Financial Times
18-04-2025
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A Financial Times report explores the emerging use of clinical hypnotherapy to address financial disorders, including compulsive gambling and overspending

The story centers on “Sunny”, a former gambling addict in London, who turned to hypnosis as a last resort after trying other treatments. He recalls:
“I came out and it left me [with] a feeling of ‘I don’t even know what it’s like to gamble’.”

Hypnotherapists featured in the article help clients reshape subconscious drivers of harmful behaviors through techniques like visualization and conversational hypnosis. The narrative acknowledges that skepticism remains due to hypnosis’s public portrayal and lack of standard regulation

A 2014 clinical trial is cited, showing hypnosis to be at least as effective as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in treating gambling addiction, with over 50% of participants remaining relapse-free at six months

Medical experts, including King’s College neuroscientist Devin Terhune, emphasize the growing legitimacy of hypnosis in therapeutic contexts:
“a small, but growing, army of respected doctors … argue that hypnosis has been unfairly dismissed in the medical field.”

The report notes that in countries like France and the Netherlands, hypnosis is already used in hospitals to relieve pain—a sign of increasing clinical acceptance.