Neuro-Hypnotic Repatterning (NHR): The Complete Guide to Richard Bandler’s Hypnosis Technique, Evidence and Costs

Neuro-Hypnotic Repatterning (NHR) is a hypnosis-based method created and taught by NLP co-founder Richard Bandler. It aims to strengthen good feelings until they override old emotional patterns. It is a trademarked, commercially taught technique, learned mostly on week-long seminars, and we found no published scientific study of it.

Psychology technique · Helps with: mood and confidence, habits and fears, feeling good on demand (claims untested)

Last updated: 23 October 2026

Reading time: about 30 minutes

How we wrote this guide
We read the official Neuro-Hypnotic Repatterning® and Pure NLP® websites, Bandler’s own interviews, event pages in Germany, Italy and the USA, US trademark records and the main research on hypnosis and NLP. We searched PubMed, Europe PMC and Crossref for studies of NHR itself. Every research claim links to the original paper. Where evidence is missing, we say so. Prices were checked in October 2026 and converted at that month’s exchange rates. This guide is information, not medical or psychological advice.

Quick answer: does NHR work?

• Nobody knows. We searched the main research databases for the exact phrase and found no published trial, case series or review of NHR. All the evidence for it is testimonial.
• Hypnosis in general has real evidence, in specific areas. The best support is for pain and medical procedures, but most reviews are of low quality (Rosendahl et al., 2024). None of it tests Bandler’s method.
• The “chemical” claims are untested. NHR is sold as changing experience “at the neurological and chemical level”. We found no measurement of this.
• NLP, its parent field, has a weak research record. Independent reviews found little support for its claims (Witkowski, 2010; Sturt et al., 2012).
• It is expensive and unregulated. A six-day seminar in Germany costs about $3,200 to $5,600 (€2,870 to €4,970), and the NHR® certificate is a private credential, not a licence to treat mental illness.

Contents

1. What is Neuro-Hypnotic Repatterning (NHR)?
   • NHR at a glance
2. Where it came from: NLP, hypnosis and Design Human Engineering
3. Richard Bandler, John La Valle and the Society of NLP
4. Core concepts
5. What happens in a seminar or session
6. A safe self-exploration exercise: noticing and savouring a pleasant feeling
7. Does NHR work? The evidence, honestly
   • Evidence at a glance
8. Risks and who should take care
9. How much does NHR cost?
10. How to find a practitioner or trainer, wherever you live
11. A note on the trademark and the business behind it
12. Books
13. Watch, listen and follow
14. Frequently asked questions
15. Key takeaways
16. Sources

What Is Neuro-Hypnotic Repatterning (NHR)?

Think of the last time you were truly delighted: a laugh that took over your whole body, news that made you feel light. Now imagine you could summon that feeling at will, make it ten times stronger and let it become your default mood. That, in essence, is the promise of Neuro-Hypnotic Repatterning.

Richard Bandler, who co-created neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) in the 1970s, presents NHR as the latest stage of his work. The official site says it “uses the hypnotic process to restructure experiences that people have at the neurological and chemical level” and that, instead of teaching people to lead with their minds, it “teaches you to lead with your feelings” (Neuro Hypnotic Repatterning®; Pure NLP®). Participants, it says, learn to “saturate your neurology with the chemicals that make us feel good”. The idea is that strong, pleasant states, practised often enough, push out older patterns such as anxiety, shyness or low mood.

Bandler’s own summary is that “the difference between NLP and NHR is not in the techniques but the outcome”: NLP changes what you think and do, while NHR is about what you feel (SelfGrowth).

Almost everything written about NHR comes from people who sell it. The method is taught in person, mainly by Bandler and John La Valle, and it is protected by trademark and by private certification. We found no published manual or book chapter that teaches it. That shapes this guide: we describe what the sellers say, separate it from what research supports, and give you the information you need to decide, including what it costs wherever you live.

NHR at a Glance

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Where It Came From: NLP, Hypnosis and Design Human Engineering

NHR sits at the end of a family tree with three main branches.

