CODE OF ETHICS OF NEW ZEALAND SOCIETY OF HYPNOSIS.
The New Zealand Society of Hypnosis (NZSH) is dedicated to the scientific investigation and clinical utilization of hypnosis at the highest professional level. Ethical guidelines to which a member must subscribe are stated to allow for the multidisciplinary nature of the membership. There is implied a personal commitment to behave according to high standards of personal and professional conduct.
SECTION A: ETHICAL GUIDELINES
Guideline 1: A member of NZSH shall always place first the welfare of the patient or the experimental subject when using hypnosis or hypnotic techniques in clinical practice or in experimentation.
(a) The standards of professional relationships which guide the professional worker, within the appropriate professional or scientific field, shall prevail in his or her use of all hypnotic techniques.
(b) Proper safeguards shall be maintained whenever a patient or subject is exposed to unusual stress or other form of risk. Informed consent must always be obtained from any patient, client or subject.
Guideline 2: Hypnosis is considered an adjuvant to other forms of scientific or clinical endeavours, so that competence in hypnotic techniques alone is not acceptable as a basis for professional service or research.
(a) In view of the dependence of hypnotic practice upon other qualifications, the membership requirements of NZSH require proper standing in the recognized national organizations, whether clinical or scientific, appropriate to the field of competence not represented by hypnosis.
(b)Item 2a requires acceptance of the ethical and scientific standards of a responsible professional organization. It does not imply endorsement by NZSH of the particular policies or practices of any particular organization.
Guideline 3: Each member of NZSH shall limit the clinical and scientific use of hypnosis to the area of competence as defined by the professional standards of his or her field.
Guideline 4: Hypnosis should not be used as a form of entertainment.
(a) No member of NZSH shall offer services for the purposes of public entertainment or collaborate with any person or agency engaged in public entertainment.
Guideline 5: A member of NZSH shall not support the practice of hypnosis by lay persons.
(a) A lay person is defined here as one who is not a member in good standing of a therapeutic or scientific profession; that is, he or she is not a physician, dentist, psychologist, or member of another recognized therapeutic or scientific profession with credentials in addition to competence as a hypnotic practitioner.
(b)A member of NZSH shall not give courses involving the teaching of hypnotic techniques to lay individuals who lack training in a relevant science or profession. Lectures informing lay individuals about hypnosis are of course admissible providing they do not include demonstrations or didactic material involving inducting of hypnosis.
(c) Exceptions are made to students in training in the appropriate sciences or professions. While NZSH explicitly recognizes that hypnosis is not an independent science or art, the technique may appropriately be utilized by paramedical assistants under the immediate and direct supervision of an individual whose credentials and training would permit membership in NZSH and who has an agreed commitment to this Code of Ethics. Special arrangements can be made for the training of such paramedical personnel provided that arrangements have been made for such individuals to work directly under the supervision of an NZSH member or the equivalently trained professional as outlined.
(d) Consultations with lay representatives of the press or other media of communication are permitted to minimize distortions or misrepresentations of hypnosis. Talks with lay representatives of the press and radio or TV appearances are welcomed so long as these benefit the Society from wise and informed views on issues in hypnosis.
Guideline 6: It is recognized that an ethical code cannot by its very nature specify all of the practices that are considered ethical and mention all of those considered unethical. Hence behavior in accordance with the ethical norms of the community in which the professional worker or scientist lives are taken for granted, and violation of these norms (e.g., through illegal behavior, or discordant behavior that brings disrepute upon others who practice hypnosis), may be the occasion for adverse action by the NZSH, even though not specified in this code.