NLP is defined as "a model of interpersonal communication chiefly concerned with the relationship between successful patterns of behavior and the subjective experiences (esp. patterns of thought) underlying them" and "a system of alternative therapy based on this which seeks to educate people in self-awareness and effective communication, and to change their patterns of mental and emotional behavior".



NLP originated in the United States in the ?70 thanks to the research of Richard Bandler and John Grinder, who are now considered the founders. These two co-founders claimed it would be instrumental in "finding ways to help people have better, fuller and richer lives". NLP was originally promoted by its founders, Bandler and Grinder, in the 1970s as an extraordinarily effective and rapid form of psychological therapy, capable of addressing the full range of problems which psychologists are likely to encounter, such as phobias, depression, habit disorder, psychosomatic illnesses, learning disorders. It also espoused the potential for self-determination through overcoming learnt limitations and emphasized well-being and healthy functioning.

According to the developers, these methodology is an application model able to encourage the change, through a range of techniques and instruments (the result also of the integration among psychology, linguistic, cybernetic and the system theory) related to communication, perception and subjective experience.

Neuro-linguistic programming is often proposed in the researches in the human communication field, as education, learning, negotiation, sales, leadership, team-building, etc., it is considered as finding an application even in decisional and creative processes, in the medical field, in sport and in the psychotherapy, but it is not endorsed from the Academic Community. Despite that, it has an influence also in Italy (active from the ?80) on private psychotherapists, on management training, life coaching and self-help courses market.

Even the NLP itself affirms that its applications don't necessary have a scientific base, because the main basic principles are ?work hypothesis that can be true or not. The problem is not if they are true, but just if they could be useful?. In Italy it is still young, but recently it has been greatly promoted on the web through the numerous courses talking about self-esteem, seduction and professional training (especially on the sales field), with the final result to attract a lot of critics.

In the various institutes that utilize the NLP, the techniques implemented use also the theory of the Time Line.

The Time Line is the way in which a person memorizes his past memoirs at the unconscious level and how this person project these memories also in the future. According to these theories, to free yourself from negative emotions and theirs influences on your daily life, it is necessary to discover their deep and temporal root, so going back in the time along your family tree to reach the moment of the trauma and so to be able to release the negative effects of these past experiences.

Also in Italy many centers are developing these theories and techniques, to help people change their lives and to live better lives, no more limited from the past negative experiences.