The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) have jurisdiction over UK website content so will we start to see claims being made that are only backed by strong research findings?

Just a quick discussion point touching on ethics and quantifiable and justifiable claims made by hypnotherapists, or otherwise.

Looking at the content of some local competition,who are members of the IAPH (International Association of Pure Hypnoanalysts) I was rather disturbed to see the following, rather spurious, claim being made:-

"HYPNOANALYSIS IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE THERAPY ON THE PLANET...."

I was not aware of any randomised control or audit of the different approaches and their efficacy across a statistically important trial population size...

In fact recently a former student of mine asked the ASA to pre-approve his web copy to avoid any potential problems and the ASA had problems accepting 27 years of published research by Prof Peter Whorwell MD FRCP (NHS Consultant Gastroenterologist) into IBS and hypnotherapy - and this was for an approach based on his 'Manchester Model' about Gut directed therapy/metaphor, not using a different approach and quoting his research...Anyway despite us sending up 10 papers etc the NICE guidelines etc it was only after they had consulted with an "eminent psychiatrist" that they accepted the clear clinical evidence for the efficacy of Hypnotherapy for IBS!

So the question is...should we, as ethical professionals, who are concerned about how we are perceived by the public, our potential clients, welcome with open arms the application of enforceable standards on our Web based copy??

Or should we be concerned that the ASA is trying to critique published scientific papers on subjects it know potentially nothing about?

Oh, and remember to be kind to yourself, everyday!

Duncan

www.portsmouthhypnotherapy.com

Favorite

0 members favorited this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Duncan Murray on April 6, 2011 at 1:14am

Sorry the quote got lost in cyberspace it was:-

"HYPNOANALYSIS IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE THERAPY ON THE PLANET"

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Henxy on April 6, 2011 at 2:21am

My issue with the ASA on this is that if they have such a problem with research which has been accepted by NICE (which accepts only the best available evidence for an intervention, including a cost/benefit analysis), then they should be approaching NICE about their fitness for purpose, not some random psychiatrist.

The only unit I am aware of that has psyches in charge of the GI functional disorders unit is in London. The rest are gastro based. As a psychiatrist is only able to deal with the 'head' side of IBS, I am surprised that the ASA did not ask PJ for the gastro side of this.

My feeling here is that a little knowledge (and power) are very dangerous things indeed.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Richard Nongard - NLPBoard.com on April 6, 2011 at 4:51am

You accept this level of government intervention in your country? Words have to be pre-approved by the government? I suppose the USA is not far behind you in a lack of individual liberty, but to pre-approve advertising through a low level bureaucrat seems like the nanny state and the surveillance society has already hypnotized everyone in the UK....

Richard

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Henxy on April 6, 2011 at 5:01am

Hi Richard,

It's a new thing whereby they're trying to crack down on illegal/immoral/misleading websites by having advertising standards which are as stringent as those which apply to other forms of advertising. It essentially means that you need to be able to substantiate any claims you make about your product... But someone seems to have got somewhat out of hand here.

We don't have to pre-approve advertising at all; I think Duncan's student just wanted to avoid any problems and costs by being up-front with these people.

And as for the unsubstantiated claim made by a site owner that "HYPNOANALYSIS IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE THERAPY ON THE PLANET", you could find yourself arguing in favour of a system which prevents advertisers from spouting sh1te! ;-)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Duncan Murray on April 6, 2011 at 5:06am

You could be right, Richard, but then again some really rather spurious and outlandish claims are made on websites - which are an advertising and information highway...maybe in that respect a few bought it onto the many....

However for a hypnotist/therapist to claim that "Hypnoanalysis is the Most Effective Therapy on the Planet" is a wholly unsubstantiated (and unjustifiable) claim to be able to make without substantial research to back it up...

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kelley Woods on April 6, 2011 at 5:26am

This is akin to asking your local building inspector out to examine the crawlspace of your home. You can be sure he'll find something he doesn't like!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Duncan Murray on April 6, 2011 at 6:44am

Absolutely Kelly, but Henxy has the basis of the issue to hand - if you publish/advertise something that has no research basis to support it as a treatment (for example) then you have no 'proof' of efficacy and it could well be misleading/sh1te/b0ll0ck5...

If however you have substantial research to support your claims that is peer reviewed/published etc then you shouldn't have a problem...in the situation of my former student - he was trying to avoid potential pitfalls and keep the ASA on his side with an approach that is subject to 27 years of research in the NHS...a not for profit basis...rather than trying to fleece peeps...

UNFORTUNATELY the ASA don't/didn't seem to realise that IBS is not a disease but a functional disorder...I mean to say suggesting you can cure Inflammatory Bowel Disease by hypnotherapy would be misleading...unless you had adequate and repeatable and statistically valid research to back your claims...but to ask a psychiatrist about the GI tract and functional disorders seems somewhat odd to me!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Henxy on April 6, 2011 at 6:45am

What's crawlspace? Sounds exciting!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Richard Nongard - NLPBoard.com on April 6, 2011 at 7:33am

Only if you are with someone cute.... and not if you are a friend of John Wayne Gacy....

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Henxy on July 19, 2011 at 6:36am

Today, I put in a complaint to the ASA about a TV advert for 'The Private Clinic'.Their advert, seemingly for a free leg ultrasound, claimed that 'varicose veins can worsen and lead to serious health problems if left untreated'. This clinic seems to have more of a cosmetic focus than a medical one (despite the 'Harley Street' address). This, to me, is pure scaremongering. In nearly 20 years in the NHS, 10 of which I spent in intensive care, I have never met a single patient who had complications secondary to varicose veins. Whilst it is indeed possible that a rare event such as a 'serious varicose vein complication' may exist, it is so rare as to not warrant a mention in their cosmetic advertising.

How this advert got past the ASA when they're so anti hypno for its alleged lack of evidence base, I shall never know. I shall keep you appraised of the outcome of my complaint though!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Duncan Murray on July 19, 2011 at 6:54am

Sock it to them Henxy - I have heard the News International Corp want some stories to help them clear up/bury their tarnished image...perhaps one of their hacks would like to look at cosmetic health advertising...or maybe they'll just 'lip-gloss' over it...

But seriously talk about inconsistent standards by the ASA...