Complete guide
Time Line Therapy: The Complete Guide to Tad James’s NLP Technique, Evidence and Costs
Time Line Therapy is a set of techniques created by the American NLP trainer Tad James in the 1980s. You imagine your life as a line running from…
Time Line Therapy
Time Line Therapy is a set of techniques created by the American NLP trainer Tad James in the 1980s. You imagine your life as a line running from past to future, then "float above" it to let go of negative emotions and limiting decisions. It is trademarked, commercially taught and has had very little scientific testing. Start with our complete guide.
1 guide
Time Line Therapy is a set of techniques created by the American NLP trainer Tad James in the 1980s. You imagine your life as a line running from past to future, then "float above" it to let go of negative emotions and limiting decisions. It is trademarked, commercially taught and has had very little scientific testing.
This hub is the home on Self Help Supermarket for Time Line Therapy. Our complete guide explains the method, the evidence and its limits. As we check them, videos, podcasts, courses, books and practitioner directories for Time Line Therapy are added to this page.
This hub is for general information and self-education. It is not a replacement for medical or psychological care.
Start here
New to Time Line Therapy? Our complete guide covers the core concepts, what happens in a session, a safe self-exploration exercise, the honest evidence, risks, costs and how to find a practitioner.
What people use it for
What the evidence says
Nobody knows yet. We found only two small studies of Time Line Therapy itself, neither randomised and neither with long-term follow-up (Ahmad, 2011; Khan, 2022). Both reported large short-term drops in negative feelings, but they could not rule out expectation, relaxation or researcher bias.
The "time line" idea has some real science behind it. Psychologists have shown that many people do picture time in space, with the past on one side and the future on the other (Bonato et al., 2012). That does not prove the therapy built on it works.
Its parent field, NLP, has a poor evidence record. Independent reviews have found little support for NLP's claims (Witkowski, 2010; Sturt et al., 2012).
It is not a treatment for trauma or PTSD. If you have post-traumatic stress, NICE recommends trauma-focused CBT or EMDR delivered by a trained professional (NICE, 2018).
You will find the full evidence, with sources, in the complete guide.
Before you start: Time Line Therapy is not a treatment for trauma or PTSD. Going back to emotional events can bring up strong feelings, and suggestion and imagination can create convincing but inaccurate memories. Practitioners without mental health training may not know how to help if you become very distressed. If you are in crisis or thinking of harming yourself, contact your local emergency number or find a helpline in your country at findahelpline.com (in the US, call or text 988).
FAQs
Where should a complete beginner start?
Read our complete guide first. It explains Time Line Therapy step by step and says plainly what the evidence does and does not show.
Who created Time Line Therapy?
The American NLP trainer Tad James developed it in the mid-1980s and published it with Wyatt Woodsmall in 1988. It built on earlier NLP time line work by Steve and Connirae Andreas. James died in 2021, and his wife, Dr Adriana James, continues to run the Tad James Company, which teaches the method.
Is Time Line Therapy the same as NLP?
It is an offshoot of NLP rather than the same thing. It borrows NLP ideas such as submodalities, dissociation and hypnotic language, and is usually taught as part of NLP Practitioner courses. Many NLP practitioners use other time line techniques without using the trademarked Time Line Therapy process.
Does Time Line Therapy work?
We don't know. Only two small studies have tested it, and neither was randomised or followed people up over time. Both found big short-term drops in self-rated negative emotions, but expectation and relaxation could explain them. Reviews of NLP, its parent field, have found little evidence that its techniques work.
Is Time Line Therapy safe?
For most people a session is unlikely to cause harm, but it is not risk-free. Revisiting emotional memories, especially under hypnosis, can be distressing, and suggestion can shape or even create false memories. The main danger is using it instead of proven treatment. Practitioners are not regulated in the UK.
Can I do Time Line Therapy on myself?
The full release techniques are designed to be guided by a practitioner and haven't been tested as self-help, so we don't recommend trying them alone. You can safely explore how you picture time, using neutral memories and a simple goal, with the exercise in this guide. Skip it if your past upsets you.
Is Time Line Therapy a form of hypnosis?
Not exactly, but it often uses hypnosis. Many practitioners start with a relaxation or hypnotic induction, and the published studies combined it with hypnosis. Tad James was also a hypnotherapist, and most Time Line Therapy training is sold together with hypnosis certification.
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