When looking for a Hypnotherapist, it's important to understand that very few U.S. states actually regulate Hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapists don't need a license to practice. This is very good for a fledgling industry because you can find more Hypnotherapists in your area due to a low bar for entry. It is also very bad, because you can find a lot of untrained "Hypnotherapists" who don't know what they are doing.
Start by looking for a hypnotherapist who treats his practice like a doctor would.
Hypnotherapy isn't fringe science. It is a well documented therapy that works across a large range of problems, both mental and physical. It is a therapy based in science, and a deep understanding of how the mind works at a fundamental level. When looking for a Hypnotherapist, you should be looking for somebody who takes it seriously, the way a doctor would.
Would your doctor practice Reiki on the side? No.
Would they track their success rate? Yes.
Would they have real training with a quality institution? Yes.
Following are a list of questions that you can ask potential Hypnotherapists that should separate the ones who take their work seriously from the ones who don't. When in doubt, ask yourself how a doctor would answer the question.
The suggested answers are not ideals. They are minimums for finding a quality Hypnotherapist. While Hypnotherapists at Nova Hypnotherapy are required to far exceed many of these qualifications, it would be unfair to hold all Hypnotherapists to the same standard.
Questions to Ask:
1. Do you practice any other form of alternative healing?
The answer should generally be no. Alternative healing ranges from highly scientific, to disproven hoaxes. Whatever the therapy though, remember that a quality Hypnotherapist should take their work seriously enough that they don't need to rely on other approaches to help you heal.
Note: NLP is an exception to this rule, and can be an effective adjunct to Hypnotherapy
2. What is your success rate?
The answer should be below 100%. The important point here, is that they ARE tracking their success rate, and that they include their failures. No Hypnotherapist has 100% success, and if they say they do, they're lying to you. Some clients, for a variety of reasons, aren't responsive to Hypnotherapy. Anybody who claims otherwise is probably ignoring clients that didn't heal, or doesn't have many clients.
3. How much Hypnotherapy training have you had?
The answer should be a minimum of 100 credit hours. Hypnotherapy programs are sometimes accelerated programs that offer cheap certifications that mean very little. Often these programs offer certification in a week, or even a weekend. Obviously, there is no upper limit on how much training your Hypnotherapist should have, but it's important to ensure that their core training program was a well rounded, complete education, that had a minimum of 80 credit hours, and that they have had at least 100 credit hours of training total.
Note: Hypnotherapy has similarities with other mental health professions, but has very different methodologies. You should generally ignore credits in other fields, even if they seem related.
4. How many sessions will I need?
The answer should be less than 7 sessions. The first important point here is that your Hypnotherapist doesn't promise an exact number of sessions. Would your Doctor? Would your Psychiatrist? Any quality Hypnotherapist knows that some problems can have multiple sources. Hypnotherapy does not usually require more than 2 or 3 sessions, but in some cases it can. If your Hypnotherapist is offering you a guarantee, they are probably padding their sessions, or trying to overcompensate for a low success rate. Also, because there's no way to accurately predict how many sessions someone will need for an issue, avoid anyone who tries to sell you a package deal or a bundle of sessions.
5. What issues do you work with?
The answer should include more issues than weight loss, smoking, anxiety, and pain. If your hypnotherapist doesn’t work with depression, scoliosis, sciatica, PTSD, and other medical issues, they are not confident in the work that they do and probably don’t produce the quality of healing that you're looking for.
6. How do you work with deeper problems?
The answer should be any interactive approach, like Analytical Hypnotherapy or Regression therapy. Not Suggestion Therapy or NLP. There are as many therapies in Hypnotherapy as there are schools that teach it. Getting caught up in exactly which trademarked method each person uses isn't important, however most Hypnotherapy falls under two broad categories: Suggestion Hypnotherapy, and Analytical Hypnotherapy. The simplest difference is that Suggestion Hypnotherapy uses reinforced affirmations to fix minor problems, while Analytical Hypnotherapy uses interactive psychology to get to the root of serious issues.
Suggestion Hypnotherapy works just fine for minor issues, but deeper issues require a deeper approach, and you can't address the root of the problem without input from the client. Most good Hypnotherapists will know what Analytical Hypnotherapy is, but if they don't, they should at least be able to describe an interactive approach to healing deeper issues, rather than relying on Suggestion Hypnotherapy alone.