for you, great! I’m sure that Bandler can explain his ideas much better than anyone else
“If you truly want the masses to seek out NLP, find ways to present NLP for the masses!”
I certainly don’t. I’m not a promoter of NLP, and I have no interest in getting the masses to seek NLP. “The Big Book of NLP” is a reference book written for active NLP practitioners, not for the general public. There are a lot of great basic NLP books out there, including one of my own.
Regards,
Shlomo
Although…now having just been to Amazon to take a look at Mr. Galatiltyte’s book, I stumbled across another book you’ve written called, “NLP for Beginners – Only the Essentials.” If only I had known!
I imagine, as suggested by the glowing reviews, that it will make an excellent companion to “The Big Book of NLP Techniques.” Which is exactly what I was hoping for. Thank you for writing it. I can’t wait to read it.
Uhg! It appears we are “cross posting” here (writing our responses to each other simultaneously). Rather ironic to be having communication dificulties on an NLP site is it not?
I will wait awhile before posting again so as to once again clarify my position.
Best wishes,
Pan
Bandler’s murder trial did plenty to detract from the credibility of NLP. It turned out that taunting and baiting the police in your hometown was not a wise move. I have not read the transcript of the trial but friends of mine who did said he did not look good.