Richard Wayne Bandler (born 1950) is an American consultant in the field of self-help.[1] With John Grinder, he founded the neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) approach to psychotherapy in the 1970s.
Richard Bandler | |
---|---|
Born | Richard Wayne Bandler 1950 (age 73–74) Teaneck, New Jersey, United States |
Occupation(s) | Author, consultant, public speaker |
Known for | co-creator of Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) |
Website | richardbandler |
Bandler was born in Teaneck, New Jersey and attended high school in Sunnyvale, California.[2]: 24 He has stated that he was beaten as a child so badly that every bone in his body was broken. After his parents separated, he moved with his mother and stayed mostly in and around San Francisco.[3][verification needed] Bandler obtained a BA degree in philosophy and psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) in 1973, and an MA degree in psychology from Lone Mountain College in San Francisco in 1975.[2]: 24–25
Bandler helped publisher Robert S. Spitzer (of Science and Behavior Books, Inc.) edit The Gestalt Approach (1973) based on a manuscript by gestalt therapist Fritz Perls (who had died in 1970). He also assisted with checking transcripts for Eye Witness to Therapy (1973).[4] According to Spitzer, "[Bandler] came out of it talking and acting like Fritz Perls."[5]
While a student at UCSC, Bandler also led a Gestalt therapy group. John Grinder, a professor at the University, said to Bandler that he could explain almost all the questions and comments Bandler made using transformational grammar. Grinder's specialty was in linguistics. Together, they created what they called a therapist training group. This was the basis for their first book, The Structure of Magic (1975). [citation needed] Bandler and Grinder claim to have later codified some of the foundational models for Neuro-linguistic programming in part by studying the methods of Milton Erickson and Virginia Satir.[6][non-primary source needed]
In 1986, Corine Ann Christensen (December 8, 1954 – November 3, 1986), a former girlfriend of Bandler's friend and cocaine dealer, James Marino, was shot dead in her Santa Cruz townhouse with a .357 magnum owned by Bandler. Authorities charged Bandler with her murder. Bandler testified that he had been at Christensen's house, but that Marino had shot Christensen. After a short deliberation, a jury found Bandler not guilty.[2]: 24, 64 [7]