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'''Neurolinguistic Programming''' (NLP) began as an alternative school of psychotherapy in California, USA, during the mid-seventies. It was initiated by John Grinder, a linguistic professor, Richard Bandler, a mathematician (later a drug addict arrested for First degree murder in 1988), at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC). It is now marketed as a powerful method or technique of personal development that allows a person rapidly to improve the way they think, behave or feel [http://www.nlp-now.co.uk/nlp-what.htm].  It is supposed to work by copying or "modelling" the behaviour and thinking styles of particularly effective and successful people in business, education, sales, therapy, sport, and personal development.  

'''Neurolinguistic Programming''' (NLP) began as an alternative school of psychotherapy in California, USA, during the mid-seventies. It was initiated by John Grinder, a linguistic professor, Richard Bandler, a mathematician (later a drug addict arrested for First degree murder in 1988), at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC). It is now marketed as a powerful method or technique of personal development offering unlimited potential and rapid improvement in the way a person thinks, behaves or feels [http://www.nlp-now.co.uk/nlp-what.htm].  It is supposed to work by copying or "modelling" the behaviour and thinking styles of particularly effective and successful people in business, education, sales, therapy, sport, and personal development.  

Detractos argue that it is a hotch–potch of theories, some of which are based on legitimate science, but which have no connection with NLP, others of which are completely unscientific, including hypnosis, psychotherapy and unconscious thinking, mixed up into a messy soup of new age thinking.   

Detractors argue that it is a hotch–potch of theories, some of which are based on legitimate science, but which have no connection with NLP, others of which are completely unscientific, including hypnosis, psychotherapy and unconscious thinking, mixed up into a messy soup of new age thinking.   

The word 'model' should not be confused with a scientific 'model'. A scientific model is a representation of the world which has explanatory power. It is not a mere list of conditions: a successful model must explain reality with the minimum number of assumptions (for example the geocentric model of Ptolemy contains many more assumptions than the heliocentric Copernican one, which rapidly superseded it).   

The word 'model' should not be confused with a scientific 'model'. A scientific model is a representation of the world which has explanatory power. It is not a mere list of conditions: a successful model must explain reality with the minimum number of assumptions (for example the geocentric model of Ptolemy contains many more assumptions than the heliocentric Copernican one, which rapidly superseded it).