“Why the initial consultation so important”? What factors will an ethical therapist cover at this time?
In this essay I will be discussing what the ethical obligations are of therapists and why the initial consultation is so important and what information is gain from that first meeting.
Hypnotherapy a practical handbook page 59 talks about the initial consultation as an assessment interview to seek to satisfy ourselves that the problem the patient presents is within our professional competence, the next point is to clarify what manner or type of hypnotherapy is appropriate, this is indicated by the nature and origin of the disorder, the personality of the patient, his personal resources, emotional strength and resilience, and his personal and social framework.
In other words it is determined by the client as a whole, there personality, there belief systems. The initial consultation determines if there will be a rapour between client and therapist and determines if treatment will be successful
This is the time where therapist and client decide it they can work with each other, if personalities will match in order for successful treatment to take place. The therapist is able to assess the client’s suitability for our expertise. At this time a clients preferred modalities should become evident and the type of induction evident. A free consultation may be offered initially to allow for the information gaining process of the client to begin.
When getting to know each client it is important to remember that each client has their own belief systems, from birth our subconscious mind is already working, it has survival instincts etched into it, when our conscious mind starts to develop later, pathways of experiences are made in our brains which continue to expand the more experiences we have which create our belief systems. We experience something and it is stored. For example if you were told when you were younger that you were stupid, ugly, that stays with us and become a belief and if anyone challenges this and says the opposite we are likely to believe our “default settings” that told us we were stupid and ugly in the first place.

The CCF or conscious critical faculty enables us to compare a new situation with the belief systems we have been made and etched into us. All of us are effected by external beliefs which are related to the environment we were brought up in our external experiences, and internal beliefs which are associated with our personality and our belief in ourselves, this part of the belief system is based on other people’s reactions, interactions, beliefs in us which are all affected by their own belief systems. These help to build our self-esteem or lower it. When we go into the world we are armed with beliefs about ourselves and others, which has a major impact on the way we treat others and the way we are treated. If our belief system tells us we are great at socialising for instance we will go out and socialise with confidence which in turn will make other people believe we are good at that. If however we are told we are no good at something, we believe it and everything about the way we behave will portray to others that we are not capable, which in turn makes other react in a way that backs up that negative belief in ourselves. Basically we will come across as being exactly what we have been told we are, reaffirming our belief system.
It is very important then in the initial consultation to keep these belief systems in mind, by talking to the client it is possible to find out there belief systems and work to make the changes needed, CCF can be suspended while under hypnosis which is great for altering these beliefs.
We need to remember that how we present ourselves can also affect how the client interact with us, the way we look, dress, the use of language, the way the consulting room is presented, smells, lighting, all will either trigger something negative for the client, or will instil