The findings of our research programme will be presented to the “examiner” as a collective overview; this will ensure anonymity for all those involved. Then we will send a report to the journals which have an interest in talking therapies. I would like to think of this as an on-going research programme, in which the aim is to increase the mean outcome year upon year. The profession will benefit greatly if the results prove talking therapies to be effective, however, the profession will also benefit greatly if the results prove them ineffective because we can remove what is ineffective and work to replace the practices with more effective and up-to-date techniques. Hypnotherapy will also benefit from measuring their outcomes, as they will have evidence of their work, it will keep the therapist on their toes and it can also act as a supervision tool if problems arise with a patient through therapy. It is important to recall the decades of research that suggests an average treated patient is better off than 80% of the untreated sample in most studies (Wampold 2001).
The introduction of this programme would be helpful to hypnotherapists and customers, if we could predict the outcomes by using correlations and using residuals to see if each result is above or below the predicted value for each symptom.
If results of the research projects are unable to prove the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of therapy, it will still be a step forward because it is my belief that if every hypnotherapist measures their outcomes they will see an increase in their skill level or seek to increase their skill level and then only good can come from the exercise. Most importantly the general public will benefit from the project, either by an increased skill level or the comfort of knowing that the therapist has a proven track record and most importantly takes pride in their outcomes. As a result of the project the quality of the product offered to the patients should improve.
This programme has the ability to change the face of hypnotherapy; by measuring and attempting to predict the outcome of therapy we enter a new phase not just for our generation but for many to come.
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