This weekend it all begins…

Yes indeed, weekend one for my latest Hypnotherapy Diploma course.

I love running my training courses. There is a slight and certain something that silently niggles away at me when preparing for my extensive hypnotherapy diploma course though.

The governing bodies that approve my hypnotherapy course and offer my delegates membership and subsequent insurance have certain aspects of the subject that they require to be included in the course content.

Indeed, this is a good thing, it means that minimum standards are met and any old training school can not be accredited withou attaining correct standards and curriculum content.

One particular thing I have to include is advising my students what the ‘Contraindications of Hypnosis’ are…. This is my niggle.

No-one has ever had harm done to them via hypnosis – Paul Mckenna had a claim made, nothing came of it. It was proven in court.

As far as I am aware, no other claim has ever (in history) been made, let alone successfully made!

So here is what I tell my students:

• At this stage avoid anyone who you don’t feel comfortable working with.
  
• Avoid anyone who may abreact – maybe you sense their emotions are close to the surface.
  
• Do not work with anyone with severe psychological disorders (for now)
  
• Do not work with anyone under the influence of recreational drugs or alcohol.
  

Hypnosis carries very few risks. Hypnosis may be contraindicated for individuals with certain medical problems, or who are actively abusing drugs or alcohol, or who are delusional or hallucinatory.

Hypnosis should not be used for physical problems, such as pain, unless the client has first consulted a physician to determine underlying physical causes. Pain is there for a reason and needs to be dealt with, not just have the perception of that pain obscured ith hypnosis.

Of course, it is not a good idea to try to induce hypnosis in a patient who does not want it. One should not use hypnosis to try to achieve goals other than the patient’s wishes. Generally, it would be difficult, near on impossible, to use hypnosis in this way. However, there have been reports of manipulation of ambivalent patients in hypnotherapy and other forms of therapy.

Here is the official line many schools go by:

Palmer and Dryden (1995) caution against using hypnosis if the client is under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Hypnosis is contraindicated in clients suffering from severe psychiatric disorders. It is not recommended for hysterical and conversion reaction symptoms unless the client is also receiving therapy to resolve any underlying conflicts. Palmer and Dryden also suggest that care needs to be taken when using hypnosis with clients who suffer from asthma, epilepsy or narcolepsy as hypnosis (or other forms of relaxation) may in rare cases exacerbate the condition.

Officially, hypnosis is not suitable for:

• Individuals suffering from dementia
  
• Very young children
  
• Drug addicts
  
• Anybody evidently under the influence of alcohol
  
• ‘Educationally challenged’ individuals
  
• Anybody with comprehension difficulties
  
• The main reason in all cases is the inability to properly interact and establish effective rapport.

Unofficially, I have worked with people slotting into all he above groups and helped them to great effect. This has been with proper medical advice, consent and supervision.

So when people ask me about the contraindications to hypnosis… That is exactly what I say. 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 at 4:03 am and is filed under hypnosis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.