One of the least known facts about Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP)
is that basic NLP techniques produce faster and more permanent relief from fear-based
emotions—including anxiety, phobias, panic attacks, and episodes of
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PSDT)—than either Eye Movement Desensitization
and Reprocessing (EMDR) or Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT).
In a number of clinical studies, both EMDR and EFT have proven more effective than
medication or common cognitive behavioral treatments (CBT) at reducing the severity of
self-reported symptoms (primarily anxiety and depression). What has not been well-reported
is that NLP techniques, most notably the “Fast Phobia Cure” developed by
Richard Bandler in 1976,
out-performs both EMDR and EFT in providing quick and lasting relief from anxiety,
phobias, and PDST.
How They Work
EMDR and EFT are similar in the way they work. EMDR employees a series of hand passes
in front of the client’s eyes while he or she is thinking about the problem or
source of the distress. EFT uses tapping in a set sequence of locations on the client’s
body while he or she is thinking about the problem or the source of distress. Although
EMDR uses the visual sensory system and EFT uses the kinesthetic sensory system, both
employ cross-body connections to activate both hemispheres of the brain. This activation
provides the client with access to behavioral and emotional resources that enhance coping
skills.
The NLP Fast Phobia Cure does the same thing but in a different way. The Fast Phobia Cure
beings with what is known as a Visual-Kinesthetic dissociation, which allows the client
to objectify and “gain psychological distance” from the source of the anxiety,
phobia, or trauma. The procedure then uses a process of reverse reassociation to undo the
emotional charge that had been associated with the phobic item or trauma.
Principal Differences
The main differences among traditional pharmaceutical, CBT, EMDR, EFT, and NLP are the
time it takes to alleviate a client’s fear-based response. According to most reports,
the differences are as follows:
- Pharmaceuticals and CBT: Numerous sessions over 6 months to a year
or more. Those undergoing these treatments also experience much less likelihood of
improvement. The most recent efforts to employ this approach are now using realistic
video games to speed the process of exposure for war veterans who have experienced PDST.
- EMDR: Several applications during several sessions over several weeks. EMDR
often produces significant change quickly, but the symptoms return, so several treatment
sessions are required.
- EFT: Several applications during several sessions over several weeks. EFT
often produces significant change quickly, but the symptoms return, so several treatment
sessions are required.
- NLP: One application in one session lasting approximately 20 - 30 minutes.
The alleviation of symptoms is permanent.
What Makes NLP Different
Although EMDR, EFT, and NLP all induce a degree of hypnotic trance, the NLP procedure is
the only one of the three to use specific hypnotic language to influence the way in
which the client reinterprets the phobic or traumatic event. Most NLP practitioners also
incorporate a kind of stimulus-response conditioning known as anchoring
to help ensure that the client accesses appropriate resources and retains access to them
following the session.
In spite of its proven record of therapeutic success, NLP is usually not considered the
protocol of choice when it comes to treating anxieties, phobias, and PDST. Even when
physicians and psychotherapists know about NLP, they are typically unaware of its
history of therapeutic success and stick to what they consider “tried and true”
treatment protocols. Well-meaning as that approach may be, it condemns clients to an
extended period of suffering while they attempt to overcome their difficulties.
One of our dreams and desires is to have at least one practitioner in every medical and
psychotherapy practice be trained in NLP so that those with anxieties, phobias, and PDST can
recover more quickly, easily, and comfortably than most current methodologies allow.
We are grateful to be moving in that direction as more people become interested in
learning more about the Mind-Body connection. Small changes
really can produce infinite results.
