TRUTH: RTT Hypnotherapy is life-changing.
As a personal development expert, I am constantly exploring and studying a wide range of innovative modalities.
The first time I heard the term “Rapid Transformational Therapy” or “RTT,” I was immediately intrigued. Even though I had been doing hypnotherapy for 12 years, after reading about and experiencing RTT first hand, I realized it was the best hypnosis process out there.
I witnessed first hand how debilitating emotional issues like trauma, anxiety, stress, depression, and relationship issues can be, and how long people struggled with them before reaching out for help. Even once they found help, many of them weren’t seeing the results they needed. Even today, about 75% of my clients had either already tried traditional talk therapy or were in therapy when they reached out to me. Although I believe in therapy, it is not the solution for everyone, every time.
The possibility of a fresh, innovative, and highly effective tool that I could utilize to help my clients overcome their emotional issues even faster was nothing short of exciting. After some research, I saw the immense potential of RTT and decided to train to become a certified RTT Therapist as soon as possible.
In 2016, I flew to London to study at the Imperial College under Marisa Peer, the founder of RTT. After completing an intensive program there, I continued for an additional year of comprehensive lecture and practicum. I studied amongst doctors, scientists, and therapists and to this day, am extremely proud of this accomplishment.
Since then, I have personally witnessed just how amazing of a tool RTT is and just how effective it is at helping people unlock their full potential.
In these past seven years, I have also heard many myths and misconceptions about RTT that have unfortunately turned people away from beginning RTT + Coaching and making meaningful, long-lasting change in their lives. It saddens me to know that so many people continue to struggle every day because they have been misinformed or misled about the options available to them, including RTT.
Today, I am going to cover the most common myths and misconceptions I hear about Rapid Transformational Therapy and explain why they are not only false, but sometimes just plain ridiculous.
Here are the 7 most common RTT myths and misconceptions:
1. RTT is just a “fad” or a “quick fix”
RTT has gained a lot of popularity in the past few years and for good reason. However, with a flood of people who are gaining RTT certification through Marisa Peer’s online course, it can be overwhelming to choose the right RTT therapist for you and the saturated market sometimes even turns people away from RTT.
In 2016, I was in the third group that was trained and at the time, the application process was rigorous. Everyone admitted into the program was in the “helping arts”, such as dentists, therapists, nurses, psychologists, social workers, and doctors. At the time, Marisa was still a practicing therapist herself. Since Marisa transitioned away from her therapy practice, her business model has changed. Today, anyone can apply and be trained as an RTT therapist. While this is a great thing because it will allow more people to experience the power of RTT, and although I am sure many (if not all) of the trainees' hearts are in the right place, many do not have any background and experience with clients.
This is why it’s important to speak with multiple RTT therapists and coaches to figure out who is the best fit for you and your goals. It’s also important to consider that while RTT is a powerful tool, additional techniques and solutions based in Brain Science and Emotional Intelligence are typically required to achieve long-term, sustainable change. RTT is an important part of this process, but it should not be the entirety of the process.
In addition, despite the fact that RTT is rapid, I assure you RTT is not some “quick fix”.
RTT is rapid because it allows a person to unlock thoughts, beliefs, expectations, and interpretations of past experiences that may have been “buried” in their subconscious mind so they can get to the root cause of their issues quickly. The ability to access this information is truly transforming the way therapists and coaches work with their clients.
A person can go months, years, and even their entire life being completely unaware of how one specific event, that may not have felt substantial at the time, actually made a deep impact on them and now influences their current thoughts, beliefs, expectations, and interpretations of past experiences, and therefore their life.
Similarly, a person may be aware that certain events affected them and continue to affect them today, but may not have clarity on which repetitive thoughts and beliefs were formed from which event or which subconscious thoughts and beliefs are causing them to feel and behave the way they do.
In some cases, the body will actually “hide” the memories of traumatic events in the subconscious mind as a way to protect or defend itself from the pain and trauma that event holds. Although this might “protect” the individual for a short while, eventually those memories can cause debilitating emotional issues like anxiety, depression, PTSD, severely low self-esteem, and unhealthy relationship issues.
So, the influx of popularity and saturation of the market that may make Rapid Transformational Therapy appear as a fad, is actually rooted in a scientific understanding of how innovative of a tool it really is and just how powerful it can be, especially when used in combination with Brain Science and Emotional Intelligence-based Coaching.
2. RTT Hypnotherapy is dangerous
One misconception is that once you become hypnotized, there is a possibility that you will never come out of hypnosis. This misconception comes from a major lack of understanding of hypnosis and how it works.
Hypnosis does not hit the “power off button” on your mind and leave you idle until someone turns you back on. In fact, hypnosis actually happens when your mind achieves a heightened state of awareness and relaxation. Hypnosis does however temporarily turn off your sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the fight or flight response, and this is a key factor in what allows your body and mind to fully relax and enter hypnosis.
