Choosing a Hypnotherapist

Choosing a hypnotherapist to help you understand your own thoughts and behaviours is a very wise investment, although not without its pitfalls.

Choose wisely and you could well be on your way to unlocking personal resources and surprising yourself.

No one can make that choice for you – it is difficult to help those who can’t help themselves. But which one to go for?

First thing’s first

Obviously, location, cost and reputation are important when choosing a hypnotherapist. If they’re someone you feel you can trust or have been recommended, the location and costs aren’t as important.

This is particularly so when considering the life changing effects of good change work. It’s important that you don’t cut corners with special offers or respond to marketing ‘dazzle’ because you’re then more likely to not only not get lasting results, but also have your perception of hypnotherapy tainted forever.

Which would be a tragedy – you’ll need to have your belief restored before getting anything out of any therapy in the future.

Marketing is usually the first thing you will come across. Remember that hypnotherapy brochures and websites are normally geared towards common issues so don’t worry if your problem is more unusual or not mentioned in the list of benefits.

You should get a good impression though of where the hypnotherapist is coming from. Are they a hypnotist who dabbles in therapy, or a therapist who dabbles in hypnosis?

Are they a “One session cures all!” sort or someone a little more psychologically wise and professional?

Are they male or female – and which would you prefer? Are they a young person more concerned with ‘looking the part’ and impressing their friends, or an older esoteric sort? Hypnotherapists vary in a big way.

Sidenote: As an example, I know of a woman in UK who left a close-to-burn-out sales job to do a quick hypnotherapist course and start up. I went to one of her local ‘free seminars’ out of curiosity, and was horrified! There were a few clearly vulnerable people there who had the courage to show up to this event, clearly needing solutions to their issues. But she had no rapport or interest in her audience at all. Zero awareness or skills in hypnosis, clearly no experience with clients or issues, no awareness of trauma or actual human experience. One attendee was patronised with a picture of a bucket in a brain (the stress bucket!) and told that she needs to keep her bucket empty rather than full. It was all highly embarrassing. What really irked me is that she quickly gave up and started marketing to other therapists instead, creating multiple websites and cringey youtube videos and newsletters to attract and sell clients onto other practitioners. This superficial vibe really taints the industry as a whole, because it gives a really naff idea of what hypnotherapy can be. Ok, rant over!

Always check for hypnotherapist training certification, background etc, and look their school up if in doubt.

It’s always of course a great idea to call them up and discuss your situation. Don’t get too carried away with talking about yourself – remember it’s more important at this stage to get a feel for them. Perhaps ask if they’re trained in EMDR – it’s fine (and likely) if they’re not, but useful to get a feel for whether they respond defensively or with awareness and clarity. It’s so important that you feel you’ll get along with them.

‘Losing control’ is a common myth of hypnosis, as you can’t be made to do anything against your wishes. If at any stage you feel you are vulnerable, feel free to discuss your concerns with the hypnotherapist, or ask to bring someone else along for reassurance. Some hypnotherapists record sessions to protect against false accusations, but would inform you of this (as part of the Data Protection Act) before starting.

Don’t be too eager for instant results or miracles, as different hypnotherapists have different styles and methods of working. The direct suggestion technique may actually provide pretty strong instant results for some situations, but others require a little more work.

Milton Erickson, who is widely thought of as the greatest hypnotherapist of the twentieth century, achieved great results in many different ways. Clients would contact him months or even years after treatment, upon realising how significantly the session had affected them in the long term. Then again, he lived in a time and place where people would actually write letters asking for help (now, two line emails usually reading “Can u hlp? If so- what is cost?” are more common).

Generally, you are in very good hands if choosing a hypnotherapist with competence, and will learn some interesting things whatever the change is that you would like. The following is a very sporadic collection of things to look out for or be aware of. Of course, they are irrelevant as nothing could be more of a useful guide than your own intuitive judgement.

Choosing a Hypnotherapist Who is Specially Trained

Some hypnotherapists are well trained and good at what they do – others are awful and don’t last the year (there is a very high turnover).

The problem is that because hypnotherapy looks like a lucrative profession (because its marketed that way by trainers) people get attracted to it for the wrong reasons and use it to escape their dull day jobs.

So you get lots of middle-managers, sales people etc turning to hypnotherapy training, completing a minimal course to get a meaningless certificate, and then charging the earth despite having little intuition or human awareness. The same thing applies to ‘life-coaching’.

I always maintain that results are the best measure of any therapy.

It’s perhaps safer choosing a hypnotherapist who is specially trained, rather than another health professional who has only dabbled in hypnosis – they often don’t have a clue but think they do so you can get left with a false impression. On that note, I have had many clients who’s doctors told them to keep smoking, or were told ‘hypnosis is a load of rubbish and won’t help your anxiety – here, take these pills instead”.

