Therapy and the NLP Cult.

Cults generally recruit vulnerable people and the NLP cult is no exception. Part of Bandler's evil genius is to market his cult as a therapy for almost all life’s ills.

Any condition you have NLP claims to have the answer for example http://www.nlp-therapy.co.uk/ claims to treat emotional problems, fears and phobias, stress reduction, weight control and more. Many market it as an addiction cure for smoking, alcohol and drugs, the list of therapeutic claims is endless.

So what does the real scientific community make of NLP’s therapeutic value?

This excellent piece is by Steven Novella, MD. (Yes real letters after his name, a Doctorate in Medicine takes many years of study, examination and evaluation and is not bought at a 6 day seminar).

http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/neurolinguistic-programming-and-other-nonsense/

Dr. Novella is an academic clinical neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine. So what does Dr. Novella think of NLP’s therapeutic claims.

When first proposed there was nothing overtly pseudoscientific about NLP. It was a bit simplistic and naïve, but may have had some merit. But it turns out that the assumptions of NLP, namely that our cognition, behavior and emotions can be “programmed” by mimicking the more superficial aspects of those with desirable attributes (for example posture and mannerism) are wrong. The last thirty years of research have simply shown that NLP is bunk…..

…….. In the case of NLP it has failed every test of both its underlying theories and empirical tests of its efficacy. So, in short, NLP does not make sense and it doesn’t work. In science you don’t get three strikes, those two and you’re out.