NeuroLinguistic Programming

I actually read about NeuroLinguistic Programming (NLP) in a fiction book and was intrigued enough by how the author made use of NLP for a character in the book to do a little research on the topic.

This website has great resources explaining the origin of NLP and the basic concepts.  I will restate some of the information here:

Neuro refers to the brain and neural network that feeds into the brain.

Linguistics refer to the content, both verbal and non-verbal, that moves across and through these pathways. 

Programming is the way the content or signal is manipulated to convert it into useful information.

Essentially, based on the breakdown of the definition, you may be able to see why I was intrigued by the concept: using specifically planned language to produce a certain outcome.  In the fictional book I read (by the way, the book is The Protector by David Morrell), the main character makes use of NLP by projecting positive future outcomes; in other words, stating the outcome of an eventual event in a positive fashion: positive words = positive outcome.

The basic premise of NLP is that the words we use reflect an inner, subconscious perception of our problems. If these words and perceptions are inaccurate, they will create an underlying problem as long as we continue to use and to think them. Our attitudes are, in a sense, a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

The site I reference above is kind of hippie and a little more of a flower child interpretation of NLP, but provides a good background.  I am going to order a few books on the topic and you'll be able to find a link to the best resource on my blog; a lot of the books seem very focused toward psychiatry as NLP is a popular tool for psychiatry.