NLP. In the 1970s, at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Richard Bandler, then a student, and the linguist John Grinder set out to “model” gifted therapists, among them Fritz Perls, Virginia Satir and the hypnotherapist Milton Erickson, and turn what they did into teachable patterns (Witkowski, 2010). The result was NLP, which we cover in our NLP guide.

Hypnosis. Hypnosis is the second root. The American Psychological Association’s Division 30 defines it as “a state of consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness characterized by an enhanced capacity for response to suggestion” (Elkins et al., 2015). Bandler and Grinder’s best-known hypnosis book was Trance-formations (1981), and Bandler has taught hypnosis throughout his career. In a 2013 interview he said that, to him, “trance” is “synonymous with the word concentration” and that he can bring someone into a deep trance “30 seconds” after calling them from an audience (The Higherside Chats, 2013). Those are his claims, not measurements.

Design Human Engineering®. In the early 1990s Bandler launched DHE®, which the official Pure NLP® site describes as “the next step in the evolution of NLP” and a process for engineering your brain “to perform at the highest level possible”. Its starting premise is that the good feelings you already have are “nowhere near” what you are capable of (Pure NLP®). NHR is sold as the “culmination of work” from NLP and DHE®.

When Was NHR Created?

We could not pin down a first date, and the sources disagree about how far back it goes. The US trademark filing claims the name has been in use for commercial services since 1999, but that is the owner’s own claim. A 2000 Bandler biography on markfoster.net mentions a Konstanz workshop with “an introduction to NLP-DHE-NHR”. The earliest independent record we found is a review of a five-day NHR training in Edinburgh in December 2006, organised by Meta-NLP and taught by Bandler and La Valle (PlanetNLP). So the safest statement is that NHR has been taught since at least the mid-2000s.

That review described “spinning states” work and “subtle ways to move a client”. It is one participant’s account of one course, not a fixed protocol.

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Richard Bandler, John La Valle and the Society of NLP

Richard Bandler is the face of NHR, and the official NHR site presents it as “from the creator of NHR®, Richard Bandler, and his co-trainer John LaValle”. Bandler’s own site says his work is promoted through the La Valle family’s companies: “Every legitimate Richard Bandler training, certification, and recording now flows exclusively through PureNLP.com and NLPEternal.com” (richardbandler.com).

Behind those names is a small commercial structure. Pure NLP® is run by NLP Seminars Group International in Orlando, Florida. The Society of NLP™ issues the certificates, which the NHR site says are “certified and licensed by the Society of NLP™” and signed by Bandler. John La Valle, a long-time business trainer and Bandler’s co-author of Persuasion Engineering, owns the US trademark (see the trademark note). Seminars in Europe are run through local partners, such as nlp.de in Germany and Ekis in Italy.

Bandler divides opinion. Supporters see a gifted trainer, and a film made by his own team, Altered States: The Richard Bandler Story, tells the story from that angle. Critics, including a hypnotist whose video we list in the watch-and-listen section, question his claims and teaching style. Our job here is narrower: to assess the method on what can be checked.

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Core Concepts

Because NHR has no published manual, the best guide to its ideas is what Bandler and his trainers say in public. Six ideas recur.

1. Lead with feelings, not thoughts. NLP, Bandler says, mainly changes how you think. NHR starts from how you feel. The pitch is that if you can reliably produce strong, pleasant states, thinking and behaviour follow.

2. Amplify the good. The nlp.de seminar page promises “10X Feelings” and says that “when good states get strong enough, they overwrite old patterns … through real neurological overlay” (nlp.de). Bandler also suggests people should “spend more time practicing feeling good” than feeling bad (SelfGrowth).

3. Overlay, not erasure. In Bandler’s account, old learning is not deleted. Memory systems, he says, need “up-datable memory where you put new information in front of old information”, so that a new response gets there first, like taking “a left turn on the cortical pathways” (SelfGrowth). This is a metaphor. No brain imaging is cited to support it.

