No big, strong claims here. Every word is literally true: therapy does “provide a space to reflect”, and the results “can help you find your own voice.”  Everything applies to everyone who reads it, both those with mild upsets and those with profound wounds. No-one reading it is going to be deceived that life change is always quick or easy, and there are no hyped-up claims of some magic super therapy “rapidly and completely … eliminating all manner of emotional problems for people all over the world.” [Actual quote.] For someone who has very severe problems, no false hopes will be raised. It’s all true, ethical, and honest.

But my question is: does the therapist who wrote this have any genuine, personal experience of transformation? Has he experienced radical change? Is his life joyful? Has he witnessed people really transforming their lives, shifting from misery to joy, from despair to trust, from depression to delight? Do his clients say their sessions with him are “inspirational” and “a revelation?” Because if he has experienced these things, why doesn’t he (or she) write about them? If she has this experience, why does she offer only such a flat, limited horizon of possibilities?

Overall, many counsellors and psychotherapists make very limited claims for what they offer. Another example:

True, honest, correct, professional; but no mention of change, healing, or transformation, no sense that life can be radically different, that the butterfly can emerge from the chrysalis. Also, no reference to action in real life; everything that’s offered in an internal state; I fear this particulat therapy may be all talk and no action.

So the Scylla and Charybdis of psychotherapy advertising comes down to this. On the one hand, personal development (in which I include one to one therapy, meditation and  personal development workshops) can have an amazing galvanising effect on people’s lives and create a snowball of joyful positive change. Advertising which does not express this leaves me wondering whether the therapist has had that experience personally, let alone whether their clients have it.

On the other hand, for some people life can’t change quickly or indeed at all. Some people are in painful situations which can’t change, others come from wounded families and  will take a lifetime to recover. And of course many people are in between the positive and negative extremes, and some aspects of everyone’s life change intrinsically slowly. So advertising which suggests that change is always easy or quick or complete or finished in one go is misleading, maybe cruelly so.

What I call “Big Bold Claims” advertising projects the potential of brief personal development, but:

• risks misleading the reader
• potentially puts the therapist in a false position of trying to deliver on the impossible
• risks short-changing those people for whom not so much is possible in the moment

“Hesitant Circumspect” advertising only makes claims which are true for all readers, even the most hurt, and so avoids all possibility of raising false hopes or unprofessional misrepresentation.  But this

• fails to inform readers how much is possible
• risks short-changing those clients for whom major or rapid change is possible. That’s because assuming, reasonably, that what the therapist writes in their advertising reflects how they do their work, if their  objective is that clients develop  “understanding” or “find things aren’t as hopeless as they look”, then these limited goals are simply not enough to help people shift their lives.
  This situation happens a lot. The single commonest question which potential clients ask me is, “I went to a psychotherapist previously, and I talked and talked and understand where my problems come from, but nothing changed. Will it be different with you?” [I assure them it will.] I can’t know, but my guess is that counsellors and therapists with the most highly Hesitant-Circumspect advertising are the same ones who do endless talking therapy.

RULE THREE FOR READING THERAPY ADVERTS

Look for a therapist who both has a vision of how much is possible, plus a sense of realism that some things take (a long) time, and some things aren’t possible. Look for a website that makes you feel both optimistic and realistic.

Hypnotherapy claims, true but artful

Tricky, this one. Literally, it’s true. Many problems can be resolved in a few hours of treatment. But look at the artfully positioned list: … anorexia … bulemia … cancer treatment … eating disorders. You’d think that these are the problems that can be resolved in a few hours, wouldn’t you? Wrong! These can be very major issues that need persistence and commitment, perhaps over years rather than weeks, as can many of the others on the list. This strikes me as just like  the advert in the previous post, “Whatever your problem, we can resolve it, Fast!”, only cleverer.

Then there’s that “Using a special form of hypnotherapy and hypnosis …” Oooh! Take that!, old-fashioned has-been therapists who aren’t using a special form of hypnosis! Taken together, the artful implication seems to be a new form of hypnosis so special that even anorexia and cancer treatment succumb rapidly. No such thing exists.

[In later posts I'll take more about what therapy can and can't do. Meanwhile see my main site for more information.]

And the next:

Strong hypnotherapy claims

Two or three sessions will cure simple phobias, definitely, but not more complicated ones. Weight also,  but only if simple habit.  Smoking, yes for most people, if highly individualised sessions. The rest? Well yes, sometimes people only need that few sessions. But much more commonly, normal people need more sessions. And beyond that, any one of those could be a deeply-seeded issue. As I said in the previous post, have a look under the “Health > Mental Health” section of Yahoo Answers and you find sadly many people with these issues who need far, far  more then two or three sessions. OK, the advert doesn’t say “resolve completely” in two or three sessions but there is a pretty clear implication of done-and-dusted in that time. And again, it just ain’t so for many people.

