Hypnotherapy and Relationship Therapy
“A man’s got to know his limitations” this was a quote for the film Magnum Force which I believe was the second in the Dirty Harry series of films. The line always struck a chord with me, we often talk to people about their abilities being limitless. This however, is not entirely true. Abilities must be backed up with knowledge and education and skill.
In trying to decide what to write about today, I came across a newspaper article about a hypnotherapist working with relationship issues. Indeed the therapist in question said that 20% of his work was regarding relationship work. So I thought I would look to see what specialist training he has received to work with this specialised field. Much to my disappointment, albeit not to my surprise, upon going to this person’s website, it is clear that the therapist has no specialist training in relationships at all. Much of the site is about how this practice is the “Leading” practice with “High Success Rates” with being trained to “the highest level”, yet the qualifications listed do not match this claim. This practice also uses media appearances as a validation of the practice’s amazingness. Whilst media coverage is certainly useful, it is not a validation of the practice in any way. It rather means that they are good at getting coverage.
I stress to my students all that hypnotherapy can do, however, I also stress the limits of practice. These limits are that you do not work with issues you are not qualified to work with. I know I can never change the opinion of some of my colleagues, but I hope that the public will seek out appropriately qualified therapists for their needs, rather than giving into the hype that some practitioners seem to generate.
