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Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer and the information contained within this article is information gathered from different sources over time and is based on the laws of Columbus, Georgia. Please seek out the correct legal advice for your city and your state as I did so you may get the correct legal advice. Thank You

Hello Everyone

While I was out the other day I ran into an old friend who to my surprise is now a doctor. I haven’t seen this friend in a long time so we decided to get together for lunch in a few days and play catch up.

We finally met up for lunch the other day and I began to tell him how I’m slowly moving out of Real Estate and have since become a Certified Hypnotist over the course of the last few years. This caught him off guard a little and was curious on how I made the transition from the Real Estate world to the Hypnosis world. I told him my story and he was pretty surprised that I made such an interesting life change. Overall I thought he took it quite well. After a moment or two of silent he asked me a question. He asked me when I was moving from Columbus? I told him I wasn’t planning to move at all and was curious as to why he assumed I was moving.

He told me he had a friend who was a licensed psychologist and they had got into a talk about hypnosis a while back. He said he couldn’t remember how they got talking about it, but his friend had mentioned to him that hypnosis was illegal to practice unless you we’re a licensed professional such as a doctor or Psychologist. Bringing up my new profession must have triggered the talk he had with his friend a long time ago. I’m still curious as to how they got talking about hypnosis, but he claims he can’t remember.

As is the case with most things my friend just assumed that since his friend was a licensed professional that his information on hypnosis and the law was valid. Sadly, the public is very mistaken about hypnosis as well as some of the licensed professions when it comes to hypnosis. The statement made by the Psychologist is not true at all. It’s not their fault thought because it’s not their field of study. So why would most licensed professions know about hypnosis?

I told my friend that Hypnosis is 100 percent legal in Columbus, Georgia. I told him a few years back some licensed professionals tried to stop us from practicing, but with the help of the National Guild of Hypnotists and The National Federation of Hypnotists these bills we’re squashed before they could become a problem. Some of the licensed professionals who also practice hypnosis used to have a problem with us. As the years have continued we have began to develop a much better working relationship though. Still, some of the licensed professionals who also practice hypnosis still would like to see us put out of business. This isn’t the majority, but just a few. I actually work with a few different doctors here in Columbus as far as them referring clients to me and they have been very professional.

So to continue with my story I told my friend that there are no laws on the books that keep someone from becoming a hypnotist in Columbus, Georgia. I told him the problem comes from certain hypnotists across the country who claim to treat medical or mental problems without having a license to do so. Some of these hypnotists claim they treat things such as depression, phobias, medical disorders and more and this is just plain wrong. I don’t agree with this and neither does the National Guild of Hypnotists. Unless the consulting hypnotist is a licensed professional a hypnotist can’t work with any medical or mental issues unless they have a written referral from a licensed professional or work under the direct supervision of one. Even in this case, we still don’t work with the actual problem. Let me explain in better detail.

So if a client came to me for help with Cancer I could not work with the person without consulting their doctor and getting the proper referral. Now, if the doctor gives me the proper referral I still can’t work with the cancer. Instead I would help the person with things such as stress, sleep improvement, relaxation and things of this nature, which can help the client a great deal in these rough times. So far here in Columbus we haven’t had any rouge hypnotists as I like to call them. A rouge hypnotist to me is any hypnotist who isn’t following the law. Yes, our profession might be unregulated in most states, but a person must still obey the laws for the state they reside in.

Any hypnotists out there who work with medical or mental illnesses without being licensed is illegal and considered to be practicing medicine without a license. The National Guild of Hypnotists, other well established organizations and I firmly believe only in working within your scope of training. Now hypnosis has been proven in many different scientific studies to help with different kinds of medical and mental issues. Hypnosis was even approved by the American Medical Association and the British Medical Association for use. Even so we can’t work on these issues without a written referral from a licensed professional. When people work outside of their scope of training problems may happen. Everyone plays their part in the overall well being of a client. So let the doctors do their part and we will do our part with working with the  subconscious mind.