A final example from the same website:

Claims for OCD treatment. Text reads: Dealing with or letting go of your Obsessive compulsive disorder, or OCD, with hypnotherapy should really only take two or three sessions ~ well that`s our experience.

Certainly not my experience. It’s the same story; some people with mild OCD can be helped in 3 – 5 sessions of behavioural hypnotherapy. But OCD can have a real grip on people’s lives, and I would more typically say 10-15 sessions of highly behavioural-oriented hypnosis, maybe a good many more.

As I don’t specialise in OCD I googled “number of sessions OCD” and the authoritative http://www.psychguides.com/ocgl says on similar lines:  “The experts recommend 13-20 sessions as the appropriate number of CBT treatments for the typical patient. When speed is of the essence or OCD is particularly severe in adults, intensive CBT (daily CBT for 3 weeks) may be preferable.”

To repeat from the previous post. I’m not suggesting that these advertisers are being dishonest. But they are over-enthusiastic in their marketing, and  very likely naive about some aspects of therapy – they see a limited range of clients and don’t realise how serious some issues are. I’ll talk more in later posts about how honest people can make misleading claims.

RULE TWO FOR READING THERAPY ADVERTS

When therapists make, or imply, dramatic claims for rapid success “with hypnosis” or “with a special kind of hypnosis” for serious issues, they may, perhals, be wonder therapists with a magic special cure. Or they may simply not know what they are talking about.

So before you can get help, you need help in getting help. That’s this blog!

I’m going to spend a lot of time explaining what different therapies can and can’t do, how to read  therapy advertising, and how to choose a therapist.

Here we go.

Like most therapists, I write my own advertising. It’s a job I  hate. You have to tread such a narrow tightrope. On the one hand, you have to write strong, marketing text  which sells, or you don’t get any clients. On the other hand, you have to have total integrity and make sure every word is absolutely true – for everyone who might read it. In that case you can end up writing quite a boring website.

A lot of therapy advertising on the internet is to say the least, not boring. It is often hard-sell, full of big bold claims.

When we are in trouble, we all of us have the wish to be children again. We want to be looked after and have it all taken care of by a wise, strong, caring parent or therapist. There’s nothing wrong with that, it is only human. It does mean, though, that what  people with a problem want to hear is the  voice of an all-powerful parent, a booming confidence that “I can solve your problems.”

Plenty of therapists play up to this; it’s great marketing. For example, here are some screenshots from an actual website in the UK.  You may think these are the tabloid end of the market. But this psychotherapist works in Harley St and charges £185-00 for a one hour session, £950-00 for a full day intensive session.

Claims made by a psychotherapist

More psychotherapy claims

Great advertising!  – sounds like a great therapist who knows what needs to be done, and gets on and does it it. No messing around, he just solves those problems for you, right there on the spot.

But it’s totally misleading. To me, no experienced or wise therapist should ever make claims like “Whatever your problem, we can resolve it, fast!” This is ridiculous.  Many problems can be rapidly resolved. But not all.  Some issues involves deeply seeded traumas which it can take a lot of work over a long period to resolve. And some people have been very, very hurt by life. Have a look on the Yahoo Answers website for  “depression” and similar keywords. You’ll find many people there who are in great pain and whose lives are  in a huge mess. I’d call it not just misleading, but cruel, to suggest to these people that “whatever the problem, we can resolve it, Fast.”

Nor is it  realistic to claim to “effortlessly regain Balance and Live the lifestyle you desire,” “Easily and Effortlessly eliminate Fears, Phobias and Emotional issues, regardless of the time you have held onto these limiting associations and thoughts” or “Instantly reduce the stress in your life.” [My added emphasis.]

There is again some truth, looked at from a particular direction. People do think that when they’ve had problems for a long time, they’ll have them for a long time more and getting rid of them takes endless analysis. They don’t realise just how very helpful modern brief therapy can be.  An affordable, sometimes even very short, course of sessions with a good and experienced therapist can often work “miracles” – it can achieve the radical shift of perspective which brings big changes. But not always. Some people are in a place in their life where progress can only be slow. They may be very hurt or very ashamed and have trouble opening up. Or they may want things to be different, but not yet be willing to experiment and take risks and think differently.

I am not necessarily accusing this psychotherapist of  being consciously misleading. He may believe what he is saying, for reasons I’ll talk about in other posts.   But

“effortlessly … Live the lifestyle you desire;”

… it’s just ridiculous.

So, RULE ONE IN CHOOSING A THERAPIST:-

Beware of adverts containing words like effortlessly, instantly, regardless of difficulties, complete fast resolution which imply that all problems can be resolved like that. That is totally and completely unreal. There is no therapy and no therapist in the world capable of that.

Not even in the sightest is this true.

Many meditation exercises involve sitting still. But meditation is not an activity and it is not an experience. Meditation is the existential realisation that the consciousness which is aware of anger, pain, fear, love, joy, gratitude is separate from any and all of these experiences.

