I have long felt the need to write this article and have now plucked up the courage to do so. I say courage, because what I am about to say will not make me popular in certain quarters of this profession. I think the time has come for the Hypnotherapy Profession to stop hiding behind the title of Psychotherapy or Psychotherapists. The harsh reality is that the vast majority of hypnotherapists claiming to be psychotherapists are not.

Let us look at the evidence. Most hypnotherapists undertake a 12 month, 450 hour total training programme. The trainings mainly concentrate on the use of hypnosis for therapeutic outcomes. There is a small amount of information given on one or more schools of psychotherapy. Perhaps a weekend or two is spent discussing them. Some schools even require an essay to be written about the likes of Freud and/or Jung. At the end of this comprehensive training in clinical hypnosis some schools award a DHP (Diploma in Hypnotherapy & Psychotherapy). How can this be right? This would be like a surgeon doing a weekend training in Psychiatry and then calling him/herself a Psychiatrist. Serious professions would not allow such a deception. 

In May (2000), Lord Alderdice, upon the behest of organisations like the UKCP, RCPsych, and the BCP tabled a Private Members Bill to regulate the profession of Psychotherapy. Members who may have read this Bill will have noticed the stringent criteria for inclusion on a statutory psychotherapy register. If we look at the criteria laid out by UKCP for registration, it stands at a 4 year training course (part-time) taught at a post graduate level. The training I undertook to obtain UKCP registration was in excess of 1400 hours of tuition, supervision, own therapy and continuing professional development. 

I think it is time for a wake up call for all those hypnotherapists who call themselves psychotherapists to look at the Psychotherapy Act and see if they would genuinely meet the published criteria for inclusion. I do not mean do they think they would be grandparented in, I mean would the training that they have currently received meet the published criteria for entry. I think that if we are honest, the vast majority of hypnotherapists calling themselves psychotherapists would not get in. Many of you might say that hypnotherapy is a form of psychotherapy, which it is. However, I am talking about recognition in the accepted profession of psychotherapy. Currently, the UKCP, RCPsych, BCP, and BPS are the agencies most recognised with regards to the profession of psychotherapy (in the UK).

For many years there was a plausible excuse for hypnotherapists to refer to themselves as psychotherapists. In years gone by, hypnotherapy was not even recognised as a discrete profession in its own right. However, times have changed. The profession of hypnotherapy thanks to the efforts of organisations like the NCH and UKCHO has really come a long way. Hypnotherapists are being recognised in a variety of health care settings and there is an unprecedented growth in the training of newly qualified members of this profession. I am asking you the members to think long and hard about what I am about to suggest. 

The time has come for hypnotherapists on mass to drop the pretence of the title of psychotherapist if they have not done a training course recognised by an independent psychotherapy organisation or society. 
What I am asking for may be difficult. Especially for those who have a need for puffery. The fact is that a one year live training or a correspondence course in hypnotherapy and psychotherapy does not qualify you as a psychotherapist. Some members may like the title Psychotherapist, but it is not an accurate description of what you are in reality. Look in your local Yellow Pages, note all of the “Psychotherapists” in the Hypnotherapy Section of the Directory, notice also the lack of these same names in the Psychotherapy and Analysis Section of the same Directory.

I believe that the hypnotherapy profession has a great deal to offer the public at large. We can help effect radical changes in people and their behaviours in a much shorter time than traditional psychotherapy. I ask you all to stop apologising for being a Hypnotherapist. Though I am a UKCP Registered Psychotherapist, you will only ever see me advertise as a Hypnotherapist. I ask those of you who feel passionately about this profession to join me and admit freely that they are hypnotherapists alone and proud of it.