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Schaefer D A, Beausay W, Pursley C: Neuro-linguistic programming: Introduction, assessment, and critique.
Journal of Psychology and Christianity 2(3): 2-13, 1983.
Abstract: Presents an overview of neurolinguistic programming (NLP), a process-oriented therapy developed from the Meta-Model of R. Bandler and J. Grinder (1975, 1976) and directed at the production of therapeutic change by affecting the formal strategies that individuals constantly employ. Basic concepts of the NLP framework include neurological, social, and individual constraints and the processes of generalization, deletion, and distortion that alter all human cognitive models (maps). A practical critique of NLP considers 3 qualities: assessment, the identification of the sequence of internal events that the client unconsciously takes him/herself through, producing some unwanted result; flexibility, the freedom to intervene upon the client's representation of reality in ways that work; and empathy, a crucial and curative factor in successful psychotherapy. A theological assessment of NLP is presented that addresses the role of truth in therapeutic process, client resources for change, the function of pain in the client, the client's responsibility for change, and the effect of spiritual reality on therapy. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved).