Choosing the Right Course to Study Hypnosis and/or be a Hypnotherapist

HypnosisAustralia, May 2002

By Dr Tracie O'Keefe DCH, Clinical Hypnotherapist, Psychotherapist & Counsellor
Editorial Director of HypnosisAustralia Online.

Choosing the right course to study to be a hypnotherapist can be a minefield for the student. Even though Australia has only 18 million people, there are many trainings advertised from five-day multi-certifications to four years of academic and clinical study.

Some of those courses have VETAB recognition but that can only apply to undergraduate levels of education and vocational training. Other courses start their studies at postgraduate levels, requiring students to have a first degree, even though schools may take mature students without a first degree if they are considered experienced enough to cope with the work.

Since the Australian government does not monitor or register the practice of hypnosis or hypnotherapy, no course can be monitored by the government because governments have no experience in the field of the application of hypnosis or hypnotherapy. Education in this field varies widely and according to the standards of the school and any private association monitoring the standards of practice of its members and the educational standard required to become a member.

Some associations for the monitoring of practice and education in hypnotherapy have become members of PACFA (Psychotherapy And Counselling Federation of Australia), conforming to its minimum standards at the very least. Multi-disciplinary practitioners who are already qualified in their own field such as psychology, counselling, psychiatry, medicine or dentistry often do not go on to to complete full hypnotherapy trainings but use hypnotherapy as an adjunct to their clinical work. These practitioners, however, need to be careful in their clinical practice that they do not try to exceed the limits of their clinical competence because if they were to do so, their insurance would be invalid. The use of hypnosis in fields such as medicine and dentistry are quite different from the use of hypnosis in the field of hypno-psychotherapy. Also the use of hypnosis for anaesthesia should, by reverse logic, only be applied under the guidance of a medical practitioner.

The lines of competence of training and practice in the application of hypnosis need to be observed by schools and practitioners themselves. Regrettably this is not always the case and there are currently many practitioners of hypnosis operating outside their field of expertise, hiding behind qualifications in other fields.

The potential hypnotherapy student must also consider what they intend to do once they have completed their course and what further training will be viable to them to increase their clinical practice, competence and recognition. While there are many hypnosis courses advertised, a great deal of the qualifications they offer would not be recognised by a referring GP, psychiatrist or psychologist. This can mean that the certification that the student has achieved is in real terms worth little more that the paper it is written on and other professionals may not consider them either competent or professionally recognised.

Many private health insurance companies are now beginning to add hypnotherapy to their list of therapists for which they are prepared to reimburse their policyholders. This is because resolution through hypnotherapy is often quicker than with many other therapies and this makes it very attractive to those insurers: so the student also needs to check that insurance companies will accept the qualifications they will gain on their courses.

Since hypnotherapy is not only the combination of hypnosis and psychotherapy, but also includes the treatment of psychosomatic problems, the student would be wise to check that the training includes requirements for a basic knowledge of biology. In treating anorexia, IBS, chronic pain, eczema and other biological dysfunctions, a clinician needs to be able to recognise when conditions may have other pathological etiologies.

Medics and dentists often choose trainings that are run solely by MDs. But this can sometimes be a grave mistake on their parts as it is often more likely that those academics who are specialists in hypnosis, and not necessarily MDs, who may have dedicated their lives to the study of hypnosis would be more likely to have a greater knowledge and experience. Also being taught by such professionals would indeed cover the insurance requirements of those clinics training in hypnosis.

Certainly in choosing a training course in hypnosis and hypnotherapy it is important for the student to consider the expertise of their potential tutor. A student would be wise to choose a qualified and experienced trainer rather that just someone who claims to have been practising for a long time.

A school's prospectus should contain a considerable amount of information about a proposed course of study rather than a scanty information sheet.

Finally, when the student has got all the information together on potential courses, they would be wise to telephone the school and speak with the tutor to clarify any further points they are not clear on.

Looking at all the different trainings offered is indeed confusing for the novice and the ground work that they do in finding out about their proposed courses will serve them well when it comes to the training itself. The quality of a training is not only the academic learning and skills the student would gain, but also how the qualification will be recognised in the wider scientific and caring community in 20 years time.

©HypnosisAustralia, May 2002