Credibility: Professional NLP opened up the opportunity to bring in models such as mindfulness and acceptance. There has created a divergence of opinion in the field with some scholars believing they are new developments (Leahy, 2008; Arch and Craske, 2008), and others considering the development of mindfulness and acceptance as an evolution with these techniques being a development derived from existing theory (Hofmann, 2010; Martel 2008). A useful analogy to consider in NLP is the use of metaprogrammes, developed by Jung who no doubt was informed through Greek mythology, through to Dilts and Cameron-Bandler’s development as core NLP, into the 1990s and the development of the LAB profile by Charvet. During this time the British Association of Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy (BABCP) was formed in 1972 as a special interest group with just 195 members. Over time the membership has grown to over 10,000 many of whom have formed their own special interest groups. The BABCP consider that CBT is a merging of therapies as a unifying model of psychotherapy that works on the principal that if you change your beliefs, you will change your behaviour. CBT is a responsive form of therapy that is not oppositional and can be integrated with other approaches. The successful adoption of CBT can be directly linked to its evidence base, which was led by Beck in the 1960s. Beck has published more than 580 scholarly articles on CBT, much of them providing research evidence for the approach. CBT practitioners are responsive to the evidence base and new findings that emerge in the field. The field is collaborative with a desire and drive for joint learning using an inquisitive enquiring approach. Good practitioners are able to hold the balance between the structure and focus of the CBT approach and the flexibility and personalisation that emerged in the 1990s. This approach has been supported by Beck as seen in his presentation with the Dalai Lama in 2012.
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