Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)

We all experience the world in a subjective manner because we are all unique individuals with a unique history and set of experiences. These experiences are mediated through the senses, processed in the form of thoughts, and influence our behaviour, which includes how we communicate with others (both verbally and in gestures, etc.)—including forms of behaviour that are not useful or productive. We also experience the world, and react to it, on both a conscious and an unconscious level.

Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) works on the assumption that we can change our behaviour when we change the subjective ways in which we experience and make sense of our environment, and when we alter the language that we use to discuss it. Various techniques are used to facilitate this process. Working with their therapist, a patient can figure out what aspects of their mental processes are causing them problems, and what their desired goals are. On this basis, they can design interventions, and start making pro-active changes in their lives. Tools used as part of this process can include visualising people or things that are experienced as problematic and using the power of the imagination to reduce them to a manageable size and acquire a positive outlook towards the concept of managing reactions to them.

It is important for patient and therapist to have a positive rapport, and the therapist works to facilitate this by engaging with the patient closely, including matching some of their non-verbal behaviour, such as gestures and body language. The therapist then works with the client, over a period of time, to adopt appropriate tools into their lives to help them to change the way they think about the world and their place in it, with a view to making actual behavioural changes in their lives and drawing closer to their goal.