Hypnotherapy Time to Ask Difficult Questions
Having been in this field since 1989, I have seen hypnotherapy go through many changes. Many of these changes have been for the better. It has moved from being some kind of quack science to being a respected and valuable adjunct to many psychotherapeutic interventions. It has been lauded by celebrities as being a good way to deal with a myriad of issues like birthing, fertility, smoking and anxiety. This popularity has led to more and more people training to provide these therapeutic services to the public.
The difficult question that the profession needs to answer, is how are training organisations vetting the people that they train? Regular readers will be aware of the number of times when I have bring note to episodes where hypnotherapists have been charged and or convicted of sexual crimes under the auspices of their work. I have indeed seen another such case this morning.
Hypnotherapy trainers and schools have an obligation to better vet the people that they train. Is it possible to eradicate this issue totally, no of course not. But far too often schools and trainers simply take on anyone who can cover the fee and do very little assessment as to the temperament and motive has for wanting to enter the field. The time is fast coming where schools and trainers will be asked about this, and I fear unless something is done profession wide, they will not have the necessary answers or solutions to the influx of abuse cases involving hypnotherapists. I should say that this is a small number of bad apples, but even one bad apple in my mind is one too many.
