How to choose a good hypnotherapist: training, framework, red flags

Why you have to check for yourself

You have decided to try hypnosis, and now you are looking at a list of names. Some display diplomas with impressive titles, others promise results in a single session. How do you sort them out?

The difficulty lies in the status of the profession, which varies from country to country:

• In France and in Morocco, the title of hypnotherapist is not regulated. As Inserm noted in its 2015 report, hypnosis has no precise legal framework in France. A few days of training and several years of training give the right to use the same word.
• In Quebec, since 2012, psychotherapy has been an activity reserved for psychologists, physicians and holders of a psychotherapist's permit, including when it is done through hypnosis. In 2013, the Ordre des psychologues du Québec spelled out where the line falls: helping someone relax or change a specific habit, such as quitting smoking, is not psychotherapy; treating depression, anxiety disorders or eating disorders is. A hypnotherapist who is neither a psychologist nor a physician therefore works in the field of well-being, and should know it.

Either way, the title alone tells you nothing. The practitioner's training, framework and attitude are what inform you.

The framework: what the first contact should tell you

Before the first session, or at its start, a good hypnotherapist takes the time to understand what you are asking for. This first exchange teaches you as much about them as about hypnosis.

By the end of this first contact, you should have:

• A goal and an end in sight: what you will be working on, and how many sessions are planned. The orders of magnitude depend on the issue; our article how many hypnosis sessions do you need goes into them.
• Fees stated upfront: the price of a session, its length, what happens if you cancel. Our articles on the cost of a session in Quebec and in France give the benchmarks for each country.
• A method explained, your consent asked: what they are going to do, what you can expect from it, what hypnosis will not do. Nothing happens without your consent, and you can stop the session at any time.
• Questions about your health: are you followed by a doctor or a psychologist, do you take any treatment, what have you already tried? This is how they spot what falls outside their field. Our article on the contraindications of hypnosis says when caution is called for.
• A commitment to confidentiality: what is said in session stays in session. The only limits are legal ones, and you are told about them.

In our view, an honest referral is the first sign of a serious practitioner. If your situation calls for a doctor, a psychologist or another professional, a good hypnotherapist tells you so, even if it means not working together.

Then there is how it feels. Hypnosis is a collaboration: if you do not feel you can trust them at the first exchange, you are entitled to look for someone else.

Find a network hypnotherapist near you

How we choose our practitioners

These criteria are not theoretical: they are the ones we apply before a practitioner joins the Solutions Hypnose network. We look at:

• their training: school, length, content, certifications;
• their experience in practice;
• and above all their commitment to our standards: no promise of results, an honest referral to a doctor or a psychologist, confidentiality, fees stated upfront and an end in sight.

That last point is the deciding one. A practitioner who promises guaranteed results, who cannot say "this is not my field", or who strays into areas that are not theirs does not join the network, however long they have been practicing. Our partners keep training, share their practice and receive supervision.

Our practitioners are neither doctors, nor psychologists, nor psychotherapists. We say so clearly, because that is exactly what you are entitled to expect from any hypnotherapist.