Directory:The Wikipedia Point of View/NLP and science (Wikipedia)

The article NLP and science was begun by the Wikipedia administrator FT2 in June 2006, and was largely complete by the version of 13 June 2006.

It begins:

Due to its inherent preference for pragmatism over theory, its lack of formal and theoretical structure, and its lack of controls over usage, NLP doesn't always lend itself well to the scientific method. Equally (as scientific researchers have pointed out), attempts have also been greatly obfusticated by other factors, not least of which are poor scientific appreciation of the subject being researched, failure to fully consider, control and understand all key variables, unrealistic claims by some practitioners, and often, lack of high quality experimental design.

This finding was supported when, in 1988, both Heap and Druckman independently concluded that most studies to that date were "heavily flawed"[1] and that the "effectiveness of NLP therapy undertaken in authentic clinical contexts of trained practitioners has not yet been properly investigated. [1]

The antecedent of the pronoun "this finding", which apparently refers to the findings of Heap and Druckman, does not agree well with the views of Michael Heap, who is very much a sceptic about NLP, and who actually writes:

There is ... another growing market, namely those wishing to learn the skills of therapy... Indeed, in Britain at least, it is usually more lucrative to teach therapy than to actually do it with patients.... With this more attractive market in mind, therefore, the product has to be created and presented to appeal first and foremost to the learner - i.e. the would-be therapis - rather than the patient. I contend that NLP and Ericksonian therapies have been created very much in this mould. Firstly observe, as I mentioned earlier, how the product itself is advertised. We are told that by learning to use NLP we will be well-nigh capable of performing miracles on our clients. Note, also, how there is always something new on the market, some workshop coming up offering us YET EVEN MORE ADVANCED TECHNIQUES, or some book that gives the very latest word in Milton Erickson. Secondly, observe how the authors or trainers are advertised - wonderful, gifted individuals, sometimes even described, as noted earlier, as 'magicians' or 'wizards'. 'Knew Milton Erickson' or 'worked with Richard Bandler and John Grinder' appear to be strong selling points. Finally, notice now NLP training is offered to such a wide range of people, unlike hypnosis which traditionally has been jealously guarded as the property of the few. Why this difference? A cynic might say that if your product has been designed for patients, then you will want to restrict those who have been trained to dispense that product, so reducing competition. But if your product has been designed to be taught, then you don't want to limit your market by only offering it to restricted groups.