It’s sad that some hypnotists refuse to follow these guidelines, but there are trouble makers in every profession. We must not look toward these people as the majority, but as a small group which singles themselves out over time. What they do is the exact opposite of what credible professional consulting hypnotists do. As long as we obtain the proper referral there is nothing wrong or illegal about what we do as hypnotists. We must not misrepresent ourselves or our services to the public. We are Hypnotist, not doctors and should not act as those we are. Now, there are some doctors who use hypnosis, but understand they have a license to practice medicine. Some hypnotists like to claim they have a doctorate in hypnosis when there is no such thing.

Understand that if anyone claims they have a M.D. or P.H.D. in hypnosis it’s from an unaccredited institute. For more information check out this great article from a very well known and highly respected individual in our field. The article can be located here and discusses this issue more in depth then the scope of this article allows. So with all of that being said what can we as Hypnotists work with? Well we can work on a wide range of issues such as Smoking Cessation, Weight Management, Stress Management, Sports Improvement, Test Taking Skills, Fears, Discomfort Management, Self Hypnosis, Goal Setting, Motivation and many other things. I don’t need a referral for any of these items listed.

Things I would need a referral for are issues like Depression, IBS, Cancer, Male Impotence, Diabetes and other medical or mental issues. The fact of the matter is any credible Consulting Hypnotist never “treats” or “cures” anything. All we do is help guide people into self hypnosis and show them how they can relax and overcome many of the challenges that life presents them using their own inner abilities. We don’t provide talk therapy and we don’t use any of the terms of the licensed professional. We are a separate profession and the National Guild of Hypnotists has been working hard to educate the masses and other hypnotists on the correct language that should be used as well as helping to take our profession to the next level.

A credible hypnotist works together with the licensed professional for the best overall care for the client. The client getting better is the only thing that matters at the end of the day. I think of the licensed professionals as partners in a way. I trust in their knowledge and skills as they trust in mine. I leave medical or mental illnesses to the licensed professionals and hypnosis to the hypnosis professionals such as myself.

We need their expertise in certain situations because we are not trained to cure or treat anything. Doesn’t it make sense to seek out their help before working with a client? Let’s not forget as far as being illegal it’s also unethical. A Hypnotist named Robert Brenner gave a wonderful example during a talk I heard once. Let’s assume a client comes in for help with dealing with a pain he is having in his head. Well, as hypnotists we can easily remove a person’s pain or change their perception of the pain. We can help that person to no longer feel that pain, but pains exist to serve a purpose. Pain acts as a warning signal for our bodies. It lets us know that something is wrong with us. Sometime pain has no organic cause and is caused by a person’s thoughts. Still, we can’t know if the pain is organic in natural or not by just looking at the person.

So let’s say we take the pain this person is having away. Now this person doesn’t feel the pain, but it’s possible that whatever is causing the pain is still in the body, but the person can no longer feel the pain. Let’s look into the future a few months and the person you helped visits the doctor for a checkup. During the checkup they discover the person has a brain tumor which has been growing for months. Due to the length of time the tumor had to grow it can no longer be removed. The doctor would ask the patient if they had any pain over the last few months. They may tell the patient that this type of tumor usually puts pressure on the brain and you may have felt it in your head. Well the person at the time just thought it was a headache.

So because you took this persons warning sign away. He never knew he had something wrong. Now if you would have done what you are suppose to and refer your client to see his doctor first so he can check for organic causes than they may have found the tumor and been able to remove it. Now, this same client could have gone to the doctor and it could turn out that it is just a headache. Well the doctor could sign off that it’s okay to use hypnosis to help the person deal with the pain. So as you can see it is an ethical issue as well as a legal issue. I always thought this was a great example for hypnotists to learn from.

