Virginia Satir is one of the world’s first family therapists, and developed several techniques that were used cofounders Richard Bandler and John Grinder in the model for Neuro-linguistic programming. After her death in 1980, many of her disciples across various countries continued to use these techniques to heal dysfunctional families.

Satir developed five categories, now known as Satir categories for handling different language behaviors. Neuro-linguistic Programming adopts these categories for enabling better communication between individuals.