The 4 big mistakes that long-term hypnotherapy training makes

Do you really need a very long hypnotherapy education to actually be able to help people with hypnosis? Opinions are divided on this. So I took the test and had the trainees of this course take it.

The Test

The test consisted of a random session with someone who had trained at a hypnotherapy or hypnosis institute. Random trainees, without knowing, did a session with someone testing whether the hypnotherapist was good enough and how long it took for a result.

The results have been fairly shocking. I also subjected my trainees to the test, of course. Please note that this is by no means an accurate picture because I have never been able to test all my trainees. That is why I do not mention names or institutes because that would not be fair.

The only thing I throw on the big heap is the length of training. Is long-term hypnotherapy training really better than short-term hypnotherapy training. That's what the test was about.

Short-term hypnotherapy training

Several short-term hypnosis training courses can be found. These trainings range from 3 days to 16 days. And, of course, the variations in between.

So you can find a 4-day training, a 7-day training, a 2 times 3-day training and some more variations.

Now, are the above hypnosis training programs better or worse than the long-term hypnotherapy training of 2 or even 3 years? That depends on which variant you choose.

When we went to the hypnotherapist from a short-term training that was continuous (i.e., for example, 4 days at a time and nothing more) the result was worse than from the long-term hypnotherapy training. There was often a noticeable lack of trust on both sides.

Difference

When a session took place from a student who had also taken short-term hypnotherapy training but spread out in blocks the results were often better. So the 6 days in two blocks was sometimes better than the hypnotherapist who had studied for years before.

The trainees in my training were also tested, of course, and they were often much better than the average hypnotherapist who had undergone long-term training.

Again, this is not personal, it is a generalization. I am very aware that there are hypnotherapists who are very good and have undergone long-term training. We only tested a few and by no means all of them, but the results were clear.

The 4 big mistakes of long-term hypnotherapy training

Where the biggest mistakes are made are as follows. Note this is a generalization we made so some trainings do not make all the mistakes.

Mistake 1: Hypnosis is difficult

Presenting hypnosis as something that is very difficult to learn. In fact, hypnosis is very easy to learn. Learning to apply therapy, on the other hand, takes longer, but not three years either. It is an error to think that you could not help people after a short-term training.

If someone calls you to move, you can help them right away, right? Hypnotherapy can easily be learned in a few months. Working with traumatic cases can never be done after a course or training, for that you need much more training and experience. But helping people with vertigo or to quit smoking is fine.

Mistake 2: Fast inductions are no good

Quick inductions are neither good nor desirable in therapy. This is said because many long hypnotherapy courses teach modern hypnotherapy. That means letting the client set the pace. That can certainly work well but not with everyone.

Sometimes it is better to use a quick induction to quickly bypass the critical mind (that one little voice). Giving a shock stops the mind for a moment and you can induce hypnosis much faster.

Mistake 3: You need many sessions for a change

Some trainings state that you already need 3 sessions to condition properly. This is nonsense and certainly does not have to be. Of course, it is true that some people do not enter deep hypnosis immediately and you need to condition them. However, this can already be done in the same session.

Erickson didn't really do that and many training programs have adopted it. Elman, however, did and often had results in 1 session. I too often have results in 1 session. Erickson usually didn't and the hypnotherapists who have been trained for a long time often didn't either and they don't believe in it. That, unfortunately, is a mistake.

Mistake 4: Stage hypnosis is no good

Many hypnosis training programs argue that stage hypnosis is bad andhypnotists are no good. However, stage hypnotists are much better hypnotists than hypnotherapists.

If you learn the very skills of the stage hypnotist and apply that in therapy, you can get into hypnotherapy much faster. In fact, the induction only takes 3-5 minutes instead of 15-30 minutes. That saves time!

So, unfortunately, it is a mistake that throws the baby out with the bathwater. Hypnotherapy will never really gain a place in the medical world if it takes too long. It needs to be shorter and the stage hypnotist can help with that!

Conclusion

The conclusion from our testing is that short-term trainings when delivered in a dispersed manner work better than very short contiguous hypnosis trainings or very long ones.

The test was done on several trainees from the different courses. Obviously the quality varies from person to person, but for us it was clear.

Of course, the long training courses have the advantage of reimbursing sessions, but that advantage will probably also be lost unfortunately thanks to budget cuts. Then results will start to count.

So if you want to take a hypnotherapy course, pay close attention to the time, duration and spread.

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