Let me ask you a question… Are you intelligent enough to see both sides of a theory, argument, stance or subject?
Whether you agree with either side, or neither side, are you intelligent enough to see both sides?
I can’t hear what you are replying from my bank Holiday bolthole here in Bournemouth – I say bolthole, because I will be using my running machine in my home gym rather than running outside this weekend due to the awful weather! Even though I can’t hear your reply, I assume that most of you said ‘yes’ in reply to the question. I mean, if you weren’t intelligent enough, you’d probably not be reading this in the first place, eh?
So if the answer that most people give is ‘yes’ – why do you not get treated as such?
Why is it that so many teaching establishments in the personal development and hypnotherapy world are so goddam dogmatic about what they teach? Let me give you some examples:
– Psychoanalytic schools of hypnotherapy very rarely teach their students the issues surounding duty of care, informed consent, the reconstructive nature of memory and risks of retraumatisation when teaching regression therapy (I regularly meet hypnotherapists trained by regresion dominated organisations that haven’t a clue what retraumatisation is, or that the memory reconstructs the past, often in a far different way than the initial experience – science demonstrates this to be true by the way, it is not an opinion).
– NLP training schools rarely point out the scientifically proven flaws in eye-accessing cues or the validity of representational systems (I have met people and seen people with YouTube videos claiming that the cues are set in stone for everyone, whereas research shows they do not; for them to be useful, you need to calibrate each individual uniquely).
-Why do those that teach that hypnosis is some kind of altered state rarely ever illustrate the nonstate viewpoint of hypnosis (I met several people from an Erickson hypnotherapy training course who had not even heard of any such debate as the state vs nonstate that is central to the field of hypnosis).
– Conversational and Indirect hypnosis trainings often state that what they do is better than direct or authoritative styled hypnosis… Yet offer no evidence to show us how or why… because there is virtually no evidence to suggest as much. It may be a lovely, subtle and elegant way to communicate, but the efficacy as far as therapeutic gain is concerned is no higher than those using more direct methods.
Please note, these above points are not my opinions. They are facts with evidence to support them.
When teaching these subjects, why not highlight the limitations of that which you teach too? Isn’t that progress? Isn’t that how we develop and enhance this field? To build upon what we know, to challenge and improve what we do, to have a rounded, fully open-minded understanding of the entire subject and not feel the need to dig our heels into one small aspect and defend it by suggesting it is better than everything else, regardless of any evidence to the contrary?
Is it because those that teach this stuff do not know the other side of these things? Is it because they are scared of being challenged and being seen to be left wanting? Do they just know no better, were taught that way and therefore espouse the way they were taught as the right option… Like it is the law? I mean, what if you trained 10 years ago and have not kept abreast of developments and not done any relevant CPD (continued professional development)? Worse still, what if your CPD is being conducted by people who know no better? Who offer up one dogmatic approach?
Eeek!
Maybe this is why we work in a field that has so many conflicting viewpoints and stances. We seem to perceive the field in so many different ways, with a seeming inability to adopt other stances and approaches and so many of us arrogantly assume we know best and just stick to what we know without even understanding (or even knowing about in some cases) the other side.
I think it is important, especially for hypnotherapists, to be able to see (at least) and ideally fully understand both sides to a philosophy, a debate, a theory and so on. It shows intelligence. It shows you know your subject and your field. The field of hypnotherapy, as with many, many other fields, has a proliferation of this kind of phenomena… Whereby people teach something that they insist is the best and only way to go, blissfully unaware that there could potentially be more to understand and benefit from. If nothing else, we owe that to our clients who are investing in our services to be offered the most effective solutions to enhance their well-being.
I wrote last week about the need for a tidy balance between enjoying the art of hypnosis and responding to developments in research and evidence base. I think a similar balance needs to be struck in how we approach our own knowledge base. It is basic Yin and Yang for those wanting a more liberal way of illustration… and I hope you demand that you be taught in a way that accepts that you are indeed intelligent enough to be taught both sides of any theory or subject matter.
It is bank holiday weekend here… I am having some time out… And so I’ll be back next Tuesday and I hope you have a wonderful weekend 🙂
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How refreshing! It’s something which has left me curious over the last few years – how can the supposedly open minded therapists be so dogmatic and egotistical to think that they know it all. We may think we know lots and achieve great results, however without an open mind, we are suffering as badly as any client we treat.
There is always room for improvement, more to be learned and explored and to be curious about – even if it’s discounted afterwards.
Enjoy your bank holiday Adam!
