Hypnosis and Ethics

[10cents]

Hello...

I've been musing about hypnosis and so I thought if it is ethical to use it on unwary people. Like getting the better end of a bargain or sexual favors from someone. Is there a code of ethics for people who are capable of altering somebody else's perception?

Thanks.

[nathan]

It depends what form of hypnosis you mean. If it is Overt hypnosis (ie they knbow you are hypnotising them) then never break the contract you make with them at the beginning, IE never do anything that you havn't told them you are about to do before. if they come to you for weighloss STOP THERE.

For covert hypnosis, i would post the URL of a blog post of mine i wrote a while back on the subject, but i bet it will be removed, so i'll copy and past it here:

Sunday, August 26, 2007
Covert hypnosis: the stigma.
As you should know this blog deals in the covert and persuasive uses of hypnosis, as well as the therapeutic kind.
I have received several negative comments about this, many consider covert hypnosis to be manipulation.
Some teach it this way, some teach ways to apparently control people, bend them to your will and make veritable free slaves.

This is NOT what you will find from me. I look at covert hypnosis and NLP in persuasion from a win win perspective, IE, if you are going to use your skills to make someone do something make sure it will benefit them.
SO I have no problem covertly hypnotising a friend to quit smoking ( provided the friend wants to)
Nor do i have any trouble with people using these skills to get people to buy their products, PROVIDED they truly feel, money aside, that the client will benefit from the product.

So bear in mind when using the covert aspects of what you will find here to only use them when they will benefit the other party at least as much as you.

imagine yourself in their shoes, and really think about how it would benefit them to take the actions you want, if you can only see negative results for them or are just focusing on yourself do not harm them by indulging in your greed.

This was not meant to sound preachy, but to fix misunderstandings from concerned viewers, and to ensure that those who use the information soon to be on this blog use it more for therapy than for profit.
If you are still reading i congratulate you.
if you rolled your eyes more than 2 times throughout the read i sympathise with you.
think before you hypnotise.
Nathan Thomas
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Posted by Nathan at 11:29 PM



1 comments:
Geoffrey said...
I am very impressed by this site as it explains a complicated yet very interesting subject in an understandable, humorous and approachable manner.

I look forward to see how it grows.

Geoffrey

August 28, 2007 5:16 PM

[mat]

Yes, that does sound completely unethical. The International Society of Hypnosis has a good section on ethics here

[Gandalf]

[Barry Thain]

Firstly there's your own code. If you don't mind screwing someone (physically or financially) against their will, then you deserve jail time. Furthermore, no code of ethics is going to deter you.

Most, if not all, hypnotherapy regulatory bodies have codes of conduct that forbid acting in other than the client's best interests, but I'm sure there are lots of people out there who've bought cheap correspondence courses, do not belong to any reputable organisation and may well wish to do bad things with hypnotism. Fortunately, having learned from a cheap correspondence course they probably won't be good enough to do any harm.

Best wishes

barry

[brandon05]

Wow, I never thought about this aspect of it. I would hope that someone wouldn't do this but in society today who knows. That being said is there some kind of organization or such where you could look up the training and what other patients have to say about a hypnotist that you are thinking of seeing?

[R1986]

The only scary thing would be going to a hypnotist with no idea of their personality. I would like to see a website that reviews or discusses the certification of different hypnotists like brandon05 mentioned however. It would probably be a good thing for there to exist a basic code of ethics that had therapists had to be legally bound to in the same manner as MDs do.

[brandon05]

That brings me back to a question is their a certain code of ethics that you are bound to within this field? I would think that there is some kind of criteria. Thanks

[Paddy Landau]

The hypnotist must go by:

• The laws of the country. Every country has its own laws.
  
• The code of ethics of the organisation(s) through which the hypnotist trained.
  
• The code of ethics of the group(s) through which the hypnotist is registered.

In the UK, several of the major registering groups are cooperating in creating a strong code of ethics for all their members. The final code is being voted on at the moment.

If you are concerned, you may find it worth asking the hypnotist whether he has a code of ethics, and whether he'd be prepared to show you it.

Paddy