Can NLP Be Used For Manipulation? Part 2

To answer this question, in Part 1 of this article we answered the question: where does NLP come from? Since from time to time we read articles inferring that NLP is used against us as a tool of mind manipulation.

Now we get to the iffy question. Can NLP be used for manipulation? Of course! As a set of techniques it can be used for anything, good or bad. But so can a hammer. Do this or I bong you with a hammer! So are sales techniques. So are many other techniques in other fields of human endeavor like public relations, advertising, marketing, etc. Are all these techniques manipulative in and of themselves? No. Can they be used for manipulation? Of course! But can they be also used for good? The answer is also yes!

Are there people that are manipulative without the use of NLP techniques? Sure. Are there people that are not manipulative? Certainly! I meet people from all walks of life that are not manipulative and I also meet people that are manipulative without NLP.

So, we can clearly state that people from all professions and walks of life can be manipulative with or without NLP. Manipulation has to do with integrity or lack thereof not with a bunch of techniques for understanding and controlling your own mind and therefore your behavior.

One thing we do in all our trainings is to build into the trainings a very high level of integrity and even if we cannot know what our graduates will do once they finish the trainings, during 30 years of experience we have had virtually no complaints from any of our students, their coaching clients, our student’s employers or employees. They use the sills they learned in an empowering way to help themselves and others. We are very proud of our graduates!

NLP is not more or less manipulative than anything else. It all depends on the integrity of the people using it. NLP is nothing more than a collection of practical techniques, skills and strategies that are easy to learn, and that can lead to real excellence. It is a collection of techniques and skills that allow you, the user complete control over your unconscious and conscious mind processes. Your habitual way of thinking is just that your habitual way of thinking. You may like it or maybe you may not even consider anything wrong with it.

And there is nothing mistaken with the way you think unless it limits you and your innate abilities to produce success in your life in spite of adversities.

Then Why Learn NLP At All?

1. Simple. If you know the techniques from NLP, they cannot be used against you. Those people who allegedly use NLP to manipulate you yield no power over you since you know what they are doing.
2. On the positive side, when you learn it offers you a degree of control over your own mind and thinking, and also over your own strategies for success. It puts the power back into your own hands rather than depending on others. It gives you access to choices which you have but could not access before because you did not know how. If you don’t understand how your mind influences your behavior you really need to consider studying NLP.

Let’s say you have a job that is not satisfying. Or maybe you don’t have a job. Your old job has been cut back and you are now in the air. You would like to change that. You would like to go for an interview for another job, better paid and more rewarding, but you don’t think you can. You are afraid that if you let go of the job you have now, you risk ending up without a job at all. What guarantee do you have that you will get the new job, right? How do you know that you can get it? How can you know that there isn’t somebody else who (because of better skills or better connections and recommendations) will not get the job you want?

The truth is you don’t know. But, if you improve your skills for rapport and the use of language (both covered in NLP Practitioner), if you learn how to think circles around your competition showing your future boss that you have something other competitors for the job don’t have in terms of your thinking, you improve your chances exponentially to get the job you want.

Time Line Therapy® is also part of our NLP Trainings. Now, in the same example, if you are anxious and fearful showing up for that interview, you will not do as well as you could. If you have a low self-esteem and belief in yourself you will not even try for a new job. We spoke many times with people who were beating themselves up for not doing well at an interview because they were so nervous. With Time Line Therapy® you can let go of the Negative Emotions which will set your mind on a different track, calm and in control. Your interviewer will sense that. You will show real (not simulated) self-confidence and self-control and you will inspire trust in your abilities.

Will that be helpful?

Ask me what else can you do with NLP, just post a question below. I am happy to answer it to the best of my knowledge.

Be well
Adriana

Until next time, be well.