Hypnotherapy and Statistics
The Daily Mail ran an article, onTuesday, on a therapist who had set up practice in North West London. They said that she had been using Emotional Freedom Techniques to help people overcome aerophobia - fear of flying. They say that she has worked with fifteen people and has "almost 100%" success rate.
Very impressive. Good news for a hypnotherapist who uses EFT alongside his hypnotherapy practice. The phone shouldn't stop ringing. Or should it?
Just what exactly does "almost 100%" mean? Is it fourteen out of fifteen - 93%? or thirteen out of fifteen - 86%? Or is it an avoidance of admitting that you don't really know your success statistics?
There are some hypnotherapists who claim a 95% success rate in stopping smoking simply because that is what they have been told that the training produces. They may have 100% success but still claim 95% because of this!
The Advertising Standards Authority have said that - for hypnotherapists who stop people smoking - the success rate can only be calculated after a full year of not smoking.
My own statistic for stopping smoking was calculated in July 2005, taking into account the 232 smokers that I had worked with from July2003 - July2004. 196 were still not smoking, which I calculated as 84% of people who had given up smoking for at least a year. However,this does not take into account the fact that I offer free follow up sessions to anyone who starts smoking again - so there may be further successes.
Matthew Hall