4. Feelings “spin”. In interviews Bandler describes feelings as having a direction of movement in the body: forward or back, clockwise or counterclockwise. If you spin an anxious feeling faster it gets worse, if you slow it down it improves, and if you spin it the opposite way, he says, people “typically … can’t go back and feel bad about the same thing ever again” (The Higherside Chats, 2013). The PlanetNLP course review describes “spinning states” work as part of the 2006 NHR training. This is vivid and may be useful as imagery, but we found no research showing that feelings have directions or that reversing one removes it. He links it to the gut’s nervous system, but we found no research supporting that link either.

5. Feel good “for no reason”. The Mainz seminar page quotes Bandler on feeling good “for no reason”, and says the aim is to learn to want a state rather than force it: “Want it — don’t force it” (nlp.de). This links to something real: forcing relaxation or happiness often backfires, and gentle attention works better.

6. States over stories. Like NLP and unlike most talking therapies, NHR cares little about why a problem began. In a 2025 podcast Bandler dismisses therapy aimed at “uncovering what went wrong in your childhood” in favour of changing “what had been learned neurologically” (Next Level Healing, 2025). Evidence-based therapies such as CBT also work on present-day thoughts and behaviour, so the contrast is less sharp than NHR’s marketing suggests. In practice, NHR practitioners often combine it with other tools: one UK practitioner who trained with Bandler also uses Havening® and clinical hypnotherapy (Chris Meaden).

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What Happens in a Seminar or Session

At a seminar. NHR is taught as an intensive, mostly in-person event of about six days. The Mainz seminar, for example, runs 14 to 19 November 2026 in the Alte Lokhalle, from 10:00 to 18:00 each day, with Bandler and John and Kathleen La Valle teaching in English (nlp.de). Expect a large room, demonstrations on volunteers and paired practice. The PlanetNLP reviewer, who took the 2006 Edinburgh course, described live demonstrations and exercises in which participants worked with each other’s states. Who attends varies: the Italian organiser, Ekis, calls the course open to all but recommends an NLP Practitioner certificate, while the Swiss partner NLP Labor says a passed Practitioner course is “required at minimum”. The terms differ by organiser, so ask before you book.

What you can earn. Completing the training can lead to an NHR® Specialist Practitioner certificate from the Society of NLP™, which practitioners list on their websites. As the next sections explain, it is a private credential.

In a one-to-one session. Practitioners describe hypnotic work in which you use your own body and imagination to build pleasant states and to respond differently to triggers. A UK practitioner’s page says clients learn “to bring about changes to your feelings, thoughts and beliefs” and warns, with a smile, that “laughter is a side-effect” (Chris Meaden). Session length and number are not standardised, and the official site gives no protocol. If you book, ask the practitioner to explain in plain language what will happen, what training and registration they hold, and what happens if you feel worse.

Recordings. Bandler’s seminars are sold as audio and video, officially through the Pure NLP® and NLP Eternal websites. Many sites resell what appear to be unofficial copies of NHR recordings. We don’t link to them: they raise copyright issues and give you no support if a session stirs up difficult feelings.

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A Safe Self-Exploration Exercise: Noticing and Savouring a Pleasant Feeling

We can’t teach NHR, because we don’t have its protocol and it is a hypnosis-based process best done with a trained person. What we can offer is a gentle exercise built on the one idea in NHR with real research behind it: that feelings are felt in the body and that attention to pleasant ones may help. In a study of 701 people across five experiments, people from Western Europe and East Asia produced very similar maps of where in the body they feel different emotions (Nummenmaa et al., 2014). The exercise below asks you to notice such a map for a mild, pleasant feeling.

It involves no trance and no revisiting of hard memories. Allow about ten minutes. Skip it if you are grieving, are in crisis, or find that closing your eyes brings up distress.

