Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice
National Guild of Hypnotists
Client Welfare: Members shall make the physical and mental well-being of each client a prime consideration.
Client Safety: Members shall not engage in verbal, physical or sexual abuse of any client.
Practice Limits: Members shall use hypnotism strictly within the limits of their training and competence and in conformity to the laws of their state.
Advertising: Members shall be truthful in their advertising.
Referred Practice: Members shall engage in hypnotic work with a client regarding a medical or mental disease only on written referral from an appropriately licensed medical or mental health professional, except when otherwise provided for by state law.
Reasonable Practice: Members shall withhold non-referred hypnotic services if a client’s behavior, appearance or statements would lead a reasonable person to believe that the client should be evaluated by a licensed health care professional. Members shall provide services to such clients only after evaluation and with the approval of the licensed health care professional.
Colleagues: Members shall treat hypnotist colleagues without public defamation.
Record Keeping: Members shall establish and maintain proper records necessary to a professional practice.
Scope of Practice: Members shall use hypnotism with clients to motivate them to eliminate negative or unwanted habits, facilitate the learning process, improve memory and concentration, develop self-confidence, eliminate stage fright, improve athletic abilities, and for other social, educational and cultural endeavors of a non-medical nature. Except where state law provides otherwise, members shall use hypnotism with clients regarding a medical or mental disease only on written referral from a licensed medical or mental health professional.
Titles of Practice: Members shall hold their hypnotism services out to the public using only those titles earned and approved by the National Guild of Hypnotists: Certified Hypnotist or Certified Hypnotherapist Certified Instructor, Board Certified Hypnotist or Board Certified Hypnotherapist, Fellow of the National Guild of Hypnotists, or Diplomate of the National Guild of Hypnotists, or titles protected by state law.
Disclosure: Members shall truthfully disclose in writing to each client, using a Client Bill of Rights or similar written document, the nature and venue of the member’s hypnotism training, the field of study of any higher degree used when holding services out to the public, the lawful limits of the member’s practice of hypnotism, the practitioner’s theoretical orientation or model, instructions for contacting the National Guild of Hypnotists should the client seek redress, and any business policies and practices maintained by the practitioner. Members holding advanced degrees from institutions that do not hold accreditation recognized by the United States Department of Education shall disclose to clients that the degree is alternative rather than academic. Members shall restrict the services described on this document to hypnotism.
Terminology: Unless qualified to do so by another credential, members shall avoid using the language of psychopathology or medicine when working with clients, except on referral from a licensed medical or mental health professional.
Public Hypnotism: Demonstrational hypnotism shall always be presented in a tasteful manner which is considerate of the individuals who have volunteered to participate in a public demonstration. Individuals participating in such demonstrations shall be treated with courtesy and respect.
Age-regression and Forensic Hypnotism: Age-regression and forensic hypnotism shall be used only by those who have had additional training in these specific fields of study.
Imagery: Frightening, shocking, obscene, inappropriately sexually suggestive, degrading or humiliating imagery shall never be used with a hypnotized client.
Claims: Members shall not disseminate false or exaggerated claims regarding hypnotism, but shall attempt whenever possible to inform and educate the public with a true perspective of hypnotism. Members shall make only those specific claims for the effectiveness of hypnotism as can be justified by outcomes data. Members shall publicly maintain a professional demeanor toward other professions expressing divergent views on hypnotism.
Advertising: All advertising shall be factually presented in a professional and ethical way consistent with accepted standards. Members shall advertise services and capabilities as hypnotists in conjunction with other specialties, occupations, vocations, arts or professions only if duly trained, properly qualified and professionally recognized in those fields.
Education: Schools of instruction now existing and those to be established in the future shall provide a full curriculum consisting of the theory, practice and applications of hypnotism, instruction and supervised practice in hypnotic methodology, the possibilities and limitations of hypnotism, with thorough instruction on the Ethics and Standards of our profession as set forth herein. All curricula used at schools recognized by the National Guild of Hypnotists shall be approved by the National Guild of Hypnotists. Instructors at such schools are expected to be approved and certified by the National Guild of Hypnotists or to hold credentials judged by the Guild as equivalent.
