Neurolinguistic Programming in Clinical Settings

Theory and evidence- based practice

Lisa de Rijk, Richard Gray, Frank Bourke, Lisa de Rijk, Richard Gray, Frank Bourke

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781032057200
• eBook ISBN: 9781000537826
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Abnormal Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Neurolinguistic Programming in Clinical Settings provides a theoretical framework for the clinical applications of Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) protocols in mental health. It offers evidence-based models for a range of conditions; including PTSD, anxiety and depression, grief, phobias, and binge-eating.

Providing a follow up to the 2014 book The Clinical Effectiveness of Neurolinguistic Programming, this book updates the existing research evidence for NLP interventions with mental health clinical conditions. It includes further evidence for its use with somatoform disorders, anxiety and depression, and as a general psychotherapy modality. The book outlines up-to-date evidence from clinical trials that demonstrate the success rate of NLP with PTSD populations and discusses how ongoing randomised clinical trials at Kings College London are demonstrating the clinical effectiveness of NLP protocols and are becoming more widely accepted by mainstream mental health care.

Written by a team of internationally academically informed clinicians and researchers, the book will be key reading for academics, researchers, and post-graduate students in the field of mental health research, psychotherapy, and counselling. It will also be of interest to clinicians and mental health professionals interested in NLP as a therapeutic modality.

Part I Introduction and theoretical framework for the clinical application of NLP

1 Introduction and summary of the first edition

Dr Frank Bourke and Dr Lisa de Rijk

DOI: 10.4324/9781003198864-1

The first edition

The first edition of the Clinical Effectiveness of Neurolinguistic Programming set the agenda for establishing the clinical evidence base for NLP as an emerging and growing field of therapy. The book brought together contributions from 14 authors and leaders in the field of NLP therapy from eight different countries. Authors were psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, and coaches from within the field, many of whom had already made significant academic and scientifically informed contributions in their own countries. The first edition focused on three primary areas: existing clinical and practitioner evidence, contemporary research in NLP, and the future of NLP and research.

The Introduction to that edition included a reflection on the quality of evidence that NLP must provide if it is to be taken seriously. Since that date there has been an increased number of published A-level research including positive responses from outside reviewers that are discussed in Part 2 of this volume.

Part 1, included clinical research studies of phobias, PTSD, the application of NLP, and Neurolinguistic Psychotherapy (NLPt) to a broad array of issues and diagnoses, reviews of the evidence for NLP in the treatment of anxiety disorders, addictions, and depression symptom clusters.

In Part 2, Contemporary Research in NLP, the authors focused on two areas, indirect research supporting the principles, tools, and techniques of NLP, and the methodological flaws inherent in the prior criticisms of NLP research. Indirect research included neuroscientific and behavioural studies that support, albeit without intending to, a significant number of NLP's basic premises and practices. The authors addressed the controversial nature of NLP and the historic avoidance by the early developers of creating an evidence base for the approach.

Part 3, concluded with discussions surrounding the need for standardization in certification and training, and future directions for the field, with a call for greater scientific rigour as the research progresses.

Acknowledgements

Here, we would like to mention the support of a number of NLP experts who believed in, helped begin and are helping to continue the development of research studies. This level of academic research has been a requirement of the academic and professional communities that NLP has largely neglected and is necessary for the validation of NLP's claims of clinical effectiveness. While this list is by no means exhaustive, we hope it will help to inspire other members of the community to engage in the long-needed dialogue between open-minded academic and professional health experts and experts from the NLP field. Prominent among these supporters, including a number who helped develop the RTM Protocol are, Connirae and Steve Andreas, Tim and Kris Hallbom, Richard Bolstad, Richard Gray, Shelle Rose Charvet, Richard Churches, Lucas Derks, Charles Faulkner, Michael Hall, Jaap Hollander, Rachel Hott, Steven Leeds, Bill McDowell, Peter Schutz, Paul Tosey, and the authors of these two Volumes.

We would like to thank and pay tribute to Steve Andreas, who has been, from NLP's beginning – with his wife Connirae – one of the most prodigious mentors and clinical developers of NLP in the United States. Steve died in 2018. He gave his more than significant clinical knowledge and energy to the development of the RTM protocol, helping to guide the rigorous development of this effective clinical tool. Given the breath of the clinical skills they taught, the level of professional and personal integrity with which they did it together (and that she continues to do), the value of their contributions is hard to convey.

Outline of this edition

This volume offers a follow on to The Clinical Effectiveness of Neurolinguistic Programming (2013) published through Routledge's Advancing Mental Health Series. Since the first edition, a number of research developments have added to the evidence base demonstrating the clinical effectiveness of NLP and NLP-based interventions. One of the most exciting is a series of clinical trials with PTSD populations using a protocol derived from the classic NLP intervention, the visual kinesthetic dissociation (VK-D). The pattern, Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories (RTM-patent pending), has established a growing evidence base that is gaining strong scientific attention in trauma treatment both in the US and the UK.

As a result of the quality of its published evidence and additional clinical evidence supporting RTM, Kings College, London has commenced a Randomised Clinical Trial in Belfast. The lead editor for this book, Dr Lisa de Rijk, is also the clinical lead for the RTM arm of this Randomised Clinical Trial. This series of clinical trials is expected to demonstrate the clinical effectiveness of an NLP-derived protocol that is becoming more widely accepted and used by mainstream mental health care. These trials, along with a number of additional advances, will be discussed extensively in this edition.

This follow on edition also updates the existing research evidence for NLP interventions with clinical mental health conditions. It includes further evidence for its use with somatoform disorders, anxiety and depression, and as a general psychotherapy modality. Along with additional publications, conferences, and supporting NLP organizations, the authors call for the recognition of a genuine Research Movement within the field of NLP.

With this increasing evidence base researched by psychologists, psychotherapists, and psychiatrists, the book includes a considered argument for the use of NLP with clinical populations as a licensed activity.

The book is divided into three parts.

Part 1 provides an introduction and a theoretical framework for the clinical applications of NLP protocols in mental health. It includes a rational for a clinical evidence base and an update on direct research on NLP since the last volume. This is followed by an extensive report on the clinical evidence for, and the neuroscientific hypothesis supporting RTM. The section ends with a discussion of an NLP-based approach to clinical diagnosis.

Part 2 offers in-depth discussions of five ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Lists of illustrations
• List of contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Part I: Introduction and theoretical framework for the clinical application of NLP
• Part II: Evidence-based protocols and models
• Part III: Furthering the field of NLP clinical treatments
• Index