With NLP having been around for several years, it’s obvious that there will be numerous projects covering research… or is it? Actually much of NLP is a collection of skills, tools and processes that work, according to the situation that the client/coachee is in.
In fact it’s the very flexibility of the field of NLP that allows it to be so effective. Recognizing that client A and client B may well present with the same symptoms of “anxiety”, for example, but that each client may well have very different needs and backgrounds, elements that support and feed that anxiety, and that means each client needs different resources and tools to be applied. In short, NLP as a whole field, works because different elements of it are used according to client needs.
Therefore it’s highly unlikely that the whole of NLP will be researched for effectiveness any time soon (that is in a way that meets clinical and scientific research standards – as we should all aspire to!)
Research on NLP Elements
Here’s an attempt to list relevant NLP elements and the research that supports them. There is also a deviation here, where I’ve looked at specific outcomes (eg: exam success and NLP, or Vocabulary) It’s work in progress, and I’d be delighted to see any research that you come across to add to this list. Please feel free to email: contact@nlp-uk.co.uk
Rewind Technique (also “Fast Phobia Cure”) https://randrproject.org/pdf/Ex-Parent%20Article12-16.pdf
Fast Phobia Cure/Rewind history: https://www.inspiredoutcomes.ca/trauma%20research
General Phobia/PTSD information and research: https://randrproject.org/articles.html
Swish Pattern: http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol.%2021%20Issue11/Version-11/F2111112737.pdf
Exam Success: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1871187109000467
Vocabulary for EFL speakers: http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol.%2021%20Issue11/Version-11/F2111112737.pdf
Anxiety-related and health related outcomes; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3481516/
Researchers:
Lisa Wake, author and researcher: https://www.routledge.com/The-Clinical-Effectiveness-of-Neurolinguistic-Programming-A-Critical-Appraisal/Wake-Gray-Bourke/p/book/9781138808539
Tad James (Timeline Therapy) https://www.nlpcoaching.com/does-nlp-really-work-2/
Articles
Charting the history of NLP: https://medium.com/@ODSC/an-attempt-to-chart-the-history-of-nlp-in-5-papers-part-i-26a70798a7a3
