What should I do if I have a bad experience with a hypnosis professional?

What should I do if I have a bad experience with a hypnosis professional?

John McGrail, C.Ht. (Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist) gives expert video advice on: Is there a certification or credentialing process for the practice of hypnosis?; What is the best way to find a good hypnotherapist? and more...

So a bad experience could be: “I've done a number of sessions and I'm not seeing any results,” to something inappropriate or unethical. If it's “I've done a number of sessions and I'm not seeing any results,” you have to really understand before you start the process what it's probably going to take. For instance, I tend to try to tell prospective clients what I think an average number of sessions ought to be. And on average, if after say three, four sessions there's been no movement, no change, then probably this is not going to work. Probably, but not definitely. So that could be a bad experience. If you go to a hypnotherapist and you don't enjoy the experience and you don't feel you got anything or you think they're asking you to do something that's completely unrelated or weird, don't go. If they do something unethical—and that opens up a whole ‘nother can of worms—then, of course, depending on the nature of what they do, you would report them to the appropriate authorities. If, for instance, someone tried to take advantage of someone sexually, which does happen, that's a crime. That's a felony, and that should be reported to the police. If someone makes some sort of weird suggestion, there may not be anybody to report it to, but I certainly wouldn't go back. So the concept of “bad experience” has a huge spectrum of meaning. If you don't get results after a reasonable amount of time, you stop going. And you're going to know. I believe that a client knows after one or two sessions whether it feels good, it's a fit. And if it doesn't feel good, then the chances are it's not going to.