Note: This advice is given by the CAP Executive about non-broadcast advertising. It does not constitute legal advice. It does not bind CAP, CAP advisory panels or the Advertising Standards Authority.
This section should be read in conjunction with the entry on ‘Therapies, General’.
Many trade bodies regulate and represent hypnotherapists and levels of training seem to vary widely. Hypnotherapy involves the patient relaxing into an ‘altered state of consciousness’ to utilise enhanced suggestibility to treat psychological and medical conditions and effect behavioural changes. Hypnotherapists claim to cure and treat several conditions and CAP has accepted that they can help: relieve anxiety, aid sleeping, bedwetting, confidence, eating problems (but not disorders), minor skin conditions (e.g. those exacerbated by stress) etc. CAP has not accepted that hypnotherapists can treat serious medical conditions (Rule 12.2 and British Society of Clinical Hypnosis, 31 October 2001) and marketers should not encourage consumers to self-diagnose and self-treat those conditions (Rule 12.5).
Rule 12.8 requires marketers to hold proof before claiming or implying that minor addictions and bad habits can be treated without effort from those suffering. For many, this will mean that success is largely down to readers’ commitment and determination and should not be attributed solely to the hypnotherapy. Some hypnotherapists argue that their treatment ‘by-passes’ the need for participants’ willpower because it affects the sub-conscious part of the brain. Those hypnotherapists would have to hold evidence before implying the participant had no role to play in breaking that bad habit or minor addiction.
Many hypnotherapists claiming to offer smoking cessation have fallen foul of the ASA by making success claims they cannot support (Bromley Stop Smoking Clinic, 19 November 2003 and Practice Builders Ltd, 19 February 2003). One marketer (Equahealth UK Clinic, 23 October 2002) submitted a meta-analysis of the efficacy of different methods of giving up smoking: it stated that the average success rate of hypnotherapy was 36%. Marketers making success claims should ensure that they are based on rigorous evidence and not merely calculated on those patients who do not return for follow-up sessions or take up a money-back guarantee. Some marketers have followed up smoking cessation sessions with a telephone survey to establish success rates. The ASA has investigated that practice and concluded that, although it might indicate success, telephoning customers was not robust enough to prove definitive success rates (Dune Hypnotherapy Group, 5 November 2003). Blood tests are likely to be the only way of ascertaining whether people have given up smoking.
Marketers should also ensure that success claims for a technique are not confused with success claims for an individual (Alexandra Swindells, 3 November 2004). Although the ASA and CAP have accepted that hypnotherapy can help smokers give up, the scientific community seems divided on whether the technique is effective.
See the entry on ‘Stopping Smoking’ for specific examples of what can and cannot be said by marketers claiming to be able to stop patients smoking. The general principles apply for all other hypnotherapists claiming to treat minor addictions and bad habits.
Guidance on Health Therapies and Evidence QA (Sept 2011)
Last modified : 10 April 2012