How to Notice and Savour a Pleasant Feeling

1. Choose a calm moment. Sit comfortably somewhere you will not be interrupted. Never do this while driving or operating machinery. Rate your current mood from 0 to 10 and note it.
2. Pick a mild, pleasant memory. Choose something quietly good, such as sitting in the sun, a favourite meal or a good laugh with a friend. Avoid anything tied to loss, conflict or trauma. If nothing comes, pick a pleasant place you can imagine.
3. Recall it with your senses. Let your eyes close or soften. Bring back what you saw, heard, smelled and touched. Take your time and let details arrive without forcing them.
4. Find the feeling in your body. Ask where you feel it: chest, stomach, face, hands. Notice any warmth, lightness or movement. If you feel nothing, that is fine. Just keep noticing.
5. Describe it. In your mind, give it a size, a temperature, and a texture. If it seems to move, notice how. Treat these as helpful descriptions, not as facts about your body’s chemistry.
6. Let it grow, gently. For a minute or two, stay with the feeling and invite it to spread without pushing. If you try too hard, ease off, which echoes the NHR advice “want it, don’t force it”.
7. Close and compare. Open your eyes, stretch, breathe out slowly and re-rate your mood from 0 to 10. Write a line about what you noticed. If you felt worse at any point, stop and talk to someone you trust or a health professional.

Repeat once a day for a week if you like it. The closest research is on “positive psychology interventions”, a broad family of simple wellbeing exercises, which have small to moderate benefits for wellbeing, depression and anxiety (Carr et al., 2021). This particular exercise has not been tested, and it is not NHR.

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Does NHR Work? The Evidence, Honestly

The short answer is that we don’t know, and the people selling it haven’t tried to find out. We searched PubMed and Europe PMC for the exact phrase “neuro-hypnotic repatterning” and found no papers. A Crossref search turned up nothing relevant either. The official sites rely on testimonials. Absence of evidence isn’t proof that something fails, but it means any claim about NHR’s results rests on stories, not data.

What we can do is look at the research on the pieces NHR is built from.

Hypnosis Has Real Evidence, but Not for NHR

The largest overview so far pooled 49 meta-analyses covering 261 primary studies of hypnosis. It found the strongest support in medical procedures and pain, and the largest effects in children and adolescents. Of the effects reported, 99.2% were positive, with 25.4% medium and 28.8% large (Rosendahl et al., 2024). The authors flag serious limits: only nine of the reviews were high quality, 53.1% were rated critically low, and heterogeneity was substantial. Hypnotisability, a person’s natural responsiveness to suggestion, was the only consistent predictor of benefit, so results depend heavily on who you are.

Official health bodies are more guarded. The US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health says there is evidence that gut-directed hypnotherapy helps irritable bowel syndrome, that evidence for hypnosis in some painful conditions is growing, and that results for smoking are conflicting (NCCIH). Where hypnosis is supported, it is for a specific problem, delivered by a trained clinician. NHR is a general-purpose, trainer-led process, so these results can’t be borrowed for it.

Addictions are among NHR’s claimed uses, so smoking is a fair test. A Cochrane review of 14 studies with 1,926 participants found no reliable evidence that hypnotherapy helped people quit more than other approaches (Barnes et al., 2019).

NLP, the Parent Field, Is Weakly Supported

NHR leans on NLP, so NLP’s record matters. Early tests of NLP’s basic claims, such as the “preferred representational system”, found little support (Sharpley, 1984; Sharpley, 1987). A review of 63 studies in the NLP Research Data Base found that of 33 that tested NLP’s tenets, 18.2% supported them, 54.5% did not and 27.3% were inconclusive, and the non-supportive studies were the better designed (Witkowski, 2010). A systematic review in the British Journal of General Practice found 10 studies, including five randomised trials, and concluded that there was “little evidence that NLP interventions improve health-related outcomes”, while noting this reflects limited research, not proof that NLP does nothing (Sturt et al., 2012). Further critical reviews call NLP “cargo cult psychology” (Roderique-Davies, 2009) and say its unique practices are “poorly supported by research evidence” (Passmore & Rowson, 2019).

