Medical NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) is about every aspect of the, ‘Language of Healing and Health’.  It is a way of being that can be applied in every kind of interaction such as a Consultation between a practitioner and a client.  

Medical NLP regards people as functioning, interrelated systems.  This “ecology” ranges from the physical and emotional, through relational levels including partnerships, families, work, social connectedness and spirituality (a sense of being part of “something greater”)   Imbalance in any of these areas has been demonstrated to adversely affect our health and well-being.   Too often, people are seen simplistically as repositories of symptoms, rather than as unique interactions of physical, psychological, social and spiritual experiences.   Failure to see holistically and to redress these imbalances increases the possibility of treatment failure.  

A strong sense of “connectedness” between practitioner and clients is a significant factor in a successful consultation.  As with all relationships, structure and process is at the core of establishing and maintaining a productive interaction.  

Most people in distress have only an absence of their problems as a goal.  However, a successful solution-orientated approach demands a clear sense of direction and outcomes, as well as credible means for the client to measure improvement.  

Sensory acuity is the ability to gain useful and verifiable information from a wide range of verbal and non-verbal behaviours, including whether the chosen interventions are having the desired effect or not.  

Having a range of alternative approaches together with a willingness to change direction if a particular approach is not having the desired result is the hallmark of effective Medical NLP.  

We create our subjective experience of the world through use of our five senses.  However, this ‘map’ of ‘reality’ is not reality itself, although we often function as if it were.  Furthermore, since we each of us use our senses differently and have different beliefs, values and experiences through which data is filtered, our maps may differ significantly from those of other people.  Never assume that other people share your map or reality.  

Medical NLP adopts a systemic approach to healing and health.  Unmet human needs can give rise to apparently unrelated physical and emotional problems, or worsen those that already exist.  

If only to draw attention to some imbalance, symptoms, behaviours and emotions are communications from other-than-conscious levels of experience.  In many cases, removing the symptom will not resolve the problem or satisfy the intention.  The symptom is not the problem.  The problem is the problem.  

There is no effective treatment without healing.  Exogenous artefacts have only a limited effect on the complex human psychosocial physiology.  True healing requires engagement of innate, internal processes or allostasis (self-regulation).  The effective practitioner facilitates the “right conditions”.  

Sympathetic Arousal (known usually as stress) that cannot be acted upon often results in emotional and physical ‘lock-up’.  This inhibits effective processing by the Cerebral Cortex and can cause or worsen physical and psychological conditions.  Effective Medical NLP practitioners should regard reduction of Allostatic Load as the first response to all situations in which the client is in distress.  

Although we all at times may seem ‘difficult’ or ‘resistant’, our behaviour is the only response we currently have at our disposal, given the characteristics of our internal ‘maps’.  

By taking responsibility for the results of all interactions, we retain the power and flexibility to change and adapt should we not get the response we wanted or expected.