Archaeology and Redevelopment:
NLP Psychotherapy for 2001 and beyond.

"This set of tools is not based upon some pre-existing psychological theory or therapeutic approach. "

"In the two volumes of The Structure of Magic, we have tried in the best way we know how to show some of the many patterns that therapists of every school have in common. We never had the intention of starting a new school of therapy; we wished, rather, to start a new way of talking about therapy so that the similarities of different schools approaching the task of helping to change could be understood."

Bandler & Grinder, The Structure of Magic, 1975.

I found these profoundly sobering words. After all I had not liked any of the existing forms of therapy and thought that I found my home in NLP. In fact it was my perception of "flakiness" in the world of counselling and psychotherapy that kept me out of the that world for sometime. Instead I was both attracted to and guided along the path of "real science". The science of counting and measurement, of clear historical background and control, this was the science I grew up in.

But then this January, in the Post Graduate Medical Centre of The Princess Alexandra Hospital - Harlow, I met with another 11 people who want to develop NLP psychotherapy and start the next phase. We spent some time investigating the world of Gestalt therapy and the work of Fritz Perls. We were looking at the bedrock of NLP. I felt that I was beginning to look at the validity of the two quotes at the top of this article. Indeed, this course provided me with the space to read them again and, I hope, will help me gain the insights to contribute to new ideas in the future.

As a relatively new school of therapy one of the basic questions is how do we justify the NLP processes to others. Which begs the question - why ? Does it matter if no-one outside of NLP believes anything about it ? The answer for me has to be yes. Yes - because many people outside NLP have the power to make our lives, as psychotherapists, more difficult than they really ought to be.

But much more importantly, however, is the statement made during our first two days that - there has been nothing really new in NLP in fifteen years. Which leads me to the question - how will we develop NLP for the future ? Who will produce the next meaningful theories and practices, the breakthrough(s) ? Not that this one course with only 12 people is in any way going to be the salvation of NLP psychotherapy but that this is where I hope the questions might be formulated that will point the directions in which to go.

Our weekend was very enjoyable and informative. We watched a film of Fritz Perls and other therapists at work and identified the structures that Bandler and Grinder also found. We questioned and were questioned about what we knew about NLP and how these other practitioners added to the body of NLP information and experience. We had didactic teaching and experiential work. I would have preferred a bit more time for us to understand each other and our motivations and outcomes for the Course in greater depth, but that will no doubt come in time. There are two years ahead.

So, just how did I get to be there in Harlow ? Well, over time I learned more and more about communication and therapy and was left unsatisfied. By a series of events that may or may not have been coincidental I came across NLP. In its defined programmes and structures I found a philosophy with which I wanted to work. NLP taught a way to practice counselling and psychotherapy which I found maintained and developed my values and I could actually see benefited those with whom I worked.

Like most of you reading this I found the trainers who most validated and stretched my personal map and then I influenced the world around me to achieve Practitioner and then Master Practitioner status. But still there was something lacking. I saw many people go off to become NLP trainers in their own right and find other courses in hypnotherapy, DHE and other processes. I stayed where I was, integrating my new knowledge and living the new experiences but not really knowing exactly where I wanted to be.

Now, the world outside NLP is developing and is beginning to demand a set of specific, recognised and monitored levels of competence for therapists, especially in a world where Bernard Manning can set up as a "professional counsellor". I also developed and found where I wanted to be, using NLP as a psychotherapist with individuals, couples, families and in training settings. Not evangelising about NLP but helping people to a better level of health using NLP. Looking around then I could find nothing to help me develop and meet both my newly found future and the external world's demands.

I've now found help in the Marlin Institute of NLP Psychotherapy. At last there is a resource that isn't primarily about the process of business, of selling or indeed of theatre. Its about the first principles and about moving the body of knowledge forward. Personally I am greatly enthusiastic about the work of Gregory Bateson - he who described modelling in the very early 1970s and of Korzybski who coined the phrase "The map is not the territory" even earlier. There are many others as well, we've yet to study Virginia Satir's work and that of Milton Erikson.

Many people outside of the NLP world are easily dismissive of NLP and its really no wonder. All that they see are the endless courses on the mechanics on putting NLP into action and the continual reciting of the word "magic". Soon we will have more information and new theories to explain just how and why these processes work and put forward new ideas and concepts about just where we could be going. My feeling is that we can only do that if we have a more detailed knowledge of how it is that we have come to this point, at this time, and this place in our development.

Our course has just started. We are finding out about the NLP roots and about ourselves. I haven't identified a specific overall goal - this article is part of my thinking - other than to secure the base and contribute to the growth of NLP. I suspect that there will be tough times ahead, from outside and inside NLP. I believe that arguments about trademarks are minor in comparison to the new thinking that will be ahead. But if we choose to take that path and build upon the Marlin and other training resources then NLP, or whatever its name changes to, will have an even greater impact on our internal and external worlds.

© MARTIN WEAVER

Martin Weaver is a psychotherapist and health consultant using NLP. He was instrumental in the early Aids crisis and took the first call on the Terrence Higgins Trust's AIDS helpline in 1984. He worked for 11 years in the NHS and now works for himself. If you are interested in joining an electronic discussion group on these issues, or you know of an existing one, please email Martin at health@martinweaver.co.uk