On the other side, a meta-analysis by authors linked to NLP psychotherapy associations reported a moderate effect across 12 mostly observational studies (Zaharia et al., 2015). Most of its studies were uncontrolled, which limits what it can show.

The Ideas Behind NHR: What Science Says

• “Practising feeling good” has modest support. A review of 347 studies and more than 72,000 participants found that positive psychology exercises had small to moderate effects: for wellbeing (g = 0.39), depression (g = −0.39) and anxiety (g = −0.62), with gains still present at three months (Carr et al., 2021). That suggests building positive states can help some people, not that NHR does it better than a free gratitude journal.
• Emotions really are felt in the body. The cross-cultural body maps (Nummenmaa et al., 2014) support the idea of working with bodily sensation. They don’t show that feelings spin, or that you can reverse them.
• “Overlaying” old memories resembles a real, contested idea. Reconsolidation research asks whether a reactivated memory can be updated. A major review calls it “a viable but hotly contested explanation” (Elsey et al., 2018). None of the NHR material we read cites this work, and reconsolidation is a narrow, specific effect, not a general licence to overwrite habits.
• “Neurological and chemical” restructuring is unmeasured. The claim that hypnosis lets you “saturate your neurology” with feel-good chemicals is a hypothesis. We found no study that measured neurotransmitters, brain activity or any biomarker in people who had learned NHR.

Evidence at a Glance

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Risks and Who Should Take Care

For most healthy adults, a well-run hypnosis session is low risk. In the large hypnosis overview, safety data were reported in fewer than half of the reviews, and the harms mentioned were mild (one case of slight dizziness, one dropout after a panic attack) (Rosendahl et al., 2024). But “mild in studies” does not cover large-group seminars run by non-clinicians, and the risks to weigh are different.

• Treating a serious condition with NHR instead of proven care. Practitioner pages list conditions such as depression, trauma and OCD among their interests (Chris Meaden). NHR has no evidence for any of them. For depression, anxiety disorders, trauma or addiction, start with your doctor or a licensed mental health professional. Bandler himself acknowledges that some people “need some kind of chemical treatment”, but also says that long-standing problems can be removed in “30 minutes” (The Higherside Chats, 2013). The second claim is untested.
• False or distorted memories. Memory is reconstructive, and suggestion and imagination can create vivid memories of events that never happened (Loftus, 2005). A Royal College of Psychiatrists working group warned that hypnosis and regression used to “recover” memories can produce false ones (Brandon et al., 1998). Bandler has made the same point, saying that people age-regressed under hypnosis make things up “like crazy” (The Higherside Chats, 2013). Be wary of any practitioner who encourages you to hunt for hidden memories.
• Intense states with little aftercare. Seminars are built around strong emotional states and group demonstrations. Strong emotion can surface painful material, and a crowded hall is not a clinical setting.

Take particular care, and speak to a doctor or licensed therapist first, if you have a history of psychosis, bipolar disorder, severe dissociation or complex trauma, or if you are in a mental health crisis. Stop any exercise that makes you feel worse.

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How Much Does NHR Cost?

Prices vary widely by country, and the official NHR site doesn’t publish a US price. Below are the figures we could verify in October 2026, in US dollars first, with euros and pounds where we have them. Conversions use the 23 October 2026 rates from the European Central Bank (via Frankfurter): €1 ≈ $1.12 ≈ £0.84.

Seminars

Notes on these prices:

• The Mainz organiser says the ticket price is VAT-exempt, payment is by invoice, group rates start at 10 people, and optional seminar insurance is available (nlp.de). Check what the Pro ticket includes before paying the difference.
• The Swiss early-bird price compares with a quoted “normal price” of €3,172 (about $3,550) for the same event, so the discount is large.
• USA: Bandler’s company is based in Orlando, Florida, and ran an NHR seminar there in March 2024, but its current event calendar for 2026 and 2027 lists no NHR seminar and no price. Recent US events are for other products, such as Persuasion Engineering® and Get the Life You Want, which the organisers say is “not a certification program” (Pure NLP®). For US pricing, you have to request an “info package”. We found no published US dollar price.
• Remember travel, accommodation and time off. A six-day trip from North America, Asia or Australia to Germany can add significantly to the cost.