Thanks Jackie… Great to hear from you… And you also enjoy the Bank Holiday 🙂
I’d be extremely sceptical of anyone ever claiming anything to be “the best” or especially “the only way” (sounds nearly like a religion – each one of them knowing the one and only way to enlightenment).
In life and in therapy, what works best for anyone can be so different and personal and in this field there is so much, I’d never expect to fully understand all sides of everything, however, I am aware that it IS out there and all equally valid.
No bank holiday weekend here, but I will just pop over to France now for some cheese and stuff 😉
I am pleased to hear it Mel… With everything, if we adopt some crticial thinking skills and basic common sense, I think we are more than capable of doing our best to understand a great deal more to any debate or discussion… Yet I have even had emails from people (fellow hypnotherapists) following this blog entry, refusing to entertain any critical thought process in relation to regression work in hypnotherapy.
Not even offering up a cogent debate, or even being able to intelligently debate the subject here on the blog or in forums… Just emailing me with purely subjective, personal anecdotal evidence “I have seen regression work with my clients” type of comments, emailed privately and angrily without adopting the slightest open mindedness at all.
Which I find really rather sad.
Hope you enjoyed the cheese in France… Yummy!
Very good points there Adam i do actually totally agree . its not just in Hypnotherapy its all around us unfortunately!
If people can’t see beyond the ridgidity of an opinion then where do people get their opinions! open you mind……
Thank you for pointing me towards this article Adam, it has made for interesting reading. I’m always eager to hear other people’s opinions, thoughts and feelings on a subject, indeed I have learned lots of useful things over the years on a plethora of subjects. I rarely get into major debates during such conversations which I think might be because I tend to refrain from saying I disagree with what is being said – instead I will ask for more information or will tell the person I am talking to that I have found what they have said interesting as an alternative viewpoint, and that I will make the effort to follow up with a bout of googling. There will be times I will walk away thinking that actually I prefer my own theories and I’ll forget about the subject within the hour, but there have also been times that I have gone on to learn a great deal about the opposing theories of a topic, which is never a bad thing…
Marvellous, lovely to read you say that Bev, best wishes, A.
Hi Adam, I’m joining the course in October and am really pleased to hear it will have a lot of evidence based practice and will look at different ideas of hypnosis.
As a podiatrist I partake of CPD and there are always new ideas, theories and treatments (mainly coming from America to be honest)
I know how hard it can be to put aside theories taught to you decades ago and as you say you have to actively read and keep interested in order to keep abreast of it.
it is also hard to convince people to move away from their tried and tested methods and embrace something new. Even when I was a lecturer of Podiatry some of the lecturers were the worst culprits of this!
Also In my profession I have found that the outcomes can be similar whichever road you take to it – showing that there is no ‘one-way’ to achieve the desired end result. Only by knowing lots of ways of treating someone can you choose the best way.
As with any therapy I would guess that hypnotherapy also has to take into account the person you are treating- what would they be most comfortable with. And possibly what do you as the therapist feel comfortable/able to do?
I am looking forward to exploring these ideas and more in October!!
Spot on Kate… We’ll be exploring this notion both directly in class and inherently throughout the diploma as it progresses.
Best wishes, Adam.
Thank you for resubmitting this article Adam. As a dental professional I look back in horror at the training I had many years ago in the dark ages and am so impressed with current evidence based training for dental professionals now- thank goodness for mandatory Dental CPD’s and my own quest for scientific research of hypnosis. I am signing on this weekend! for the advanced diploma (although I already have one! -from another establishment and not one of any significance) and I look forward to the lively exchange of ideas. I am keen to share my area of research which has been ignored so far by all- the phenomenology of the experience! I note it is not mentioned in the prospectus and Woody and Szechtman (2000a,b) write about ” Hypnosis and feelings of knowing”.
Best wishes
Linda
Oooh! Great news that you are joining the class and I am really excited about discussing your research subject with you. We’ll have to have dinner on one of the evenings.
Best wishes, A.
I’m paraphrasing a good piece of advice I received:
“If you can’t intelligently argue for both sides of a debate you don’t understand the issue well enough to argue for either side.”
Again, it reflects the amount of work that an individual is willing to put into thinking critically. It’s so much easier to learn something and take it as given. To question and think and suss out the false conclusions is hard work. More work than most people are willing to put forth. It’s something I’m working on myself. No fingers pointing from me.
It certainly can be hard work, but I firmly believe that the return on investment of that hard work makes it very worthwhile indeed.
Thanks Korey, best wishes, Adam.