When you start to think about finding a Hypnotherapist, you may find yourself asking these questions:

  • Who is the best hypnotherapist in Edinburgh, Falkirk, Linlithgow or West Lothian?
  • Are they safe/how well trained are they?
  • What success rates do they have?
  • How many hypnotherapy sessions do I need?
  • How much does hypnotherapy cost?
  • What happens in a session, do I lose control?
  • Do they have experience of my problem? Well…I am going to answer these questions for you.

Who is the best hypnotherapist in Edinburgh, Falkirk, Linlithgow or West Lothian?

Lets start with regulation

When you look for a Hypnotherapist, you should choose someone who is CNHC registered. This means that they are regulated and therefore your Hypnotherapist must follow strict rules about how they work. These rules cover things such as keeping confidentiality, working in a safe and ethical way and ensuring they are trained to work with your particular problem. They also have to be fully insured.  You can find out if your hypnotherapist is regulated by searching for their name on the CNHC register. If they are not registered, then this means that they are not regulated.  Therefore choosing a therapist who isn’t regulated means your therapist may not be well trained, so you might be wasting your money or they do not want to be held accountable if there is a problem with your treatment. Although there are therapists who are not registered and are safe, the CNHC registration reduces your chances of being treated by someone who has only had a few days training or being treated by a stage hypnotist who hasn’t actually trained as a therapist.

Next their qualifications

You should choose a Hypnotherapist who holds the HPD (Hypnotherapy Practitioner Diploma) as well as another Diploma in Hypnotherapy such as Dip AHMT, Dip HYP, Dip CAH, Dip HYP.  Anyone who holds the HPD qualification has received a nationally accredited minimum level of training, ensuring that they have produced a written portfolio of work of high enough quality and passed practical exercises to the standard required. Often therapists specialise in particular problems and they should hold additional qualifications in the area in which they specialise. Don’t be afraid to ask.

Success rates

Sometimes therapists will claim that they have certain success rates but you should be very wary of any therapist who gives you a figure. This is because if a new therapist had only seen one client for smoking cessation and that client stopped for a few weeks but never stayed in touch with the therapist afterwards, then the therapist could say that they had 100% success rate in smoking cessation. Of course this is ridiculous because firstly, they have only had one client. Other therapists might have seen thousands of clients, so it’s not fair or accurate and secondly: because the client may have started smoking again a few weeks later but the therapist doesn’t know this then it’s actually not a success.

To be able to offer success rates, a therapist would have to stay in touch and check up with every client, client every year. They would also have to keep records of every person they have ever seen to be able to work out a percentage and hold evidence of this. Then at what point can you truly say that something is a success? one week of being a non smoker, six weeks, one year, six years? Hopefully you are now seeing the problem in giving success rates for therapy.

How many sessions do I need?

This is a question we are often asked. People want to know how much therapy is going to cost them financially and in time. The responsible and ethical answer to it, is to be honest and say it is not possible to tell you exactly how many sessions are required. This is because:

  • Each person will respond differently to Hypnotherapy depending on a number of different factors such as their brain structure, their lifestyle, how often they practice self hypnosis, the severity of the problem, the complexity of the problem, their ability to introduce new routines into their lives and many other factors.
  • Everyone’s brain is different and some people can change a habit after one or two sessions, whilst for others it can take many more.
  • Generally if you are willing to put in the time on self hypnosis, you are more likely to get a quicker result than if you simply depend on the sessions alone.

Some therapists will tell you that you will only need one session, whilst others will say six but really it’s not possible for anyone to tell you exactly how many sessions are going to rid you of the problem.

However, here are some guidelines to think about:

Weight problems and Eating Disorders are often complex and can require a lot of investigation and the person might need to address a variety of problems that cause the weight problem. They might need to address eating habits, self esteem issues and addictions for example. Whilst someone who is suffering from Anxiety may only require a few sessions to calm them down and offer some strategies. Smoking cessation can often be successful when done in one session for some people but others will require five or six sessions. Some phobias can be sorted out quickly whilst others can be the result of deeper issues that need to be addressed. Depression, PTSD and OCD can also take a number of sessions to help someone to feel better.

Some therapists offer discounts when you book six sessions all at once but what if you only need two, Do you really think it’s in their interest to give you your money back? or keep you coming back for the six that you booked?

What we suggest is that you pay for each session as you attend it, then you can be the best judge of how things feel to you and make your own decision about how many sessions you think you need, based on your own results.

Be aware that you have the right to stop therapy at any time.

Come back soon for part two next week.