So suppose you are angry. If you storm and rant and rage and plan revenge, then you are not in meditation. If you sit and keep very still, but continue to rage internally, you are not in meditation. If you suppress the anger with premature forgiveness, you are not in meditation. (Some schools of meditation unwittingly encourage this). If you sit and succeed in detatching yourself from the anger, then of course you are in meditation.

But suppose that you first put a big cushion on the floor. And (don’t hurt yourself) you attack the cushion with all your might, beating it, screaming, shouting, hitting. Then if you remain present and aware as you do that, you are in meditation as you do it. Any action carried out with awareness carries the quality of meditation.

If you then sit silently and just allow your experiences to be as they are, quite likely you will feel a deeper calmness and peach than if you had not done the anger release. This is meditation not because it is calm and peaceful, but because you are present and aware.

These are two different qualities  of meditation. Being aware during anger release or other action is a meditation of the outgoing or male or yang energy. Being aware in silence is meditation of the receptive or female or yin energy.  But they are both equally meditation.

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But reading the book, it appears Fontana has thought about meditation a lot, but if his life has been transformed by meditation (transformed, not just improved) that doesn’t come across. I struggled to have any sense that Fontana really understands the power of meditation to radically transform our lives. He seems stuck at understanding meditation as a source of enjoyable and useful experiences.  Sadly this is very common in books about meditation written by Westerners.

So I’ve started a series of posts on what I term radical meditation. You can find these under “Pages” on the right. If you have any questions, please post them as comments and I’ll do my best to answer.

As I say in one of the pages, I’m not enlightened, so there’s very much that I also can’t speak of from experience, or I’ve only had illuminating insights that aren’t yet a permanent part of my life. But at least I am aware of that and honest about it;  so many meditation writers don’t seem to be. And there is certainly much that I can speak of with authority. Where I rely on the teaching or experience of others about meditation, I will say so.

Yes, immediately after the hypnosis session success was far higher: 68% of smokers had quit. But these people rapidly relapsed. Their success vanished from their hands like snow in the desert.

He writes: “I believe I have erroneously allowed myself to be convinced of exaggerated success; that I have accepted the immediate reports as final results. I was wrong … .”

Yager has let the cat out of the bag about an open secret in the hypnosis world. Quit smoking success rates:

• mean very little
• vary with the type of hypnotic quit-smoking programme between 4% and 80% plus
• and are often wildly – and persuasively – exaggerated

I’m going to use  a series of posts to examine this whole issue. To start with, let’s look at relapse rates.

Yager is absolutely right.  Short-term, hypnosis is highly effective, indeed dramatically so.  But success tails off steeply over a couple of months. According to a University of Iowa metastudy of 72,000 smokers, within a year as much as 70% of smokers who quit with hypnosis will have relapsed.

That’s an average. Some hypnotic quit-smoking programmes do far better. They tend to be ones which are:

• not just a single one-hour session, but several sessions
• highly tailored to the individual, and
• include cognitive-behavioural elements as well as hypnosis

But many hypnosis websites makes claims of 85% and 95% success for quit smoking. (It’s always those exact figures, 85% or 95%!) These are the success rates a week or two after the session. They are not the rates six or 12 months later.  Typically, these will be far lower.

One of Britain’s leading single-session smoking cessation practitioners, the founder of a leading hypnosis training college and an excellent therapist for whom I have a high regard, claims in public no less than a 90% success rate. Yet in a private email he told me that the 90% applied at 2 months, but not at 6 months and “especially not at a year – it’s much more likely to be 40% by then.”

Here’s a splendid example of the phenomenon. I won’t give the name of website this comes from because it is typical of many, and I can make my point without making anyone sad.

A short-term quit-smoking claim with a crucial line removed

This figure shows no sign whatever of being a well-substantiated 12-month followup figure. It seems safe to assume it is a figure from a week or two after the session. And look how shy this 95% figure is, look how it avoids a testing comparison.  Because here is another version of the Tang and Law table:

A much lower hypnosis smoking success rate is revealed

And oh look! the average long-term success rate for hypnosis in 10 studies was a mere 24%   No wonder the 95% claim doesn’t want a comparison.

So take the mega success claims in quit-smoking ads with a pinch of salt.

Hypnosis is an excellent method of quitting smoking. But the success varies with the hypnosis method between 4% and more than 80%. The methods with the high failure rates are the standardised one-size-fits-all one-hour sessions. Multi session, individualised, cognitive behavioural hypnosis is what works best long-term. Are you are willing to pay a bit more and put in a bit of effort yourself, to have the very best shot at quitting forever? Then have a look at my multi-session cognitive behavioural hypnosis quit-smoking programme: www.themagicofyou.co.uk/bristol/hypnotherapy/quit-smoking.php It really works.