Hypnosis & Hypnotherapy
Training Courses

To avoid confusion and misunderstanding, the ICCHP teaches our students/graduates to be evidence-based practitioners and we are not promoting a single evidence-based approach (like CBT).

We firmly adhere to the principles of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) as defined by the seminal Sackett et al. (1996) model, which integrates best external evidence, clinical expertise, and patient values. The ICCHP Diploma includes a dedicated module on "Evidence-based Hypnotherapy Practice," where students are taught to access, appraise, and apply research data. This includes teaching about evidence hierarchies established by the American Psychological Association (APA). During the course, students are presented with a range of published, evidence-based journal articles on integrative therapeutic hypnosis throughout the 12 module course content. This is in order to help our students evaluate appropriate therapeutic processes, manage the treatment and outcomes for each individual client, which is outlined in the established Skill for Health Learning Outcomes. The dedicated module covers: Evidence-based Practice Concepts; Evidence-based Practice Frameworks; Integrating Evidence-based Practice; Accessing and Understanding Research Data; Applying Research Data to Inform Clinical Decisions. In this module the Sackett Model is taught, along with other example models (John Hopkins Hospital Nursing Model, Hoffman et al 2013 Model, etc.) and implementation processes and guides presented.

Furthermore, we teach our students about the robust evidence base for hypnotherapy as an adjunctive (complementary/supplementary) treatment: 
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS): "Gut-directed" hypnotherapy is recommended by major medical bodies including the American College of Gastroenterology and NICE.
• Pain Management: Extensive research, including fMRI brain imaging studies, shows hypnotherapy can significantly reduce both acute pain (e.g., during medical procedures) and chronic pain (e.g., fibromyalgia, arthritis).
• Anxiety & Stress: Frequently used to manage procedural anxiety and generalised stress, with meta-analyses showing large effect sizes when combined with other therapies.
• Habit Control: An evidence-based tool for smoking cessation and weight loss, often doubling success rates compared to willpower alone.
• Neurological Changes: fMRI scans demonstrate that hypnosis creates measurable changes in brain connectivity, specifically in areas regulating focus, sensory processing, and the "critical" conscious mind.
• Synergy with CBT: Research shows that adding hypnosis to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy often produces better outcomes than CBT alone for conditions like depression and obesity.

Crucially, we also teach the challenges and limitations of evidence-based claims, ensuring our graduates can critically evaluate research and apply "practice-based evidence" approaches.

Our course intentionally covers a broad syllabus to provide a comprehensive education. The curriculum includes topics such as Energy Healing, Regression, Past Life Regression, Quantum Psychology, and Inner Child work. It is crucial to note that these topics are presented as part of the learning material for students to understand and critically evaluate, not as evidence-based approaches we are promoting. The ICCHP website does not claim, promote, or state anywhere that these approaches are evidence-based.

A key part of our teaching is to help students differentiate between evidence-based and non-evidence-based techniques/approaches. For example, students are taught that traditional, problem-based regression techniques are not evidence-based and are therefore not recommended for use. However, they are contrasted with positive regression processes (e.g., recalling a time of calmness, motivation, or relaxation) which are used extensively in recognised and evidence-based psychotherapeutic processes like cognitive restructuring. Our goal is to equip students with the knowledge to assess the appropriateness of any process/technique for each individual client, which is a fundamental requirement of the Skills for Health National Occupational Standards.

The ICCHP believes that by becoming more aligned to other healthcare professions, where evidence-based practice is already established, hypnotherapists can improve their service delivery and provide positive treatment outcomes to their clients by understanding and adopting a model that supports evidence-based practice in hypnotherapy. One of the CNHC continuing professional development outcomes for hypnotherapists is to seek out and evaluate quality research that can be utilised to develop and improve treatment protocols used in practice. Also, the ICCHP believes that graduate practitioners should be able to examine neurophysiological and psychosocial theoretical research and how it can be integrated to inform and improve their evidence-based hypnotherapy practice and patient outcomes. In addition, exploring how other established psychotherapy research can be interpreted, integrated and transferred to the practice of hypnotherapy is taught. The ICCHP believes that incorporating evidence based practice into hypnotherapy training programmes is a must, therefore it is important for current and future practitioners to embrace evidence-based models and the approaches being used by other healthcare practitioners, so that the practice of hypnotherapy can equate to other healthcare professions and encourage the further acceptance of the practice and the hypnotherapy profession.

It is important to understand that the ICCHP strives to teach our graduates to be ethical, professional practitioners who understand and incorporate Evidence-Based Practice into their work. We teach our graduates to be evidence-based practitioners, not just to apply the Evidenced-based label to specific techniques, or approaches.