How hypnotherapy became a victim of it's own success

Hypnotherapy has a reputation for being one of the quickest and easiest forms of therapy. Indeed this is well deserved, very few other disciplines can challenge it for timely results and relatively low effort on the part of the client. There are many instances of issues being completely and effortlessly resolved in just one or two sessions. And of course these are often the most highly publicised, usually by the happy clients, which is great.

However there is  a downside to this success; the risk of creating unrealistic expectations. While impressive results are not uncommon, they certainly shouldn't be expected in every instance. More complex issues require more time and more committed effort on the part of the client. When a client turns up to therapy expecting an immediate cure they do both themselves and the therapist a disservice. They don't expect to put in the time and effort that it takes, so there is a high risk they will dismiss the therapy and quit before it's given a chance to take effect. In these instances, clients effectively abdicate responsibility, which is counter productive because taking responsibility for one's thoughts, feelings and behaviours is an important pre-curser to all growth and healing.

The best results come to those who are committed to change and are ready to do whatever it takes to recover. They don't expect a quick fix or a magic wand. Paradoxically the fast, easy transformations are far more likely to come to clients with this mindset.