Neuro-linguistic programming and hypnosis are both techniques used by therapists and practitioners in order to tackle psychological issues present in individuals’ lives. Due to the many similarities between the two, the terms of NLP and hypnosis are often used interchangeably as well. But, is NLP the same as hypnosis? If not used synonymously NLP is seen as a derivation of hypnosis. But that is an ignorant way of looking at the two separate treatments. In this article, we’ll analyze both the key similarities and differences between neuro-linguistic programming and hypnosis in order to form a better understanding of how the two deviate from each other and why they can be assumed to be the same. But first, let’s take a deeper look at what exactly is NLP as well as what exactly hypnosis is for those who have less information on these subjects.
What Is NLP?
NLP, also known as neuro-linguistic programming is a psychotherapy technique created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder, who have combined the concepts of psychotherapy, communication, and personal development in order to address deep-rooted harmful behavioral conditions present in individuals. Neuro-linguistic programming consists of a set of tools and strategies that are taken from applying it to real life situations of experienced individuals who have gone through certain harsh situations in their lives and emerged more healed after having gone through NLP treatments. When it was also developed for the opposite purpose, for modeling the mindset of successful people in various fields and implementing their mindset in people that want to improve their lives and performance, and even reach peak performance states.
Over the course of the years, more experiments have been performed using NLP and more findings have come to light that have further enlightened users of NLP treatments and further bettered the results of using them, so it is a constantly developing treatment method. From a therapeutic point of view, the way that NLP is used is to address certain behavioral issues and patterns present in an individual and alter them with the use of NLP techniques in order to get the desired result. NLP is also a very optimism centric psychotherapy treatment as it perpetuates the idea that if a problem has been attempted to be solved and it ends up remaining unsolved, the outcome is not considered bad or even good for that matter, but as something like a learning opportunity for further advancement in seeking the solution to that problem.
What Is Hypnosis?
Coming to hypnosis, it is a state that is induced in individuals that causes them to be more suggestible, aware and experience a higher level of concentration. From the looks of it, a hypnotized individual seems like they are in a trance like state. However, in reality, they are actually in a state that makes them hyper-aware and more focused. Due to these immense benefits that come from the mind-altering technique that hypnosis is, it has been widely used to perform psychotherapy treatments in patients that suffer from behavioral issues, psychological issues as well as those suffering from pain and anxiety. This mode of therapy using hypnosis to treat disorders and pain is called hypnotherapy.
Amazingly, hypnotherapy has also shown positive results when it comes to treating patients that are plagued with something as terrible as dementia. A common problem associated with the state that hypnotherapy induces is the suggestiveness and the vulnerability induced in the person that is being used on. That is why it is important to make sure that if you are considering taking hypnotherapeutic treatments, you must make sure to find a therapist that is professional that performs hypnotherapy on you with the utmost care for your mental state, discretion, privacy, and with your full permission and awareness. Similarly, if you are a therapist using hypnotherapeutic treatments, then you must value the patient’s rights to their privacy as well as their mental wellbeing, as part of your professional ethics.
Similarities Between NLP And Hypnosis
As we mentioned before in the introductory paragraph as well, many people often confuse NLP and hypnosis to be the same treatments. That is because of the long list of similarities between both hypnosis and neuro-linguistic programming. Those similarities are that both NLP and hypnosis work in a similar manner, i.e. they are practiced in order to get the same end result and do also end up producing similar outcomes in those treated. In addition to that, both NLP and hypnosis make the use of particular sets of tools and techniques in order to address the underlying issues of the behavioral problems that they are trying to overcome. These sets of tools and techniques of both NLP and hypnosis are also used in such a way that they focus on improving deep personal issues of individuals rather than projecting it on external factors and people. Both methods put the emphasis not on the outside world, but rather on the way an individual experience the outside world.
On top of that, another huge thing that the two therapy treatments have in common is the emphasis placed on the relationship that needs to exist between the patient and the practitioner. This relationship needs to be cultivated with the utmost care in order to establish trust, reliability and rapport in the relationship as that is crucial to the success of the treatments due to the sensitive nature of dealing with deep-rooted psychological and mental issues.
Unlike a ‘traditional’ shrink-patient relationship where the openness and authenticity of the patient are one of the key aspects of successful therapy, for NLP and hypnosis the focus is less on the ‘content’ of what the patient has to share, but on the level of trust and rapport between him and the practitioner.
Due to the similarities in NLP and hypnosis in what they try to achieve as well in the methods of inducing the treatments, there are a few sets of tools and techniques that the two borrow from each other. To illustrate this, think of a situation where a patient goes to a practitioner where the practitioner asks the patient to close their eyes and then visualize particular situations in their mind keeping their eyes closed. If you were to observe this happening, it might look like what is occurring is hypnosis as doing so can instill a trance like state on the patient that has closed their eyes and is visualizing something in their mind. However, in reality, this could be the practitioner using one of the techniques of neuro-linguistic programming, which is called the Milton Model. As in the Milton Model, the practitioner makes use of language patterns in order to address issues of the patient and can be viewed as conversational hypnosis. This might illuminate better how much NLP and hypnosis can at times be intertwined with each other due to the similar tools and techniques they use in order to get similar end results because of similar end objectives. But are the two methods the same?
Differences Between NLP And Hypnosis
The basic intrinsic assumption that NLP follows in all of its techniques is that the perception formed by one about themselves takes precedence over any other perception due to the personal level of feelings associated with oneself. Furthermore, that this perception of themselves as well as the environment around them is a direct result of their sensory abilities. An example of this would be a person’s sense of smell and how one whiff of a particular smell can tend to take us back to an exact moment in time in the past or remind us of things that that smell is associated with. The sense of smell is in fact regarded as the sense in an individual that induces the feeling of nostalgia the most.
This demonstrates exactly how powerful the senses of humans are. Hypnosis on the other hand does not have any treatment techniques or methods that implement this assumption in them. This is perhaps one of the key differences between the two methods. Earlier we talked about the many similarities between neuro-linguistic programming and hypnosis in detail and we discussed how the two can be confused with each other if viewed upon the treatments happening in real time without more context. For that reason many people who agree that hypnosis and NLP are different, instead believe that neuro-linguistic programming is a derivation of hypnosis.
However, even that statement seems to not hold full accuracy, because of the major difference that we mentioned above and other key differences as well. A more correct way of phrasing the relationship between neuro-linguistic programming and hypnosis therapy is that theories, concepts and techniques from hypnosis highly influence the tools and techniques used in neuro-linguistic programming. It makes sense in the way that Physics and Mathematics cannot be viewed as the same thing even though they both have many similar concepts and mathematics as a science heavily influences so many important concepts of physics as well as vice versa but they still remain separate subjects on their own.
In addition to that, another major difference between neuro-linguistic programming and hypnosis is that where hypnosis makes the use of and places more emphasis on suggestive techniques, whereas neuro-linguistic programming differs in terms of techniques of NLP incorporating an approach that involves using a more definitive role in the form of investigating the issues and problems present in an individual, relying on the knowledge we have on the positive and negative behavior patterns of the human mind; and finding out what the underlying reasons for these patterns of behavior and thoughts behind those issues and problems are. And based on them, using the same patterns of behavior and thoughts to eliminate those problems and issues.
