Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)
"What does your voice sound like underwater?"
Neuro-Linguistic Programming is a supposedly life changing methodology which emerged in the 1970s. It posits that behaviour is based on structures and that by studying those structures, and in particular those that are found in highly sucessful people, you can learn to adapt your own structure as part of a programme of personal improvement.
NLP can be defined as a set of models, skills and techniques for thinking and acting effectively in the world1. It is also described as a model of how individuals structure their unique experiences of life. It was initially developed by John Grinder, assistant professor of linguistics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Richard Butler, a student of psychology. An interesting mix of specialisms, especially for the stutterer.
NLP deals with the structure of human subjective experience; how we organise what we see hear and feel, and how we edit and filter the outside world through our senses2. Borrowing from Alfred Korzybski, who developed the theory of general semantics, one of the foundations of NLP is Korzybski's dictum that the map is not the territory. The world is always richer than a person's ideas about it, and the filters we put on our perceptions determine what sort of world we live in. These filters can be language itself or beliefs held by a person. Supposedly, by changing your filters, you can change the world you live in. This is very interesting in the context of self-perception analysis common to many stuttering treatment programs.
One of more famous propenents of NLP is Paul McKenna, a hypnotist and self-help consultant. He has issued a number of clear and understandable books which touch on the methods of NLP such as: Change your life in Seven Days and Instant Confidence. Both books place a lot of emphasis on the importance of visualisation, visualising a successful outcome when approaching a situation rather than going in with a negative attitude.
Some NLP practictioners claim they can cure stuttering in one session, which does not do much for their credibility. However, it is an interesting area and many of the concepts cross over into the more traditional treatments advocated for stuttering.
Metaprogramming
An earlier methodology, devised by the cognitional scientist John Lilly, proposed the model of the human brain as a bio-computer, which could be reprogrammed by the user using a series of defined methologies. Controversially, he advocated the use of psychedelic drugs, in particular LSD and ketamine, as a tool to be used in the reprogramming process. More intellectually rigorous than NLP, this method has not permeated into the mainstream to anyway near like the extent of a highly marketed methodology like NLP.
Footnotes:
1: Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People by Joseph O'Connor & John Seymour (Element (an imprint of Harper Collins), 2002)2: Ibid