How to Erase Hypnosis’ Past Reputation
Most physicians, psychologists and even the public recognise that hypnosis is an effective approach to working with a variety of psychological, emotional, and some physiological issues. So, why is it not used more in the mainstream like the NHS? I believe that is it because that hypnosis’ reputation has been tainted by past misconceptions and very disengenuous claims made about what hypnosis can and cannot do. Of course, one also has to take into account the media and film portrayal of hypnosis (old Dracula films for example)
Now all of this should have died off by now. There has been excellent research over the last 40 years which show how effective hypnosis is an adjunct to good psychotherapy and medical practice. Unfortunately, there are many practitioners who are not well versed in this research and they still continue the ludicrous claims of hypnosis’ power which was proliferated in the past.
If the field of clinical hypnosis to evolve into a truly respectable place in the family of therapies, it is essential that both the trainers and professional organisations get together and have a “Zero tolerance” of false and/or misleading claims about what hypnosis can and cannot do. Once this happens we as a field can wipe away the reputation of the past.