One-to-One Sessions

The official NHR site publishes no session prices, and NHR practitioners rarely list them. The one US listing we found, from a practitioner who offers NHR alongside other methods, shows $275 a session (CompassionKey). An Australian clinic sells a personalised audio file described as “Clinical Hypnosis and NLP-Neuro-Hypnotic Repatterning” for AUD 199 (about $140) (Health Hunter). Its practitioner page blends NHR with breathwork, theta-frequency music and “energy medicine” (Health Hunter), a reminder that the NHR label is applied loosely.

For comparison, here are typical 2026 prices for hypnotherapy in general. These come from business and directory sites, so treat them as rough guides, not official statistics.

An NHR specialist may charge more or less than these averages. Ask for the price of a first session, the number of sessions they expect, and any cancellation terms, before you book. We found no sign that public health systems cover NHR, and private insurance rules vary, so ask your insurer before you book. In Australia, some private funds cover hypnotherapy from recognised associations, subject to each fund’s rules (Australian Hypnotherapists’ Association).

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How to Find a Practitioner or Trainer, Wherever You Live

The official NHR site pages we read don’t link to a public practitioner directory, so verification takes more effort. Practitioners are mostly listed on their own sites, which advertise “Specialist Practitioner in NHR” credentials. We found practitioners or trainers in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Japan and the USA. That shows the training has travelled, not that you will find someone nearby.

Whatever your country, ask these questions:

1. Who certified you, and when? The NHR® credential comes from the Society of NLP™. Ask for the certificate date and how long the training lasted.
2. What is your core professional registration? NHR itself is no licence to treat anyone. Choose someone who also holds a licence (psychologist, counsellor, doctor) or belongs to a recognised hypnotherapy register.
3. What do you claim NHR can treat? Be cautious of promises to cure depression, trauma, addiction or physical illness.
4. What happens if I feel worse? A responsible practitioner has a clear answer and a referral route.
5. What does it cost, and how many sessions? Get this in writing.

Rules Differ by Country

Hypnosis regulation varies, so check where you live:

• USA. No state issues a general “hypnotherapist” licence, and certification is voluntary. A few states require registration: Connecticut requires hypnotists who aren’t already licensed health professionals to register with the Department of Consumer Protection (Connecticut DCP). The American Society of Clinical Hypnosis certifies only licensed health professionals (ASCH). For mental health problems, choose a licensed clinician who is trained in hypnosis.
• UK. Hypnotherapy is not statutorily regulated, and the title is not protected. Voluntary registers accredited by the Professional Standards Authority include the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC and the PSA’s list of accredited registers). Outside the UK, for example in Ireland, check the local rules.
• Canada. Hypnotherapy is not a regulated health profession in the provinces, and anyone can use the title. Training for clinical hypnosis, for example through the Canadian Society of Clinical Hypnosis, is limited to regulated health professionals (CSCH Ontario).
• Australia. There is no national government registration scheme. The Australian Hypnotherapists’ Association is an independent self-regulatory body (AHA).
• India. No central law licenses hypnosis as a profession, and a hypnosis certificate is training, not a licence. Treating mental disorders is reserved for registered clinicians, such as clinical psychologists on the Rehabilitation Council of India’s register (NGH India). That source is a hypnosis training organisation, so confirm with the Council.
• Europe. Rules vary by country, and some reserve therapy for mental illness to licensed professionals. Check your national health regulator before you book.

