I have noticed that there are some articles claiming that NLP is nothing more than a pseudoscience, that isn't meant to be taken seriously. Anyway, I'm starting to think this may be true. I carefully utilized (or attempted to utilize) the swish pattern and the 6 step reframe to cure my OCD and kill my nail biting habit; it worked for a day, but then these problems instantly resurfaced when I woke up the next morning. Also, I developed a great embedded command pattern to persuade one of my teachers into changing one of my grades. The pattern was amazing and my tonality was pretty decent, but I didn't get what I wanted. Maybe NLP doesn't always work; maybe it's not even real; I don't know. Can you guys shed some light on this...

Perhaps you're not as skilled as you need to be in order to make it as effective as you would like. Nothing is ever 100% effective (find me a birth control or anti-bacterial soap that claims otherwise), so the more powerful your skill with something, the closer you can get to 100%, but you will never achieve it.

Your first attempt at using the Swish Pattern didn't work perfectly, big deal. Part of that pattern is also in changing and adapting it to make it more effective if it isn't working as you'd like. Another part of the pattern is to use it whenever you feel the habit resurface, not just during the initial session. If you read Introducing NLP, you would have read the section where it states not to attempt using these patterns until you have mastered them; meaning, if you aren't really skilled at using it, it won't work and if you're doing it on other people to fix an actual big problem, then you can fuck their heads up with it. It may take 100 attempts with a pattern before you get it really effective, kinda like a pickup attempt wouldn't you say?

I'm sure you must have heard/read/experienced someone saying, "Oh yeah, that pickup crap doesn't work. Lemme see you prove it!" and then the other guy who only just read one book and hasn't ever successfully even gotten a number from a girl, ends up going and bombing a set and the guy makes fun of him for it and says pickup isn't real. Well he's wrong, cause that guy just wasn't skilled yet.

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"The 'Brick Walls' are there to allow you to prove how badly you want something!" ~ Randy Pausch

~ Rye

Also, if you're not a master in NLP don't worry. The techniques will still work, just a little bit weaker. The Swish pattern did work, but just for a day. Repeat the Swish pattern for yourself everyday for a while, each time the effect will sink in a little deeper untill you reach the point where you no longer feel like you want to bite your nails etc. Good luck.

NLP isn't a magic bullet for starters. It's not an "instant mind-control technique" like you were trying to use on your teacher. It can do some amazing stuff, but you need to understand how and why it works before you start using it. To make an analogy, you are slopping bread ingredients into a bowl all at once and tossing it into the oven and then complaining that since a perfect loaf of bread didn't result that bread-making is a pseudoscience.

NLP is based on hypnotic principles and one of the most fundamental principles of hypnosis is repetition. You have to listen to a hypnosis tape for about 2 weeks (that's listening at least once a day) for it to begin to be effective. Also, your skepticism about NLP is probably interfering with its effectiveness.

The Swish pattern needs to be repeated over and over again to really be effective. Try doing it ten times in a row, and blanking out your mind (think of a neutral color like gray) in between each attempt.

As for the pattern you used on your teacher, well, the repetition wasn't there either, was it? Patterns need to be delivered by a method called fractionation, where the embedded commands are repeated over and over and interspersed with stretches of "normal" conversation.

Remember also that hypnosis cannot make someone do something they don't want to do. If your teacher had no intention of changing your grade it's unlikely using NLP would change that.

Educate yourself on why hypnosis works and you will have a better understanding of the powers and limitations of NLP.