My practice is evidence based…
My short point here is not to confuse scientific method with scientific results. Relying on a study can just become a form of relying on ‘authority’ rather than coming to a conclusion based on evidence after assessing the study for oneself.
Perhaps one aspect of being a professional hypnotherapist is a willingness to consider the different points of view and evidence offered in support of those points of view, then have the professional confidence to adopt a position.
One of the issues this seems to congregate around in hypnotherapy is the validity and use (two separate matters in my view) of regression.
Within the hypnotherapy community there are well advocated positions with very different points of view.
You may be interested to read:
Jørgen Rasmussen’s Regression Work
Another area of contention is the linking of posture to emotional state, although perhaps this is more familiar to NLP trained members. The idea being that you can both positively and negatively affect someone’s emotional state by changing the posture they are in. There is a popular Ted talk that advocates this practice
This is also a debated conclusion and attempts to replicate the study have not been uniformly successful. You may also find this article which details several popular psychology findings that do not seem to be that robust in attempts to repeat them.
So, my overall conclusion is that as professionals we would do well to strengthen our critical thinking skills and include looking at available evidence and the way that conclusions have been arrived at, as part of our continuous professional development.
Richard Ingate – PHN Member