How many hypnotherapy sessions do I need?23rd June 11
A young lady came to see me recently who wanted help with Comfort Eating. In chatting with her, she displayed a remarkable degree of pessimism; one of the questions she asked of me was this, how long does Hypnotherapy take to work?
“There are no guarantees anything will change, and I certain don’t do miracles. In most cases, it is like flicking a switch. Sometimes it is turning off a thought, sometimes it is adding in a new better quality thought, and often it is more like a dimmer switch. You turn up the quality and importance of some beliefs and thoughts, and tone down others, it’s all to do with what is appropriate and important to the person sitting there, in that chair…..” I pause and point to the chair she is sitting on, hoping she would take the cue to tell me something important to her.
“I saw a hypnotherapist once. “ She pauses, takes a deep breath…..”and he was nothing like you”
“Well what was he like, what happened”
“I saw him for thirteen sessions……..”
"Thirteen!!" I reply.” Thirteen!! Good God, you must have been sick”
“NO, it was not like that. He said we needed to do some free association stuff, and it felt good afterwards….”
“So, what you are saying is, for thirteen weeks, you saw him, had a chat, and it felt so good you had to go back again. He must have been a really handsome guy?”
“No, “She laughs “ a bit ugly and old really …..Just like you"( not that she really said that last bit out loud.)
“How many times do I need to see you, I don’t have much money left”
..and now we get to the thing that is important to her, the same thing that is important to any of us, ’we don’t want to get ripped off.’ So I make her The Offer.
I don’t do it often, but there are times when it right to do so. You see, for a Hypnotherapy session to work well you need two things, a good hypnotherapist and a good Hypnotee. Now I know I am a good hypnotherapist, and I am comfortable in saying that without a trace of ego, what I don’t know is, are you a good hypnotee? For a Hypnotherapy session to work well the person in the comfortable chair needs to be able to ‘do’ hypnosis, to experience trance, to be able to be guided in to that natural mental state. For some people that is not an easy thing and for others it is next to impossible. In those cases, I open my metaphoric tool box and pull out other tools of my trade.
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No one likes to waste money and no one likes to be ripped off. I take the view that you should only be expected to pay for something that has made a difference, you should not be expected to pay for a therapist just to 'try' and to get nowhere.
I am always realistic about who I can help and how much help I can offer, Call Me and you will get an honest answer. .. I ask my clients to see me at least twice, by then we both will have a very good idea about what can be achieved. No Change means No Fee and we part as friends. We may need to see each other more than twice to get a really good result - Call Me and we can chat about it.
. After two sessions, notice a change, notice the change lasts, and that it helps you in the way that you want. Once you notice this, I will give you my bill, and invite you back to a third session, but only if it is appropriate. No change means No Fee.
I once heard a trainer say, “A ‘good’ hypnotherapist is a ‘poor’ Hypnotherapist,” she advocated taking six sessions for everything, and charging for them all regardless. I baulked at that then, and I find it despicable even now.
If after two sessions I can make no change at all, I go back to my tool bag, ponder the situation and try in a different way and until there is a change, there is no charge.
I will always give you an honest answer, if I can help you I will. Some things I am good at, and other things I am very good at; and if you are best served by someone else, I will refer you to that person.
Call me 0208 647 744