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A Note on the Trademark and the Business Behind It

“Neuro-Hypnotic Repatterning” is a US registered trademark (registration 4,706,335) for class 41 educational services, including seminars in human development, communication, personal improvement and motivation. It was filed on 14 November 2013 and registered on 24 March 2015, and the owner’s maintenance filings were accepted in 2020 (Justia Trademarks). The owner is listed as John La Valle, not Bandler. One tracking site says it was renewed in 2024, but we could not confirm this on the US Patent and Trademark Office’s system. We did not check registrations outside the US, or whether the abbreviation “NHR” is separately registered.

What this means in practice:

• The registration covers education services, not therapy. It protects the brand name and doesn’t mean any authority has reviewed whether NHR works.
• The ® and ™ marks and the “licensed” and “certified” language show who controls the brand. Society of NLP™ certificates are private credentials, not a degree or a licence, and official training is sold by connected companies.

The ownership of NLP itself has been disputed. A Society of NLP-hosted summary of legal proceedings from 1997 to 2003, written from the point of view of one of the defendants, says a California court ruled in February 2000 against Bandler’s claim to exclusive ownership of NLP. It is a one-sided source, but the ruling is also mentioned on Wikipedia’s NLP entry, and it explains why branded offshoots such as DHE® and NHR® matter commercially.

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Books

NHR has no dedicated book that we could find, and no chapter that teaches it. These are the nearest books, plus independent works for balance.

• Richard Bandler’s Guide to Trance-formation by Richard Bandler (2008) – Bandler’s own hypnosis book, aimed at general readers. (Open Library)
• Get the Life You Want by Richard Bandler (2008) – Bandler’s self-help book on his change techniques. (Open Library)
• Using Your Brain for a Change by Richard Bandler (1985) – a classic NLP text covering states and “submodalities”. (Open Library)
• Persuasion Engineering by Richard Bandler and John La Valle – the book behind the La Valles’ business-training programme. (Open Library)
• The Oxford Handbook of Hypnosis edited by Michael Nash and Amanda Barnier (2008) – an academic overview of hypnosis theory and research. (Open Library)
• Psychology Gone Wrong by Tomasz Witkowski and Maciej Zatonski (2015) – a sceptical look at popular psychological therapies, co-written by the author of a widely cited NLP evidence review.

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Watch, Listen and Follow

We checked every link in October 2026. Most NHR material comes from its sellers, so we have included independent and critical voices too.

Videos

▶ Dr Richard Bandler explains what is Neuro Hypnotic Repattering – Richard Bandler. A three-minute explanation from Bandler’s own channel. It is promotional, so treat the claims as his.

▶ Does hypnosis ever actually work? – Devin Terhune – TED-Ed. A six-minute, independent introduction to what hypnosis is and what we know about it.

• Dr. Richard Bandler talks about Neuro-Hypnotic Repatterning® LIVE in March! – NLP Seminars Group Intl. A short promotional clip from Bandler’s company.
• Altered States: The Richard Bandler Story – NLP Seminars Group Intl. A feature-length film about Bandler’s life, published by his own company’s channel, so expect a favourable view.
• An Honest Critique Of Richard Bandler And His Teachings. – Provocative Hypnosis. A critical take on Bandler’s methods. We have not assessed its arguments.
• Does Hypnosis Really Work? | Dr. David Spiegel – Doctor Mike. A long interview with the Stanford psychiatrist and hypnosis researcher David Spiegel.

Podcasts

• He Changed the Way the World Thinks: Conversation with Dr. Richard Bandler, Co-Founder of NLP – Next Level Healing, 2025. A 42-minute friendly interview in which Bandler describes his approach.
• THC 73: Richard Bandler | Neuro-Linguistic Programming & Mental Mastery – The Higherside Chats, 2013. An hour-long interview with a sympathetic host, including Bandler’s “spin” language and his comments on hypnosis and false memories.
• Mind Games – Kaleidoscope. A 2026 investigative series on the history of NLP, from Richard Bandler in 1970s Santa Cruz to the self-help industry.
• What Do EMDR, Tony Robbins, and NXIVM Have in Common? NLP – The Story – TechStuff. A sceptical history of NLP and its offshoots.

