Standards
'How do I know whether I'm seeing a genuine hypnotherapist?' This is
a sensible question. You want to know that the hypnotherapist:
a) is a person of integrity
b) knows the job and helps patients
c) charges reasonable fees.
Producers
of television programmes on hypnosis seem to assume you are very
stupid. So do thousands of hypnotists, who
have set up
as 'hypnotherapists'
after taking a hopelessly inadequate 'training course'
to make a quick buck from you.
They apparently
imagine you can understand only a primitive form of therapy,
in use
150 years
ago,
in which
suggestions are pumped into you to suppress your
presenting symptoms. As if you
were unable to understand that:
-
there
are causes behind your symptoms
-
those causes need to be discovered, understood and resolved by you
in order for the symptoms to go permanently and to ensure that other
symptoms don't appear instead (to serve the purpose fulfilled by the
presenting symptoms), and
-
any
responsible
practitioner
will
try to help you to do this, and
will
ensure that he or she
has the skills
to do so.
There's
a
multitude
of
'hypnotherapy'
interest groups which hypnotists
can join on payment of
a fee. Some of
these groups
have professional-sounding
names. Some advertise that
they
have, or are, 'a national
register'.
Some
have 'a code of ethics'.
But a register, unless admission
to it is restricted
to suitably trained people, doesn't mean
that
the people on it
have any expertise or standards.
And a code of ethics,
unless it's relevant and properly
enforced, is
only window-dressing,
providing no protection
to the public.
Integrity
Reputable hypnotherapists will send you, or their organisation
will send you, printed information before you see them, stating
the
nature of the service which they provide, their training, qualifications
and experience, the names of any organisations or registers to
which they belong, their fees, the terms and conditions upon
which they will see you, their exact location and an indication
of how
soon and at what times they are likely to be able to see you.
Giving you this information in print reduces the risk of any
misunderstanding.
It also enables you to talk about you and your problems when
you have a consultation, instead of having to ask about routine
points
which could have been dealt with in a pamphlet.
Good hypnotherapists won't tell you before seeing you how
many visits you will need, nor definitely whether they can help
or not. Nobody
knows, because the type of help required, if any, varies from
one individual to another. So does the number of sessions.
Before deciding
what form of treatment you need, if any, a reputable hypnotherapist
gives a thorough consultation. This will take up the whole of
your first appointment, perhaps beyond, and hypnosis will
not be attempted
in that first visit.
Nor
will any reputable hypnotherapist claim a success rate. There are
many different ways of measuring success in therapy, many
different views as to what constitutes success. Does it mean
disappearance
of the symptom presented - even if the result doesn't last,
or you get, or still have, other problems, which may be underlying
causes
or new substitute symptoms? For how long do any benefits need
to be maintained for the therapy to be counted a success? Who
decides
whether it's a success or not? The patient? His or her partner?
The children? The parents? The therapist?
Good
hypnotherapists have no
connection with stage hypnotism or television shows. The
use (or misuse) of hypnosis for entertainment is utterly different
from
its use to help people tackle their problems. Stage hypnotists
are entertainers.
Hypnotherapists, to do their job well, need different characteristics
and years of training in psychotherapy, and therapy themselves
In 1958, the British Hypnotherapy Association was formed to
set appropriate standards. It admits only therapists who
have had at least four years of training, not merely in hypnosis,
or psychotherapy, but in all relevant subjects and who are
skilled in the understanding and treatment of emotional problems.
Perhaps most important of all, to gain insight and to avoid
acting out problems on patients, they have had thorough therapy
themselves. They have to comply with high standards in ethics
and competence in their work.
Maintaining these standards is greatly helped by you letting
the Association know the results of your therapy, especially
the long-term effects. So do please write to the therapist
and to the Association upon completing your therapy, and
once every ten years after that, stating the results in
detail. Not just whether you're free of the symptoms you
had, but
the
effects on your life as a whole, and how you are getting
on.
Practitioners recommended by the Association or the Centre
are on the BHA register. They don't advertise their professional
services. They get their patients through recommendations from former patients and referrals from the Centre, the
BHA and
other organisations and practitioners.
Qualifications
In
Britain, psycho-analysts don't use hypnotherapy. Most
psychotherapists have had no training in it. Physicians aren't
normally
trained in psychotherapy or hypnotherapy. Nor are most psychologists or psychiatrists. Most people calling themselves hypnotherapists
are only hypnotists.
The BHA no longer keeps a list of the many organisations with
unsatisfactory standards, the many training courses which are
worse than useless,
and the many worthless qualifications which so many people who
advertise their services put after their names.
There are too many of them.
To
be able to do their job properly, hypnotherapists must have a
thorough understanding of emotional problems, nervous conditions,
the causes of these and the treatments available. Their training
must
include a wide range of subjects, from endocrine disorders
to
marital relations, from psychodynamics to alcoholism. They
must
have had thorough, successful therapy themselves, to ensure
that
they're reasonably free of neurotic kinks and blind-spots,
and to
give them an understanding of psychodynamics, psychotherapy
and
hypnotherapy.
Only the British Hypnotherapy Association requires those
standards. Its practitioners are entitled to use the letters
FBHA, MBHA
or ABHA, depending upon their type of membership, after
their names.
There
have been cases of practitioners who aren't members of
the British Hypnotherapy Association and who don't even remotely
come up
to its standards claiming falsely that they belong to it
or putting one
of its designations, or similar-sounding letters, after
their
names.
So always ask the Association to refer you to the nearest
practitioner on their register.
Fees
If you want the quickest and best hypnotherapy don't be surprised
if you're asked to pay in advance for any appointments you arrange.
A busy practitioner, to reserve fifty minutes for a patient,
may need some assurance that the patient will turn up. A patient
who doesn't turn up for an appointment may be depriving someone
else, who could have had that time. Paying in advance also makes
you less likely to get coldfeetitis.
