Are NLP and Hypnosis related? Well, yes and no. Yes, in the sense that both Neuro-linguistic programming and Hypnosis are tools used by psychologists and other practitioners to address psychological issues present in individuals’ lives.
They aren’t related in the sense that hypnosis is a trance-like induced state that allows individuals to be suggestible, aware, and experience a higher level of concentration. While Neuro-Linguistic programming provides practical ways in which individuals can change how they think, view past events, and approach their lives. For more context, let’s look at a brief history of NLP and Hypnosis.
Brief History of Hypnosis
The term ‘hypnosis‘ was introduced in the 1840s by Scottish surgeon James Braid, who believed the subject to be in a particular state of sleep (a trance).
Later on, Sigmund Freud used hypnosis to help his patients recover repressed memories. He went on to replace Hypnosis with the technique of free associations.
Today, hypnosis is used as a technique within the context of therapy, a method of teaching people how to relax and de-stress, and a research tool.
Brief History of NLP
NLP, a system created by Richard Bandler, John Grinder, and others, combines the concepts of psychotherapy, communication, and personal development to address the concept of modeling success and teaching it to others.
NLP models the successful ways of being of those who were already successful. It focuses not just on the doing of successful people but also on the thinking, how they structure their inner reality and how to duplicate that in themselves and others.
The first case of Neuro-linguistic programming came from an early model of therapists that successfully achieved patient outcomes. Some of the models include Virginia Satire, Fritz Pearls, and many others, and studying these models gave rise to the Meta Model.
Milton Erickson was a doctor who used hypnosis as his primary tool of choice, so the originators modeled Milton Erickson and called it the Milton Model. So, therefore, hypnosis was integrated into NLP.
NLP and Hypnosis
Seeing the history of Hypnosis and NLP, the question should be;
- Is NLP hypnosis? No, it is not.
- Is Hypnosis NLP? No, it is not.
NLP seeks to go out and look at successful models and things that are already working and try to extract the elements that are working into the model.
Hence, NLP encompasses many different things, and hypnosis is one of them.
Earlier, Hypnosis was a big piece growing in the NLP community; some people stuck with more NLP techniques, and others veered off into the hypnosis realm.
So these two areas still are very much a part of each other.
NLP techniques can be used in Hypnotherapy and Hypnotherapy Training fields.
Final Thoughts On Is NLP And Hypnosis Related
The goal is to learn what works best and integrate and use it, and that’s what NLP is all about. Hypnosis is a vital tool, scientifically proven, with a lot of evidence to back it up, so you want to integrate it into NLP techniques and practices.
