Richard曾在家族治療大師Virginia Satir的工作坊中擔任編寫逐字稿的工作。在此過程中,他發現Virginia對個案的治療語言有特殊的對話模式,於是Richard拆解出Virginia的說話模式,並找到任教於南加州大學的語言學副教授John Grinder二人共同出版了【神奇的結構I、神奇的結構II(The Structure of MagicI,The Structure of MagicII)】。
John, Richard, 及Virginia三人在1976年共同出版了【與家庭一起改變(Changing with Families (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆)】,在此書中,三人詳細描述了如何善用三人整合各自的家庭及個人治療經驗、在家族治療過程中,逐漸發展出的技巧,且明確提出在治療過程中的有效溝通模式。這些技巧是經過三人實際驗證的工具、模式和方法;並鼓勵治療者們去運用這些治療技巧,來表達自我及治療家族成員時,得以有效溝通。[18]
後續重大發展
美國 Richard Bandler依循著NLP的基礎,又開發了人類設計工程學Design Human Engineering(DHE)[19] John Grinder博士發展了New Code NLP技術[20]。 在John 及Richard 眾多學生中,在各自的研究領域中都發展出深層行為改變的技巧. 有幾位現今都是NLP界中的頂級大師,如下:
John Grinder、美國NLPU,以及這二大機構所授權教學機構的課程內容中,明確顯示NLP無法控制人。獲得這二大系統以下授權教學的NLP訓練師及NLP高階訓練師,他們因為受到嚴謹的評估及認證後,才能取得授權教材,或為參與者申請這二大系統的證書,因此授課內容中主要是如何療癒個案,完全沒有任何關於控制的內容。[來源請求]
^ 1.01.1Nach Wolfgang Walker, Abenteuer Kommunikation. Bateson, Perls, Satir, Erickson und die Anfänge des Neurolinguistischen Programmierens (NLP), Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta: pp. 249,
^Tosey, Paul; Mathison, Jane. Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming(PDF). Centre for Management Learning & Development, School of Management, University of Surrey. [12 September 2019]. (原始内容(PDF)存档于3 January 2019).
^Thomas Witkowski. A review of research findings on Neuro-Linguistic Programming. The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice. 2012, 9 (1): 29–40.
^Jackie Sturt, Saima Ali, Wendy Robertson, David Metcalfe, Amy Grove, Claire Bourne, Chris Bridle, Neurolinguistic programming: A systematic review of the effects on health outcomes, British Journal of General Practice, 62 (604): pp. e757-e764,
^Christopher F. Sharpley, Research Findings on Neurolinguistic Programming: Nonsupportive Data or an Untestable Theory?, Journal of Counseling Psychology, 34 (1): pp. 103–107,
^ 7.07.1Tomasz Witkowski, [czasopisma.pan.pl Thirty-Five Years of Research on Neuro-Linguistic Programming. NLP Research Data Base. State of the Art or Pseudoscientific Decoration?], Polish Psychological Bulletin, 41 (2): pp. 58–66,
^Richard Wiseman, Caroline Watt, Leanne ten Brinke, Stephen Porter, Sara-Louise Couper, Calum Rankin, The eyes don’t have it: Lie detection and Neuro-Linguistic Programming, PLoS One, 7 (7): pp. e40259,
^John Carey, Richard Churches, Geraldine Hutchinson, Jeff Jones, Paul Tosey, Neuro-linguistic programming and learning: Teacher case studies on the impact of NLP in education, Reading: CfBT Education Trust,
^Kotera, Yasuhiro; Sheffield, David; Van Gordon, William. The applications of neuro-linguistic programming in organizational settings: A systematic review of psychological outcomes. Human Resource Development Quarterly. 2019-03, 30 (1): 101–116. doi:10.1002/hrdq.21334.
^"at the time of its introduction, NLP was heralded as a breakthrough in therapy and advertisements for training workshops, videos and books began to appear in trade magazines. The workshops provided certification [...] However, controlled studies shed such a poor light on the practice, and those promoting the intervention made such extreme and changeable claims that researchers began to question the wisdom of researching the area further and even suggested that NLP was an untestable theory. [...] NLP is no longer as prevalent as it was in the 1970s or 1980s, but is still practiced in small pockets of the human resource community. The science has come and gone, yet the belief still remains" (Grant Devilly, 2005, p.437).