Because hypnotherapy isn't medical, it isn't covered by most
private medical insurance schemes. But there have been instances
of people
getting reimbursement through company health schemes for employees.
Some people have told us that they found that, as the therapy
improved their working efficiency, all or part of the fee
was tax-deductible.
It is not possible to have hypnotherapy to BHA standards
on the National Health Service. It's generally better, anyway, for
therapeutic reasons, to pay for hypnotherapy from your own resources
if possible.
Patients need fifty-minute sessions and an adequate fifty-minute
consultation
at the start. Practitioners in the British Hypnotherapy Association
charge fees related to their ability, training, experience, location
and availability. Their fees are related to the amount of time
you receive, the training and qualifications of the practitioner
and
the reputation which they have established. This does not apply
to most practitioners not on the BHA register.
Checklist
Use your eyes and ears to see for yourself how good a practitioner
is who claims to use hypnotherapy or to be a hypnotherapist. Does
he or she -
-
or the organisation, inform
you, in print, before seeing you,
of the nature of the service provided, the name of
the practitioner, his or her qualifications and the terms and
conditions upon which
you will be seen, including the fees?
-
have
the experience of having been a patient, having hypnotherapy/psychotherapy
regularly for several years, to gain
insight and to reduce the problems which attracted
him or her to this work?
-
belong
to a professional organisation which confines membership to
therapists with at least four years
of appropriate training including
having personal therapy and which attempts to ensure
high standards?
-
have freedom
from pretence or delusion that he or he has
never needed to be a patient?
-
prove to be sufficiently genuine to make no
promise of cure,
let alone cure within
a specified
number of
sessions?
-
have nothing
to do with stage hypnotism, nor any connection
with any use of
hypnosis for entertainment?
-
have the ability
to assess accurately alternative approaches when these
might be relevant to
the problems of patients?
-
never
prescribe drugs?
-
have reasonably clean,
pleasant premises, and see you
in a
private and (normally) quiet
room?
-
give you 50
minutes (provided you arrived
at the time arranged)
of personal
attention
at each visit?
-
prove to be free
of gimmicks,
such as wearing
a white coat,
using spinning
discs
or skin-electricity
meters, giving
tests, massage,
punishments or
rewards?
-
at
your initial appointment, first of
all get basic
information
about you, such as the
sort of childhood
you had
and what
sort of
sex life you
have, by
questioning
you or
letting
you talk
freely?
-
seem free
of theory,
including
theories
of Freud,
Jung,
Skinner or Marx?
-
prove to
be free
of
religious or theoretical
clap-trap?
-
treat
all
that you
and his
or her
other patients
say and
do, and
your identities,
as confidential?
-
try to
see that
any staff
are pleasant,
helpful and
discreet?
-
generally prove
to be
punctual?
-
seem
relaxed
and free
from obvious
neurotic symptoms,
such as
smoking, migraine,
asthma, over-eating
or a stammer?
-
prove to be
free
of over-simplifications,
such
as 'all neuroses
are
due to birth
trauma'?
-
understand
sexual
behaviour and
problems?
-
prove
to
be relaxed,
sophisticated
and
knowledgeable about
sex?
-
seem
free
of obvious
sexual
hang-ups,
such
as
prudery,
sadism,
satyriasis?
-
seem
free
of
bigotry,
such
as
'Arabs
are
homosexuals'?
-
desist
from
talking
much about
himself
or
herself
to
you?
-
listen to
you?
-
encourage
you
to
speak
frankly in
your
own
words?
-
speak
straightforwardly,
in
language
which
you
can
understand,
not
using
show-off
jargon?
-
seem honest?
-
seem
generally
open-minded,
using
knowledge
from
a
variety
of
sources,
including
own
experience
as
a
patient,
but
in
your
therapy
mainly
from
you?
-
avoid
preaching or
telling
you
how
to
run
your
life,
even
in
the
guise
of
'friendly
advice'
or
'counselling'?
-
avoid
smothering you
with
phoney
superfluous
expressions
like
'I
am
with
you'
or
'I
do
understand'?
-
question
you about
your
fantasies
and
dreams?
-
encourage
you
to utilise
your
dreams
and
fantasies,
but
avoid
interpreting
your
dreams
or
behaviour?
Because
interpretation
tells
about
the
interpreter
rather
than
the
patient;
it's
your
associations
with
the
dream
that
count.
-
treat
you
as
a whole
person
and
never
try
to
suppress
your symptoms -
whether
by
suggestion-therapy
or
videotape
or
audiotape
or
drugs
or
any
other
means?
-
try
to
enable
you
to
recognise
and
resolve
the
causes behind
your
symptoms
-
asking
you
questions
in
or
out
of
hypnosis
for
this
purpose?
-
for
inducing
hypnosis
use
voice
only,
with
no
hocus-pocus of
staring
eyes,
dangling
objects
etc?
-
refrain from
attempting
hypnosis
at
your
first
meeting?
-
ensure
that
there
are
rarely,
or
never,
any
interruptions to
your
sessions?
-
question
you
in
such
a
way
that
you
increasingly
use
your
own
eyes
and
ears to
perceive
more
clearly
and
accurately?
-
seem
perceptive,
and
voice
questions
arising
from
this?
-
avoid
giving
you
any
burden
of
obligation,
gratitude
or
indebtedness
and
accept
the
fee
or
salary
and
your
co-operation
as
sufficient
reward for
helping
you?
-
question
you
about
your
behaviour so
that
you
question
it
constructively
yourself?
-
refrain
from
advising
you either
to
have
or
not
to
have
relationships
with
your
parents
or
other
people,
but
instead,
by
questioning,
help
you
