In relative terms, NLP is still in its infancy compared to many other behavioral
change technologies, however the basics of NLP began a very long time ago.
A man by the name of Alfred Korzybski studied the behavioral patterns of the
people in society of the 1940’s and later released a book called Science and Sanity that broke down the key challenges that people had who were suffering from any
number of diagnosed mental issues. He shared a particularly interesting
phenomenon when he said, “Almost all psychological problems are the result of
the inability of a person to traverse logical levels.” What’s interesting is that he described that in the future there would be a way to describe the processes of a
human being, and that is what we today call Neuro-Linguistic-Programming (NLP).
In the 1970’s Richard Bandler and Frank Pucelik were friends who had a desire to
heal themselves of their unpleasant pasts, and in turn, they came across Gestalt
Therapy (a form of psychotherapy). They studied in great detail what Fritz Perls
(the founder of Gestalt Therapy) was teaching as part of the program, and as a
result, they found they were really good at copying the processes Fritz was
describing (modeling). In fact, Bandler and Pucelik became so good at modeling
Gestalt Therapy, that they began teaching it in classrooms as a form of therapy
for other people who wanted to breakthrough their own past emotional baggage.
Their techniques and teachings became so well known that they caught the
attention of John Grindler, a professor of linguistics.
Grindler just watched them for a few weeks and then after careful consideration,
approached the two men and asked them if they knew how what they were doing was working. Grindler had a gift of being able to breakdown the specific structure (linguistically) of what they were doing, and offer that up as a process that could be duplicated. Before working with him, Bandler and Pucelik did not really know
why their methods worked. They had just become really good at copying what
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worked. They all began working together, and as a result, formulated a
linguistically structured science which was then called “Meta.”
Over the years, they created Neuro-Linguistic-Programming after working
tirelessly with no financial backing and ridicule from people who were apparently
‘well studied’ in psychotherapy and psychology. During this time, Pucelik split
from the group and went his own way due to various disagreements. Bandler and
Grindler then locked arms and began even more rigorous exploration of this new
technology.
In the early days, there was much experimentation and testing from various
people who decided to join them on their quest to advance the understandings of
human internal processes for the benefit of people world-wide. During this time,
many people contributed to the development of Neuro-Linguistic-Programming
and that is where the idea of NLP comes from; having the ability to find someone
who’s reached a particular level of excellence in any given field, and to learn
exactly how that result is produced. That all starts from a simple question of,
“How do I take that behavior and apply it to myself to get the same results?” You then follow the bread crumbs (clues) to achieve that same level of excellence.
The three people they copied (or modelled) were Fritz Perls, Virginia Satir and
Milton Erickson. As these people were considered at the time to be the top
behavioral change experts in the world, creating huge shifts in the people whom
they worked with. NLP all begins with an attitude of curiosity to find out how
someone does something, and when we look at a human being who does
something that appears truly magical and remarkable we only have to ask the
question, “How does this person behave this way, despite their current
circumstances?”
Bandler and Grindler went on to produce their first two books in 1975 and have
gone on to release many more volumes since then. Once they had produced
those books, their material began being picked and read by psychotherapists and
psychologists (and other behavioral change professionals) with many of their
previous nemesis’ (people who ridiculed them) calling them for advice and help
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with many of their own patients (funnily enough). After the huge interest in these books, and their work, they continued to develop the technology of NLP and
studied Milton Erickson who’s apparently one of the best hypnotherapists of our
time, and from this, published another book called Patterns of the Hypnotic
Techniques of Milton Erickson, Volumes 1 and 2. These books contained the basis of a new model called the Milton Model, which works by using vague language,
and inserting generalizations, distortions and deletions into people’s language
and thoughts. Fascinatingly enough, the Milton Model is almost the complete
opposite of their original Meta Model, but both somehow managed to get very
consistent results. This new birth in behavioral change technology proved Alfred
Korzybski correct; by traversing logical levels it is possible for problems to just disappear.
But this all turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg for Bandler and Grindler, as they began exploring these concepts and information further, taking their original models and expanding them further. Perceptual positions, representational
systems and reframing submodalities were all new tools they had created
following their initial work, and began to be picked up more and more by people
in the behavioral change professions. This prompted Bandler and Grindler to
produce additional books and seminars as their work became more popular and
sought after. The work that they produced from the 1970’s to today, has created
a large body of information, tools and techniques that have not only improved the lives of many others, but have gone on to inspire many other people to learn NLP
and create their own versions, books and seminars on the subject.
These days NLP is regarded world-wide as being one of the most influential tools
for producing positive results in the way people perceive themselves, the world
within them, and the world around them. This technology became mega-popular
starting in the 1980’s and 1990’s with huge personalities like Anthony Robbins
using it to improve the lives of millions of people across the globe. As our
awareness as a society increases around the areas of personal empowerment and
responsibility, NLP and the tools that it offers will become more easily available and accessible every day.
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