After telling my friend all of this and some other things he now had a clear understanding of why his friend thought it was illegal. I told him sometime it just comes down to not knowing any better or being from the old school as I call it. There are hypnotists out there who don’t get referrals and they are opening a can of worms in my opinion. As lunch was getting ready to be over I told him the other reason we are having problems is due to some hypnotists carrying the title of Hypnotherapist. I may get some hate mail for saying what I’ m about to say, but this is just my opinion.

My point of view is more a business one then personal one. Since hypnosis is a self regulated profession we can choose our own titles. A few have pretty much become the standard such as Certified Hypnotist, Certified Consulting Hypnotist and Certified Hypnotherapist. It appears that Consulting Hypnotist will be the new standard soon as it tells and describes what we do compared to some of the other titles. As for the title of Hypnotherapist many hypnotists use this title, but from a legal viewpoint it can cause problems for our profession. From the non licensed hypnotist viewpoint the word therapist means helping someone basically, but the licensed community sees this as something completely different.

The government and other licensed professionals see people who use the word therapist in their name who don’t have a license as practicing therapy/medicine without a license. Therapist is a licensed profession in most states if not all of them. They assume these people are being misleading and not practicing within their scope of training. Many hypnotherapists have received formal letters demanding them to cease and desist because of this one issue. Many hypnotists like to claim that it’s okay to use because its listed in the pages of the Department of Labor’s guide that list all the different careers and their descriptions. While this was true at one point from my understanding it has since been removed. If this isn’t the case then please let me know and I will edit that statement.

So in the eyes of the state you are technically practicing therapy without a license even if that’s not really the case. This is the reason I have decided to go with the title of Hypnotist. It’s a ancient title and has always been a respected one within our field. Nowhere in the name does it apply I’m practicing therapy thus people can’t say my title is misleading. I am not a therapist and don’t want anyone to think I am. I had to make a choice when I chose my title with the National Guild of Hypnotists and after some careful planning I decided I didn’t want to have any possible legal problems in the future.

I even give all my clients a Bill of Rights, which informs them of everything including my scope of training, code of ethics, the clients rights, disclaimers that I’m not a doctor or any other licensed professional and other things as well. This give the client all the facts upfront and shows I am being truthful in what I claim. I look at all of this from a legal point of view and the NGH is also trying to get people to give up the title of Hypnotherapist and choose from the following: Certified Hypnotist and Certified Consulting Hypnotist. In the end is it worth it to keep a title. which may end up with you going to court, jail or losing your practice. I have many friends who use this title and I respect them, but in my opinion I just don’t recommend the use of the title anymore

I also informed my doctor friend that I hired a lawyer to check into the laws and there is nothing on the books that keeps me from practicing hypnotism. On top of all of this information I informed my friend that The National Guild of Hypnotists even has a legal department whose main job is to research, educate and work together with local and state governments to make sure hypnosis stays legal and if any laws are passed that they are fair to all hypnotists and not just National Guild Members. We even have our own union as well, which protects our rights to practice.

So when it comes down to it the practice of hypnotism isn’t illegal one bit in Columbus or Georgia. It’s only illegal if you are attempting to treat, cure, diagnose or offer talk therapy to a client without a proper referral. I can’t stress enough that as Hypnotist you should only work within your realm of training and I also recommend you start giving your clients a Bill of Rights. So hypnosis is legal and I recommend doing everything you can to educate the people around you and work within the laws of your state. Please remember this article is based within the laws of Columbus, Georgia. The guild also has a guide that list the status of hypnosis in every state. This guide can be found here.

So the lunch ended with my friend having a newer understanding of hypnosis and also knowing that hypnosis isn’t illegal. When I first got into this field I was looking for advice from anyone who had some. I sought out many licensed professionals who I thought may have a knowledge of hypnosis. The few that did in Columbus would tell me I couldn’t practice without going to school for 4 or more years and other such nonsense. It took me taking action and learning the truth for myself.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 6th, 2008 at 8:05 pm and is filed under Hypnosis, Hypnosis Question, Hypnosis Education, National Guild of Hypnotist, Hypnosis Articles, Southern Hypnosis, Hypnosis Ethics.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.