Accounts to Follow

• Richard Bandler – YouTube · Facebook
• NLP Seminars Group International (Pure NLP®) – YouTube · Facebook
• NLP Eternal – Facebook · X

All three are linked from Bandler’s official sites. We found no independent account dedicated to NHR.

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Frequently Asked Questions About NHR

What is Neuro-Hypnotic Repatterning?

Neuro-Hypnotic Repatterning (NHR) is a hypnosis-based method created by NLP co-founder Richard Bandler. It aims to build strong pleasant feelings so they replace older emotional patterns. It is taught on week-long seminars, is trademarked, and has never been tested in a published scientific study that we could find.

Who created NHR?

Richard Bandler created it, building on NLP and his Design Human Engineering® work. John La Valle is the co-trainer and owns the US trademark. We could not confirm the first date it was taught, but a course review shows it was being taught by December 2006.

Is NHR the same as NLP?

No. NHR comes from NLP but is marketed as a separate, hypnosis-based process. Bandler says the difference “is not in the techniques but the outcome”: NLP changes thinking and behaviour, while NHR focuses on feelings. NHR training is separate from NLP Practitioner certification, although some providers recommend or require NLP training first.

Does NHR work?

We don’t know. We found no published study of NHR. Research supports hypnosis for some problems, such as pain, but not for NHR specifically, and reviews of NLP, its parent field, find little support. Evidence for NHR consists of testimonials from its trainers and clients, which cannot show cause and effect.

Is NHR safe?

For most healthy adults, hypnosis carries a low risk of mild effects such as dizziness. NHR itself hasn’t been studied. The bigger risks are false memories, intense emotion in large groups, and using NHR instead of proven treatment. Take medical advice first if you have psychosis, bipolar disorder or trauma.

How much does NHR cost?

A six-day NHR seminar in Mainz, Germany in November 2026 costs about $3,200 to $5,600 (€2,870 to €4,970), depending on ticket type and timing. No US price is published. One US practitioner lists $275 a session, and general hypnotherapy typically costs $70 to $250 in the USA, UK, Canada and Australia.

Can NHR cure depression, anxiety or addiction?

There is no evidence that it can. NHR hasn’t been tested for any of these. For depression, anxiety or trauma, see a doctor or licensed therapist. Hypnotherapy for stopping smoking showed no reliable benefit over other methods in a Cochrane review, so be sceptical of any claim to cure addiction.

Do I need NLP training before learning NHR?

Not necessarily. The Mainz organisers say newcomers are welcome and that no prior NLP experience is needed, and an Italian provider’s 2025 course was open to everyone, though it recommended a Practitioner certificate. Requirements vary by organiser, so check the terms of your event before you book.

What do the NHR® and Society of NLP™ certificates mean?

They show completion of a course run by the Society of NLP™ and its partners. They are private credentials, not a degree or a government licence, and they do not authorise anyone to diagnose or treat mental illness. Check whether a practitioner also holds a professional licence or a recognised register membership.

Is NHR regulated?

No. Hypnosis is regulated differently in each country: a few US states require registration, and the UK, Canada, Australia and India have no licence specific to hypnotherapists. NHR practitioners aren’t regulated as NHR practitioners anywhere we checked. Look for a professional licence or register as well.

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Key Takeaways

• NHR is a branded, hypnosis-based method from Richard Bandler that aims to amplify good feelings until they override old patterns.
• There is no published evidence for NHR. Hypnosis helps some conditions, but those results can’t be borrowed for a general-purpose seminar method, and NLP reviews are mostly negative.
• Its biggest claims are untested. “Chemical” restructuring and “spinning” feelings have no supporting research that we found.
• It is costly and commercial. About $3,200 to $5,600 for a six-day seminar in Germany, no published US price, and a private certificate controlled by a small group of connected companies.
• For depression, anxiety, trauma or addiction, choose evidence-based care from a licensed professional, wherever you live.

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