Regulation for Clinical Hypnosis?

MP Greg Knight agrees to ask questions about the lack of regulations governing the use of clinical hypnosis in the UK.

Bridlington, East Yorkshire (PRWEB) December 12, 2005 -- Greg Knight, MP for East Yorkshire, met with Tom Connelly of the British Society of Clinical Hypnosis to accept a petition gathered from complementary therapists in the UK.

Hypnosis as an aid to change and therapy is becoming more popular each year yet surprisingly there are no statutory regulations governing the training or practice of professional hypnotherapists. In fact anyone, whether trained or not, can legally claim to be a hypnotherapist and attempt to treat members of the public. Tom Connelly, spokesperson for the British Society of Clinical Hypnosis, asserts that this may put the weak and unwary in danger of bad practice or abuse, or at the very least waste their financial resources. The society has raised a petition in the hope of having questions asked in the House of Commons which may lead to a resolution of this situation.

“It’s difficult for the public to make an informed choice about who is well trained, or who has passed genuine examinations when anyone can set up a hypnosis school and print out their own diplomas,” Tom Connelly said. “Members of our society need to have completed at least 300 hours supervised study from colleges recognised by the UK university system. They must then have passed independently set examinations before becoming full members, but how can members of the public differentiate between properly trained people and people with little or no training at all? There should be a national standard.”

Greg Knight was initially concerned that additional regulation might only increase the denials of liberty of the current ‘nanny state’ but realised its import when informed that in the eyes of the law a murderer, fraudster or person of unsound mind might set up as a hypnotherapist, without training or supervision and through this have access to the vulnerable or unsuspecting. As a consequence of this lack of regulation no law is broken by the assumption of this professional title and such people are rarely prosecuted.

Tom Connelly allowed that the campaign for proper practice had been a lengthy one but success was likely to be just a matter of time, so we look to the future with optimism.

www.bsch.org.uk & www.gregknight.com

Photographs available at:

http://www.bsch.org.uk/petiton/petition.htm

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