If I were to hypnotize you and then leave the room for a few minutes, make some noise in the other room, and return to you, you would have likely already come out of hypnosis on your own by the time I came back.
If you are wondering how I help my clients ease out of the hypnotic state after the RTT session is over, I simply drop in the suggestion that I will count from one to five, click my fingers, and you will open your eyes feeling very awake, refreshed, and relaxed, but most of all feeling confident… It’s really that simple.
3. RTT Hypnotherapy can change your personality
This myth almost made me laugh out loud when I first heard it.
RTT or any hypnotherapy cannot and will not change your personality… It simply unlocks the potential you have always had within. If a person who struggles with social anxiety starts RTT + Coaching to help them overcome it, and after weeks or months their anxiety dissolves and they now talk freely, this is not because their personality changed… The RTT unlocked their true personality within and dissolved the anxiety that kept it hidden away in the first place.
4. Not everyone can be hypnotized
While everyone’s circumstances are unique to them, in my own 20 years of experience I haven’t had a client who couldn’t be hypnotized. Some people struggle with relaxing fully and find it more difficult to enter hypnosis, and when this happens we work together to help them feel more safe and comfortable.
For example, I had a client, Bill, who came to me for RTT + Coaching to overcome his struggle with alcohol abuse. During the first hypnosis session, he had extreme ADD… He kept opening his eyes, was fidgeting in his chair and did not appear relaxed. During the session I was thinking, “This might not be working for him,” but eventually he was able to relax more deeply and at the end of the session he said, “That was amazing.” The following week, he came in and announced that he had not had a drink the entire week. Hypnotherapy may work differently for everyone, but with the right RTT therapist for you, it does provide tangible results.
It is important to note that epileptics are generally advised not to enter hypnosis as well as anyone diagnosed as having a psychotic illness.
5. You can cure anyone of anything in 1-2 sessions
Rapid Transformational Therapy will not immediately “cure” you of anything in just a couple sessions, especially when used as a standalone treatment.
RTT, when used in combination with Brain-Science and Emotional Intelligence-based coaching, has an extremely high success rate. First, if a client and I were to dive straight into RTT without beginning coaching first and discussing their past and how they are now struggling, I would not have the information needed to know how to guide the RTT session . When I begin using RTT as a tool, typically in the third or fourth session, the client and I already have a strong relationship based on trust and I know enough about them to understand exactly which questions to ask to make the RTT session most effective.
In addition, although RTT allows the client and me to discover the root cause of the emotional issues they are experiencing, we cannot reframe their thoughts and beliefs to help them move forward with just RTT alone. The other tools I use, that are trademarked and proven to deliver results, will help the client rewrite the stories they tell themselves every day so they can overcome the issues they are struggling with and move forward once our coaching engagement comes to a close.
Even when combined with Coaching, RTT is not going to cure anyone in 1-2 sessions. After many years of experience, I have found that eight, 90-minute to 2-hour RTT + Coaching sessions are optimal for the majority of clients. Fewer sessions often fall short and most find that by eight sessions, they have overcome the issues, met their goals, and are experiencing a lot more success and happiness in their lives.
Clients will experience noticeable changes after 1-2 sessions, but additional RTT + Coaching sessions are required to anchor and solidify those changes so that they are sustainable. In addition, if you are not ready or willing to change, RTT is not going to magically help you. You must be willing to do the work required and be motivated to change to see meaningful results.
6. Hypnotherapy is mind control
One of the biggest concerns people have about RTT is that the RTT therapist will have total control over their mind and body and will be able to make them do or say anything.
This myth likely stems from the “show business” version of hypnosis where they pull someone on stage, hypnotize them, and make them dance like a chicken in front of the crowd. We have probably all seen some version of this in shows or movies, and as ridiculous as it is when you really think about it, many people believe that is an accurate representation of what hypnosis is.
First, if you’ve ever been to a live show and seen this happen, know that that’s all it is- a show. It’s as simple as having an actor in the crowd who volunteers and gets picked “anonymously.”
In reality, hypnosis is NOT a form of mind control and even when a client is in a deep hypnosis, I cannot make them say or do anything that they don’t want to. Like I said, hypnosis creates a heightened awareness of the mind.
7. RTT doesn’t create long-term change
In my experience, RTT as a standalone treatment is not the most effective way to overcome emotional issues like anxiety, depression, trauma, low confidence, and relationship issues.
However, combining it with Brain Science-based coaching and working with an RTT Therapist with real world experience matters.
As a coach, I do not want my clients to be in coaching forever. Once we dive into the root cause of the emotional issues they are struggling with, we work together to overcome these issues with a handful of proven tools and strategies that are designed to be used when the need arises. Once they have completed the program, they continue their lives with a newfound and heightened awareness and understanding of themselves, and knowledge of how to continue to be successful for years to come.
RTT alone will not provide those long-term results, but when used as a tool in combination with coaching, the possibilities are endless.
