Improving Mental Health with NLP Processes

​For Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) Practitioners such as myself, the Covid-19 Pandemic did us a humongous favour. It shone the spotlight on mental health, a subject seen as “nice to have” rather than a necessity. Escalated in importance overnight, as the Pandemic swept through the world with its witch’s broom, we realised globally that it wasn’t only our physical health that was under threat. 

As a practitioner trained to observe trends and patterns of behaviour, for that is what NLP is based on, I spotted a few standouts;

• People who coped well despite stressful times had done their work. They knew how to flex their mind and muscle to re-invent, do what it took to make things happen
  
  
• People who cried all types of woes were stuck not knowing how to move forward even if they wanted to. They had no tools to get out of their stuck state of mind
  
  
• People who tipped deep into mental health issues, manifesting diseases like depression and suicide knew for a long time that their internal self was at risk but couldn’t find the gumption to do something about it

 
So few put time aside to understand their mind even though it was the driver.
 
Could it be that the emotional, psychological, and social well-being which affected thoughts, feelings and actions were invisible hence not worthy of as much attention as the physical self?
 
Many told me that it was all too hard, outside their comfort zone. To see a therapist and pour their problems out. Intrusive too for those who aren’t able to communicate well.
 
Others hung on to the past stigma of being emotionally unstable if one sought out a coach, counsellor or therapist?
 
Improving emotional wellness was at the core of what it was to be human and yet these were what a large population felt. Our mental wellbeing had a direct impact on how we connect with people in our lives, cope with stress and make decisions.
 
Seeing myself as lucky to have reinvented myself from a career banker to an NLP Practitioner and Trainer, I knew intuitively at the time that I had to empower myself with these tools. For me today, I regard mental health as important as physical health, especially seeing that the landscape ahead is ever changing.    
 
What is NLP?
 
Neurology - refers to the workings of the brain and nervous system
Linguistic - refers to how we use language and its effects
Programming - refers to changing behaviour patterns for better results
 
The basis of NLP is that there is a natural unconscious connection between:
How our brains work and how we use language
                                    & 
 our behaviour patterns and life experiences

NLP founders Richard Bandler and John Grinder purported (when they created NLP) that all of these components could be changed to improve our lives.   Those of us who learn NLP and teach it, know this first hand. 
 
We know that by improving emotional wellness we most definitely possess the behavioural flexibility to for example, stay motivated at work, handle family commitments and deal with stress along the way.
 
NLP has been widely used in the past and especially at its inception, for psychological disorders, including phobias, depression, generalized anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder.
 
Today it has traversed boundaries into the corporate world, where applications like leadership and coaching, communication and team effectiveness are the beneficiaries of this accelerated technology.    
 
How Does NLP for Mental Health Work?
 

• Our mind runs many unconscious programs. This happens every second of every day. Most of the time we are not aware of these programs. 
  
  If a program is working to create positive results for us, then let it run. If a program sabotages our best efforts to hinder our desired goals, then it becomes the root cause of the problem.
   
  NLP for mental health techniques focus on deleting such unhelpful programs and installing more helpful ones. The same techniques also reveal the strategies of good programs, which allows us to then replicate the behaviour.
  
  Powerful stuff indeed!

 

• When therapy only focuses on the conscious mind, it neglects to address the root cause of mental health problems. This is why there are so many people living in depression today.
  
  The unconscious mind is the domain of emotions and stores patterns of behaviour. For example, a person who wants to stay motivated at work will find working with the conscious mind challenging. Not only is it time consuming, it is also less effective. 
  
  Having heard a million times over that motivation drives results and high achievers ooze this, a person would still find it hard to give up based on thoughts alone. NLP bypasses conscious filters to go straight into the unconscious mind and work to re-align values in one session.
  
  Processes are so easy to do. Results are fast and profound!

 

• When you learn NLP, you will realise that the coach is not interested in WHAT the client thinks.  They’re interested in HOW the client thinks.   The focus is on the context, not the content. 
  
  This is very appealing to clients as they need not face the pain of reliving trauma or feel agitated talking about details of their problems.   
  
  By permanently shifting mindsets to dealing with problems from the perspective of context, the effect is immediate in  improving emotional wellness. 
  
  A completely opposite approach to most healing modalities!

 
 

• The NLP presupposition that “people already have the resources they need” ensures clients are not dependent on coaches indefinitely.  In fact, NLP coaches are thrilled when clients are confident to stop sessions after only a few.
  
  The role and challenge of an NLP coach is to simply help clients remove past negativity and arm them with tools for the future. By this time, they are able to figure out solutions that fit them best.
  
  As an NLP coach and trainer, my focus is to have clients live an empowered life without hanging on to my coat tails. I am most excited when clients give up medication and get back to normalcy.
  
  Learn NLP to become independent is the mantra!

 
There are many NLP for mental health tools at the disposal of a Neuro Linguistic Programming coach. An adept coach would know how to dovetail into one or the other, to create a powerful outcome for the client.
 
So to recap,  what is NLP and what does it do?  The simple answer is it’s a system that addresses the root cause of a mental health problem which sits in the unconscious mind. 
 
Addressing the root cause is the only way to permanently eradicate the problem. Not only do processes that use NLP for mental health make improving emotional wellness so much easier, the best part is that results are permanent too.
 
 
It is common for a human being to experience mental health problems at various stages of a lifespan.  Crises such as the loss of a loved one, divorce, job loss, work stress, trauma or abuse could trigger a spate of mental health problems. 
 
In such situations improving emotional wellness becomes paramount, to move through events with the least possible damage and this is where a thought to learn NLP may enter one’s mind.