NLP was formed back in the 1970's by a Richard Bandler (master's level Student of information sciences and mathematics) in Califonia. He enlisted the help of Dr John Grinder (professor of Linguistics) to study subjects they considered to be excellent communicators and agents of change.

They were taken aback on how against all odds certain people could communicate to difficult or 'ill' people where others have failed. This placed NLP into a therapeutic setting thanks to three world renowned psychotherapists. These were Virginia Satir (developer of conjoint Family Therapy), Fritz Perls (the founder of Gestalt Psychology) and Milton H Erickson (largely responsible for the advancement in clinical Hypnotherapy).

Bandler and Grinder also drew skills from Alfred Korzybski and Noam Chomsky (linguistics) Social anthropologist Gregory Bateson and Psychoanalyst Paul Watzlawick.

Since then NLP has spread across the world, encompassing various disciplines with many more teachers and practitioners adding new skills everyday. Now a days NLP is used by many varying people in their social and professional capacity's to improve quality of life, success and most of all relationships with other people