Good Standing: Members who maintain the required number of continuing-education hours, are of high moral character, conduct themselves and their practice of hypnotism in a professional and ethical manner and meet their financial dues obligation shall be considered as members in good standing of the National Guild of Hypnotists.
Recommendations: When a member recommends a client consult a colleague or health care professional, the member shall, whenever possible, provide the client with a list of more than one recommended
This study checks out is effective and safe for people suffering from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
A total of 464 patients received 7–12 hypnosis sessions over a 12 week period. At the end of therapy, hypnosis proved to be superior in producing adequate symptom relief.
This study demonstrated that hypnosis was safe and provided long-term adequate symptom relief in 54% of IBS patients compared to conventional therapy. [more]
In an effort to evaluate the reduction of emotional and physical disturbances in patients scheduled for breast biopsy, this study compared audio-recorded hypnosis with background music vs. music without hypnosis. It also included a control group.
A total of 75 patients were randomly assigned to a group and evaluated before and after breast biopsy for levels of stress, pain, depression, anxiety, fatigue, optimism, and general well-being.
The results showed that, before breast biopsy, the music group presented only less stress and anxiety, whereas the hypnosis group presented reduced stress, anxiety, and depression and increased optimism and general well-being.
After the biopsy, the music group presented less anxiety and pain, whereas the hypnosis group showed less anxiety and increased optimism. [more]
A meta-analysis examines treatments like meditation and cognitive behavioral therapy as alternatives for alleviating pain that is typically treated with opioids.
The more we learn about opioids, the clearer it becomes that there’s no simple solution to the opioid crisis and the cycle of dependency and misuse that has already impacted millions of Americans.
It’s especially difficult given how effective opioids are at pain management, particularly the kind of acute, short-term pain associated with cancer treatment or surgical or injury recovery.
Researchers are actively seeking alternatives to opioids when it comes to pain management—and a meta-study tracking the efficacy of mind-body therapies for treating pain that was previously managed with opioids indicates that some MBTs could act as effective pain management treatments, as well as tools for helping reduce opioid use and dependency.
The survey examined 60 studies looking at the effectiveness of “psychologically oriented MBTs,” including meditation, hypnosis, guided imagery, relaxation, cognitive behavioral therapy, and therapeutic suggestion, at pain management and/or opioid use outcomes.
The overview found a moderately significant association between MBTs and pain reduction and a smaller significant association between MBTs and reduction of opioid doses, as well as some relationship between MBTs and the treatment of opioid misuse and cravings.
Meditation was found to have the strongest correlation with pain reduction. The five meditation-related studies reviewed all showed participants experiencing some level of pain relief from the therapeutic treatment.
Four of the five studies also found meditation and mindfulness resulted in “opioid-related outcomes,” including decrease in opioid dosage, decreased cessation time, and dips in opioid misuse and cravings.
Hypnosis and CBT were also associated with positive opioid-related outcomes, with 12 of 23 hypnosis studies and four of the seven CBT studies reviewed showing “significant therapeutic effects” on opioid use.
Eric Garland, the study’s lead author, said his background in social work led him to a better understanding of the relationship between MBTs and pain, as well as the one between MBTs and opioids. “I’m a licensed clinical social worker,” Garland told VICE. “I’ve used mind-body therapies both for the treatment of chronic pain as well as the treatment of addictive behaviors.”
He said opioid misuse, pain, and MBTs all have one major factor in common: the brain. “Mind-body therapies make a lot of sense for the treatment of pain since all pain is in the brain.
If you use a technique that changes the way the brain functions, that changes the way the brain interprets signals from the body and therefore it will affect the experience of pain, as well as the person’s emotional reaction to pain.”
Since long-term opioid use can lead to brain changes like opioid tolerance and a loss of the ability to self-regulate opioid usage, MBTs can play a dual role for someone already using prescription drugs to manage their pain, Garland said.
