# Is NLP effective at all?



## MoonlitMadness (Mar 11, 2013)

I have a friend who swears by it but he doesn't seem the anxious type at all! Would NLP tackle depression and anxiety, or am I better off trying CBT again?


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## Lisa (Jul 8, 2006)

CBT is founded in science and there is plenty of evidence supporting its effectiveness.

NLP has been around for years. Some people swear by it but scientific research has come to the conclusion that it is ineffective. Any kind of results reported by its practitioners appear to be due to placebo effects.

There is a large Wiki page on NLP. Here is a quote that I just copied from there: *NLP is not really a cohesive therapy but a ragbag of different techniques without a particularly clear theoretical basis...[and its] evidence base is virtually non-existent*

Have a look at the Wiki entry yourself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming


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## Caedmon (Dec 14, 2003)

NLP is not effective


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## Authorfriendly (May 29, 2015)

I think it depends on the therapist in both cases. CBT is harder to do poorly, but skilled clinicians in either can be helpful


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## Footloose1949 (Jul 15, 2015)

Lisa mentions that NLP may well to some extent act a bit like a 'Placebo' ... I think it deserves to be pointed out that whilst clinicians and scientists have yet to work out how and why Placebos work, over the past decade, there has been a lot of research undertaken into them, which confirms that both of these groups mentioned and others, including those who take them, that even when a person knows that this IS what they are being given, some people have found them to be extremely effective! 

The mind is a poorly understood thing, and never ceases to amaze those who try and understand how it operates.


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## Chris777 (Jul 31, 2015)

NLP is effective!


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## patrick70 (Jul 31, 2015)

CBT is effective, this has been shown in various scientific studies, as Lisa already mentioned. 

There is also a thing called CBH, which basically is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy enhanced with Hypnosis. There are studies that show CBH is even more effective than CBT. I don't have the references at hand, but if you google it i am sure you will find some. 

NLP, in my opinion, is overcommercialized and hyped up. However, if you look at the core, at the origins of NLP, it really started with hypnosis. Bandler and Grinder, the two guys who invented NLP, created NLP by modelling the work of one of the most succesful and effective hypnotists, a gentleman named Milton Erickson. 

Though the evidence on NLP is weak, I believe that at the core, it contains several elements that will be effective. Because the fundamentals of NLP really are about effective use of the imagination and concentration, as in hypnosis. 

Your best bet, in my opinion is to do CBH. Preferably with mindfulness added in as well.


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## patrick70 (Jul 31, 2015)

patrick70 said:


> CBT is effective, this has been shown in various scientific studies, as Lisa already mentioned.
> 
> There is also a thing called CBH, which basically is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy enhanced with Hypnosis. There are studies that show CBH is even more effective than CBT. I don't have the references at hand, but if you google it i am sure you will find some.
> 
> ...


PS just my 2 cents on why you should try CBH over CBT: CBT is effective, but is all about rational thinking and changing your assumptions and beliefs (and avoidance behavior and self-consciousness). I think - but i am not a psychologist - that the weakness is that it doesn't let you work with your subconscious.

When you're 'on the spot' and become anxious (face blushing, heart racing etc.) there are all sorts of subconscious behavioral patterns at work. These are really hard to eliminate rationally, i.e. you can't 'think your way out of' fear. That's were hypnosis as an additional therapy on top of CBT can really help in my opinion.

When done properly, I think hypnosis and NLP are similar. It's just that there are a lot of charlatans out there trying to make money with overhyped NLP

Again, just my 2 cents


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## VanDamme (Jun 8, 2004)

patrick70 said:


> PS just my 2 cents on why you should try CBH over CBT: CBT is effective, but is all about rational thinking and changing your assumptions and beliefs (and avoidance behavior and self-consciousness). I think - but i am not a psychologist - that the weakness is that it doesn't let you work with your subconscious.
> 
> When you're 'on the spot' and become anxious (face blushing, heart racing etc.) there are all sorts of subconscious behavioral patterns at work. These are really hard to eliminate rationally, i.e. you can't 'think your way out of' fear. That's were hypnosis as an additional therapy on top of CBT can really help in my opinion.
> 
> When done properly, I think hypnosis and NLP are similar.


You're right. CBT is good at addressing rational thoughts and beliefs but doesn't work well for feelings (fear, shame, embarrassment) since those are processed subconsciously. I know it from my and many others' experience and that is one common issue I've seen for people who weren't able to change SA.

Fortunately, that's where hypnosis, NLP, EFT, EMDR and a few other approaches can be useful.

The good part about NLP techniques is that you can do most of them yourself while for hypnosis you need someone else to guide you. True, there are few areas that hypnosis covers better, but for many issues NLP will do fine (even for panic/phobia).


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