Banks, a Scottish welder with a ninth-grade education who lived in British Columbia, Canada, provided the philosophical basis for TPP, emphasizing how these principles underlie all human psychological experiences.
According to verbal accounts provided by Banks in his recorded lectures, he realised the Three Principles during a marriage seminar on Cortes Island, British Columbia, Canada in 1973.
"[16] Both peer-reviewed and anecdotal evidence indicates that when someone deeply understands the principles behind TPP, they may experience a profound sense of emotional freedom and well-being.
[23] Unpleasant or stressful emotions, suggest that an individual's thinking is influenced by insecurity, negative beliefs, conditioning, or learned patterns that may be irrelevant to, and thereby distort, the present moment.
TPP counselors encourage couples to recognize that their feelings are not determined by their partner, and that most issues that previously disrupted their relationship were based on insecure, negative, and conditioned thinking.
TPP seeks to provide deeper relief by demonstrating that negative and stressful feelings are self-generated and can be self-quieted, offering a pathway to well-being that does not rely on external circumstances or substances.
[37] Over the past forty years, Sydney Banks' "insight" has been applied in a wide range of settings, including hospitals, correctional institutions, social services, individual and couples therapy, community housing, drug and alcohol prevention and treatment programmes, schools and multi-national corporations.
[38][39] The Three Principles of Mind, Consciousness, and Thought have gained global recognition and are now implemented in the United States, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Ukraine, Israel, Czech Republic, Russia, Scotland, England, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Thailand.
[38][39] An early project, which garnered national publicity under the leadership of Roger Mills, introduced TPP (then known as Health Realization (HR) to residents of two low-income housing developments in Miami known as Modello and Homestead Gardens.
In 1997, Sargeant Jerry Williams was awarded the California Wellness Foundation Peace Prize on behalf of the Health Realization Community Empowerment Project at Coliseum Gardens.
[77] Mr. Banks was a day laborer with no education beyond ninth grade (age 14) in Scotland who, in 1973, reportedly had a profound insight into the nature of human experience.
[80] His philosophy focuses on the illusory, thought-created nature of reality, the Three Principles of "Mind", "Thought", and "Consciousness", the potential relief of human suffering that can come from a fundamental shift in personal awareness and understanding and the importance of a direct, experiential grasp of these matters, as opposed to a mere intellectual comprehension or analysis.
Mr. Banks suggests that his philosophy is best understood not intellectually but by "listening for a positive feeling;"[81] and a grasp of the Three Principles is said to come through a series of "insights," that is, shifts in experiential understanding.
[84] Facilitators ideally teach in the moment, from "what they know" (e.g. their own experience),[85] trusting that they will find the right words to say and the right approach to use in the immediate situation to stimulate the students' understanding of the "Three Principles".
"[90] A 2007 pilot study funded by the National Institutes of Health evaluated HR in lowering stress among Somali and Oromo refugee women who had experienced violence and torture in their homelands, but for whom Western-style psychotherapeutic treatment of trauma was not culturally appropriate.
Co-investigator Cheryl Robertson, Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota, was quoted as saying, "This is a promising intervention that doesn't involve the use of highly trained personnel.
[95] Her final report[96] notes that "Early program evaluation...found that the VVCRP was successful in reducing individuals’ feelings of depression and isolation, and increasing their sense of happiness and self-control.
In the Summary of Case Studies, the report goes on to state, "The VVCRP was effective over a period of five years of sustained involvement in two major neighborhood institutions... at influencing not just individuals, but also organizational policies, practices, and culture.
Pransky[97] has reviewed the research on HR (through 2001) in relation to its results for prevention and education, citing 20 manuscripts, most of which were conference papers, and none peer-reviewed journal articles, although two were unpublished doctoral dissertations.
Mental health is the resting state, or "default" setting of the mind, which brings with it non-contingent feelings of love, compassion, resilience, creativity and unity, both with others and with life itself.
[100] Research by George Bonnano, Professor of Clinical Psychology at Columbia University, supports this notion that resilience, not recovery, is a common response to difficult life events such as trauma and loss.
[103] Initiated by Robert M. D'Alessandri, the Dean of the medical school there, the institute was reportedly criticized as pushing "junk science," and Banks's philosophy was characterized as "a kind of bastardized Buddhism" and "New Age."
Harvey Silvergate, a civil-liberties lawyer, was quoted as agreeing that "essentially [the institute] seems like a cover for a religious-type belief system which has been prettified in order to be secular and even scientific.” A Dr. Blaha, who resigned as chairman of Orthopedics at WVU, was quoted as criticizing the institute as being part of a culture at the Health Sciences Center that, in his view, places too much emphasis on agreement, consensus, and getting along.
In contrast, Anthony DiBartolomeo, chief of the rheumatology section, was quoted as calling it, "a valuable addition" to the health-sciences center, saying its greatest value was in helping students, residents, and patients deal with stress.
Reportedly in response to the controversy,[104] the WVIIH changed its name from The Sydney Banks Institute to the West Virginia Initiative for Innate Health, although its mission remains unchanged.
[105][106] Many case examples, and a modest body of controlled outcome research[107] in solution focused brief therapy (SFBT), have likewise supported the notion that change in psychotherapy can occur rapidly, without delving into the clients' past negative experiences.
The first step of the six-step process used to teach focusing involves setting aside one's current worries and concerns to create a "cleared space" for effective inner reflection.
[109] (Correspondingly, TPP emphasizes the importance of quieting one's insecure and negative thinking to reduce stress and gain access to "inner wisdom," "common sense," and well-being.)
Positive psychology emphasizes the human capacity for health and well-being, asserts the poor correlation between social circumstances and individual happiness, and insists on the importance of one's thinking in determining one's feelings.
[110] Work by Herbert Benson argues that humans have an innate 'breakout principle' providing creative solutions and peak experiences, which allow the restoration of a 'new-normal' state of higher functioning.