Ann Lazerus was first introduced to Neuro-Linguistic Programming after she discovered that she was allergic to her new glasses.
For a couple of years Lazerus had been allergic to nickel, breaking out in a rash when she wore certain earrings and bracelets. Finally, after buying a new pair of glasses and discovering too late that they were made of nickel, she decided to try out an allergy therapy she had heard about.The name of the therapy didn't sound like something that would help a rash. It sounded, in fact, like it might have something to do with foreign languages. But after just one 10-minute session of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Lazerus was convinced. She says she hasn't been allergic to nickel since.
Ten-minute allergy cures are just some of the many claims of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, a grab-bag technique that its practitioners mercifully abbreviate as NLP. Practitioners insist that NLP can help reverse even the most stubborn phobias, improve the success of psychotherapy, and help anyone sell just about anything.
"NLP is a method of detecting, utilizing and changing patterns of human behavior," explains Tim Hallbom, a Salt Lake NLP practitioner who is also president-elect of the National Association of Neuro-Linguistic Programming.
The group will hold its fourth annual regional conference this weekend in Park City.
According to Hallbom, teachers and school administrators around the country have begun learning NLP techniques. Businesses, he says, have been using NLP for years.
At the heart of NLP is the belief that humans, as they grow, develop certain unconscious patterns of behavior and thinking. Some of these patterns serve them well; others, such as phobias, don't. The trick is to change the negative patterns to positive ones.
NLP was originated in the 1970s by two Californians, linguist John Grinder and psychotherapist/computer scientist Richard Bandler.
In the beginning, the two men were only interested in figuring out why certain therapists were more successful than others. So they studied - on videotapes and in person - the communication skills of such luminaries as Fritz Perls, the founder of Gestalt therapy, and Virginia Satir, the noted family therapist.
What they discovered was that these therapists had subtle strategies for getting through to their clients; they tended to mirror their clients' breathing rates, for example, and were sensitive to even the tiniest changes in posture, eye movements and muscle tension.
As Bandler and Grinder continued to develop their NLP theories, they found that they could help people re-pattern their brains to eliminate negative behavior, even "behavior" such as allergies that would seem not to originate with a thought process at all. The repatterning involves such techniques as visualization and a conditioning process known as "anchoring."
"Eighty to 90 percent of the time it works," says Hallbom about the NLP "quick allergy process." The NLP "fast phobia/trauma cure," says Hallbom, also only takes a few minutes - a claim that leaves most traditional psychotherapists unconvinced.
"Clinicians are trained to believe that it takes a long time for a person to change," notes Hallbom. But, he reasons, if it takes only a second for someone to learn a phobia, it shouldn't take long for them to unlearn it.
According to Hallbom, some 100,000 people have gone through some sort of NLP training, and about 6,000 people are currently "using it effectively with others."
To be labeled an NLP practitioner, a person must go through a 27-day certification course. Hallbom, who is also a licensed social worker, warns that people should check out the credentials of anyone claiming to do NLP work.
"The problem with NLP is that it works," he says. "And it could leave people in confused states if it's done wrong."
Done correctly, though, NLP is the most effective technique for change Hallbom has found. Once he learned NLP, he says, "it made everything else obsolete."
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The Fourth Annual Mountain States Regional Conference - "Mountains of Possibilities" - will be held Saturday and Sunday at The Yarrow in Park City. The public is invited. For more information about workshops and fees, contact Ann Lazerus, 575-6912.