Change your self by NLP

NLP, or Neuro-Linguistic Programming, was developed in the 1970s and is a way of connecting the neurological processes (‘neuro’), language (‘linguistic’) and behavioural patents that were leaned through experience (‘programming’).  NLP has been known to help problems such as psychosomatic illnesses, anxiety and depression, and has been adopted by therapists and hypnotherapists.

NLP is an effective way of helping you to change the way you feel and your thought patterns on a long-term, consistent basis.  From the NLP aspect, it is presumed that what you do is a behaviour, thereby pre-supposing that a depression sufferer does ‘depression behaviour’, i.e. you have habitual thoughts and feelings, and with training you are able to influence those thoughts and feelings.

The method is a way of re-educating your mind and body so that the situations or events that cause your mild to chronic depression, and the way you think and respond to can be changed.  NLP helps you to find your ‘emotional baseline’, defined as what you feel daily that can be improved.  The method requires practice and enables you to become more aware of your habitual thoughts, feelings and behaviour.  Using NLP as a self-practice can significantly help you to combat depression.  Start by identifying your habits in terms of the way you think, feel and react.  In order to have a thought, there is a neurological connection, a stimulus in the brain and the body, and when you are feeling down or sad, this is a specific behaviour.  Once you have identified these behaviours, you need to change them; so consciously be aware of how you would normally react to a situation or event, stop and aim to change that behaviour.

There are two NLP techniques that are used for the treatment of depression and can make a big difference.

The Anchor

This is a useful technique if you find that you are spiralling down into a depressive state.  The aim is to remember a time in your life when you were at your happiest and to emphasise this in your mind.  Imagine the scene and build it using sound, colour and movement, and see yourself in that picture.  Then bring this image closer and closer to yourself until there is no longer a ‘frame’ around the scene; you are actually in the scene.  Your NLP anchor is when you reach the pinnacle of that feeling and the ‘anchor’ could be touching your earlobe or holding a key ring.  After a few moments, release, take a breath, pause and start the technique again.

Reprogramming a negative experience

With this technique, you are aiming to reprogramme the way you feel as you remember a traumatic event or see a person that makes you feel down or sad.  Create two spaces on the floor approximately 6 feet apart – you could use stones or something similar to mark out the area.  One area represents your negative feelings and the other your positive feelings; which circle you use is up to you.  In the negative circle, remember the event or person that upsets you.  Then walk out of this circle and start to think positively, sometimes by using another NLP technique.  Step into the positive circle and envelop yourself with good feeling.

These two techniques, once mastered, can make a big difference to your life.