“[MBTs] are all about teaching people a way to regain some of that control over the function of the brain and so therefore it can be useful not only for reducing the pain and helping the patient manage the pain, but also helping them gain better control over their opioid use itself.”
Does this mean people with opioid use disorder or who are living with pain from other medical procedures can ditch the Oxycontin and just fire up a ‘Yoga with Adrienne’ video? Of course not.
Research has shown that mindfulness and opioids don’t operate on the same parts of the brain, for starters, which means MBTs are a better side-by-side treatment than a ready-made substitute for medication.
The 60 studies surveyed included a total of 6404 participants who were already taking opioids, which averages out to around 100 people per study—a sample group too small to base conclusive solutions on.
Authors were careful to note that different MBTs were applied to different types of pain, with meditation studies tending to target chronic pain while hypnosis, relaxation, therapeutic suggestion and guided imagery treatments were more likely to be applied to acute pain.
Garland also said in the future, he hopes more research will focus on the relationship between MBTs and opioid use, rather than just the relationship between MBTs and pain.
By: Katie Way
Hypnosis has been shown to be an effective treatment for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in a number of clinical studies.
Hypnotherapy for IBS involves progressive relaxation, and then suggestions of soothing imagery and sensations focused on the individual’s symptoms.
Improvements in overall well-being, quality of life, abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea, and bloating have been noted.
Contrary to many portrayals in fiction, a clinical hypnotherapist has no power over the hypnotized person. The person is typically aware of what happens both during and after the hypnosis session.
The treatment is generally comfortable and also can be effective when people are treated in groups.
Research has found that hypnotherapy may help improve the primary symptoms of IBS. It may also help relieve other symptoms suffered by many people with IBS such as nausea, fatigue, backache, and urinary problems. Hypnotherapy appears to offer symptomatic, psychological, and physiological benefit.
However, hypnosis should not be regarded as a cure-all. Up to 25% of patients fail to respond. Even when people do improve, conventional approaches to treatment should not always be ignored.
It is still important that lifestyle factors such as diet are also taken into account. In addition, some people may find that an occasional loperamide or laxative, depending on the bowel habit abnormality, may be required.
Do the effects of hypnotherapy last once a course of treatment has been completed? Research on the long-term follow up of patients who have benefited shows that after a period of between 1 and 5 years, most remain well with many requiring no further medication at all.
Hypnotherapy can be a time-consuming and costly approach in the short term. However, as a result of the sustained benefits of treatment, it has been calculated that it becomes cost effective within 2 years when compared to conventional approaches.
How to select a hypnotherapist
Many individuals practice hypnosis that are not qualified to treat medical problems. Look for someone who treats medical problems with hypnosis.
Then get answers to the following three questions:
Is this person a licensed health professional? Be aware that hypnosis certificates and vanity letters after the person’s name such as C. Ht. (“certified hypnotherapist”) mean nothing in terms of clinical qualifications. Only state-licensed health professionals (such as doctors, psychologists, nurses, clinical social workers) should treat IBS.
Does this person have formal training and significant experience in clinical hypnosis? Using hypnosis with good success requires considerable skill and knowledge. In general, 50 hours or more of certified workshop training in hypnosis would be good, although less is sometimes adequate.
Does this person know the details of successful hypnosis treatment protocols for IBS? Hypnosis in itself is probably not sufficient to treat IBS effectively. Specific gut-directed suggestions and imagery need to be included.
Many major health insurance plans in the US reimburse for IBS treatment with hypnosis when it is billed as psychological treatment under the mental health portion of the plans.
Summary
Hypnosis is just one of many in the treatment options for IBS. Other psychological methods, cognitive therapy in particular, are also effective options.
Hypnosis may be especially suitable when severe chronic symptoms continue after standard medical management approaches have been tried. It has become clear that in such cases, hypnosis treatment can often produce major improvement that can last for years.
AboutIBS.org
