Ok, NLP is a VERY much debated topic on this forum and for that reason i am not sure if i want to learn about it as, from what i have seen, many people seem to become (not sure if its the right word but..) obsessed with using it and controlling people with it.

Firstly, i have had (or think i have) had NLP used on my, by a professional. This was about 5 years ago now just because i was had to go through a lot of painful operations over a year or so (they used, from what i can work out, basic anchors for clam/pain free stats etc). Even then i was very curious as to how it works. I am by my own nature very scientific about things and, not that you need to know really, want to go into a medical career so this sort of thing interests me immensly.

My worry is, if I start to look into this I will begin to forget what i started looking at it for (and honestly that is for learning about it). Ofc, i would lie if i said i didnt see uses for this (in both bettering myself, PUA and life) but i dont want to experiment with the few things i already know because i can see the dangers are there.

I guess what i want to know, is from the people on this forum who obvious have a great understand on this topic is do you think i should invest the time from what i have said? Do you think the reasons i have presented for learning it are valid?

Also, on a slightly side note. What do you experts feel are the (again not the right word) advantages/reasons of learning NLP? in both regards to improving myself (confidents etc), PUA and life?

Thankyou for your time.

I would say go ahead and learn it. I find it to be an incredibly fascinating subject that can lead you to limitless ways of self improvement and can help you communicate with others more efficiently. I myself have just recently started reading a few NLP books and internet resources and have found it to have many good qualities. As long as you come into the subject with an open mind and a level head you will find that the positive applications greatly outweigh the negative. And it certainly isn't like your going to be able to go out and start controlling and manipulating people just like that, thats not how things work.

I understand you cant just go out and do that. however reading about people on this forums specificaly the october man pattern one cant help but think of the possible negative impacts of NLP, and probably more inportantly for some1 investigating it where the boundry of self improvement and better comunitcation overlaps... But i dont think i could ethicaly do that, i have to admit that even thinking about learning it does raise my own ethical issues however it is also a reason to learn it in my book, to try to understand the implications of it.

So what can be gained from learning it other than self improvment and better communication? also how difficult is it to understand (i am intelligent but by no means i genious yet )

Considering what NLP is, self improvement and better communication would be the primary focus of the field. From that you can specify it down to the specific aspects of each.
ex. More confidence, removal of bad habits/phobias, stronger/closer relationships and better clarity between people that you interact with. Im Not sure what else more you would be looking to gain.
As far as understanding it goes, I'm chipping away at it slowly and find that the general topics are easy to understand but to apply in the real world is quite different. I would suspect that having a mentor or someone to actually teach it to you and help work your way through the material would be quite beneficial.