A Place of Non-Judgment

(This blog was originally posted on September 29, 2014)

         What is the key to a successful hypnotherapist and hypnotherapy session? It is giving the client a place of non-judgment in which to work on his or her self-improvement issues.

In a pivotal scene of Shonda Rhimes’s series, How to Get Away With Murder, law instructor Professor Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) explains how she can tell whether her client is innocent: “I don’t care.” I admit that example is extreme: I help people achieve their vocational and avocational self-improvement goals, not represent them in a capital crime. Having said that, I must and do approach each client from a similar position of non-judgment (unconditional positive regard) as Professor Keating to help my clients feel comfortable, relaxed and open to do the intensive inner work that hypnotherapy often entails.

         Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D., believed that it is not a hypnotherapist’s role or responsibility to make moral value judgments about a client’s situation or circumstances. Rather, it is up to the therapist to “buy the symptoms” of and provide information about the client’s presenting behavior.  According to Dr. Kappas, the hypnotherapist’s only role is to repair the problem that the client has brought. The only exception is if the client is a victim of or threatens violence against himself or herself or another person. In that case, the therapist is obliged to warn or intervene on another person’s behalf, or call authorities if necessary, he said. (I also follow this policy, which I explain to my clients when we start working together.)

     There is no right or wrong when it comes to the client’s life and world view. When the hypnotherapist takes this approach, it facilitates helping the person through the bad times and guides the person to happier times, he advised. “The moment you make a judgment call, you lose the client.”₁

1.        1. Intimate Conversations With Dr. John Kappas. 1989. Video series, Lesson 1

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

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