It’s also wise to choose a hypnotherapist who has supplemented their knowledge with more than one training school – preferably in different locations (or even countries), which shows they have a genuine passion for the art and craft of the work rather than just your hard-earned money.

Hasn’t the Hypnotherapist already read the Script?

As hypnotherapists should be trained to be acutely aware of your communication on all levels, they should be good at being receptive and responsive to your needs.

The hypnosis session then becomes a very organic, intuitive adventure that revolves around you.

For this reason, I find scripts, and any use of scripts in a professional hypnotherapy setting totally ridiculous. They are better suited to friends who are having a go at hypnotising each other.

If your hypnotherapist starts reading from a script, they will probably not be paying much attention to your responses, and not notice what is and isn’t working.

Sadly, many hypnotherapists rely on scripts, because they have had very poor training and think reading a script on its own will actually cure your problems. If they’re charging a lot, you deserve better.

Similarly, an old fashioned approach to hypnotherapy is the use of direct suggestions. Any results achieved by such methods are usually short-lived as they do little to change your underlying behaviour or thought patterns. Example – getting you relaxed before repetitively droning ‘you will stop smoking’. This is clearly not useful in addressing the underlying needs, motives, fears and desires of a smoker. A well researched hypnotherapist should be able to work so that you are consciously unaware of most of the change work that is happening.

Is the Hypnotherapist a Natural – or Supernatural?

I like to keep things well grounded and down to earth.

However, when choosing a hypnotherapist you may notice some hypnotherapists seem to venture from hypnosis into other alternative therapies – as far ranging as dowsing, astrology, the magic of crystals, coloured ribbons and suchlike.

If this is to your taste, then perhaps that will work out.

I personally see hypnotherapy as being about recognising and effectively eroding unwanted beliefs – so an environment that is heavily belief oriented itself might be a hindrance. You don’t want to leave with more mental clutter than how you started.

Don’t be put off by clinics that provide hypnotherapy among a long list of alternative therapies, some excellent hypnotherapists may just be renting their own practice from such clinics.

However, a long list of wide-ranging therapies under a single practitioner should raise suspicion – are they really going to be a master of any single discipline, or have they attended too many training events and become insecurely hungry for pseudo-qualifications?

The hypnotherapist facilitates you getting what you want. It can be difficult to sometimes resist enforcing your opinions or world views on others. The hypnotherapist is professionally trained to be entirely focussed on you, and what you want. They should respect and accept you completely, without bringing personal judgement into it at all. There is a fine line between sharing wisdom and enforcing your own beliefs.

Who does the work, you or the Hypnotherapist?

Some hypnotists, including some hypnotherapists, say that ‘all hypnosis is self hypnosis’. Whilst to an extent this is true (hypnosis is something you have to allow to happen), there is a big difference between self-hypnosis and hypnotherapy. It is true that a lot of resource and insight comes from within the client, as they are the focus of change work. But placing too much emphasis and dependence on the client just seems like a way to offset the work. Good hypnotherapy depends on the resources and skills of both.

The results obtained from a hypnotherapist can be near impossible to achieve by yourself without a good understanding of the mind. Introspection and self-analysis are very limited, because your automatic mind can go round and round, buried in conscious confabulations. It is circular, with no anchor to reality or outside awareness. A hypnotherapist can recognise things you may be blind to or take for granted, prevent you from wandering into your own subconscious traps, and direct hypnosis in a fruitful way. It is like a car mechanic saying ‘all car engineering is self-car engineering – the car actually fixes itself, it just uses my tools and hands to do it’.

The Resistance!

Some hypnotherapists (usually the ones who maintain that all hypnosis is self-hypnosis) will try to blame you if they can’t get results. If you are told that you are ‘resistant’ then this is another way of saying that the hypnotherapist doesn’t have the range of flexibility to work with you. They certainly should never attempt to belittle you or make you feel inadequate because of this. If this is the case then they are clearly more interested in their own ego rather than yours.

Who’s Died?

There is also a tendency for hypnotherapists to talk to you as though someone had just died, in a soft sympathetic (or patronising) voice. Like… everything… is just… so… serious…. you know? This makes some people want to burst out laughing, and should this happen, the hypnotherapist usually reacts defensively and tells them they are resistant or have a ‘deeper issue’ (grr!). Feel free to tell the hypnotherapist what you would prefer, if a less monotonous or more natural voice would suit you, tell them.

UK Hypnotherapist Lists

Click here to see hypnotherapists registered with the General Hypnotherapy Register in the UK

Good luck when choosing a hypnotherapist, and remember to trust your instincts.

If you do see a practitioner, feel free to share your experiences below! It would be great to get a feel for what’s happening out there.