What Professional Hypnotherapy Recognizes—and What It Does Not

Mainstream legitimate hypnotherapy institutions — including ASCH, BSCH, SCEH, NCH, CFCH, AHA, and the European Society of Hypnosis — define hypnosis as a clinical and psychological technique and do not recognize hypnotherapy and regression therapy as a method for validating spiritual or metaphysical claims. 

Below, I present the positions of recognized hypnotherapy institutions in their own words.

1. American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH) 

“Clinical hypnosis is an altered state of awareness, perception, or consciousness that is used, by licensed and trained doctors or master’s prepared individuals, for treating a psychological or physical problem. In the mental health area, it is used for phobias, anxiety, sexual problems, alcoholism, smoking control, speech disorders, weight control, chronic pain, age regression therapy, self-esteem/ego strengthening, memory/concentration improvement, and forensic work. In medicine, it uses include anesthesia and surgery, obstetrics/gynecology, control of bleeding, pain control, burns therapy, dermatology, and habit control. Dentistry uses it to control fear, dental surgery, saliva control, gagging, bruxism, control of bleeding, tongue biting, and general oral hygiene.” (https://asch.net/about-hypnosis/ , accessed December 19, 2025)

2. British Society of Clinical Hypnosis (BSCH)

“Hypnotherapy is a valuable therapy with which to release past trauma and decondition established habits. Even though our personal unconscious only ever seeks to promote our well being it can often be the seat of faulty learning from our past, leading to low self esteem, under achievement and sometimes worse. Often it attempts to protect us by raising our fears and anxieties to phobic levels to keep us from a particular activity or stimulus it sees as dangerous. Sometimes these non-optimum patterns can lead to addictive behaviour. Using hypnosis in therapy can facilitate a holistic relearning process.” (https://bsch.org.uk/ , accessed December 19, 2025)

3. Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis (SCEH)

“Hypnosis is used by health care professionals and mental health specialists in assisting with a broad variety of problems and life issues such as chronic pain, headaches, habit patterns (e.g. smoking, overeating), anxiety, and other issues. It is also useful in preparing for anxiety evoking situations, such as medical or dental procedures (e.g., labor and delivery, surgery, injections), taking examinations, or other events inducing apprehension.” (https://www.sceh.us/what-is-hypnosis- , accessed December 19, 2025)

4. Canadian Federation of Clinical Hypnosis - Alberta Society (CFCH-AS)

“Hypnosis can improve your recall of events that you believe happened to you. But hypnosis is not a way to find out the truth (whatever that may be) about events that are in dispute. That is, under hypnosis you may re-experience events, but there is no guarantee that you are remembering them correctly. Hypnosis only assists the subject in recalling perceptions, not truths. Courts recognize this, and sometimes take the position that being hypnotized influences your ability to later testify in court on those matters. You should get legal advice before attempting to use hypnosis to improve your recall of events when there are, or might be, court matters involved.” (https://clinicalhypnosis.ca/about , accessed December 19, 2025)

5. National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH)

“Hypnotherapy is the application of hypnotic techniques as a therapy for a range of problems like people who suffer from low self-esteem, or obsessive thoughts about someone or something. For example, they may be not able to rid their minds of the idea that a partner is unfaithful or that they are suffering from an illusion from an illness despite medical reassurance. People who suffer from a wide variety of distressing feelings such as panic attacks, anxiety, jealousy, guilt, anger, or inadequacy. People who experience an irrational fear of variety of insects, animals, objects or situations. Lastly, people who find themselves in the grip of habits or patterns they seem unable to control, from nail-biting or smoking to more deep-seated compulsions.” (https://www.hypnotherapists.org.uk/hypnotherapy/ , accessed December 19, 2025)

6. Australian Hypnotherapists Association (AHA)

“The Association is in complete agreement with the medical profession in its opposition to the type of ‘hypnotist’ who makes wild and exaggerated claims. A hypnotherapist who is a member of this association is governed by a code of ethics to take the deepest possible interest in every client, to be at all times conscientious, persevering, kind, patient, thorough and trustworthy and to treat all information acquired during the treatment as highly confidential.” (https://www.ahahypnotherapy.org.au/about , accessed December 19, 2025)

7. European Society of Hypnosis (ESH)

“The European Society of Hypnosis (ESH) is a confederation of National Societies specialising in the use of hypnosis in the fields of medicine, dentistry, psychology, and psychotherapy. Our mission is to promote the highest professional standard in the practice of hypnosis for clinical and experimental purposes. The commitment is to evaluate and elaborate the newest developments in professional hypnosis and to disseminate such information among members.” (https://esh-hypnosis.eu/ , accessed January 10, 2026)

All of these societies focus on clinical, psychological, or therapeutic hypnosis, not spiritual or metaphysical claims. None of them recognize past-life regression, reincarnation, soul splitting, Atlantis, or alien life regression as scientifically valid.