Ad description
A course prospectus for Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) practitioner training, emailed to consumers who enquired via a link on the www.rtt.com website, was seen in July 2021. The 24-page prospectus provided information about RTT training programmes, including the different courses that were available plus the resources and support that were included as part of the training.
A section starting on the third page, titled “What is Rapid Transformational Therapy®?”, included the claim “RTT® is a hybrid, stand-alone therapy combining many well-regarded approaches of modern psychology, psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, NLP and CBT … RTT® is made up of Marisa’s unique techniques ...”.
A section starting on the sixth page, titled “Studying RTT®”, included the claim “Whichever qualification you are working towards, RTT® enables you to work with individuals and groups, dealing with a broad range of issues and conditions, including anxiety, depression, addictions, and physical health problems”.
The ninth page, titled “RTT® uses safe, proven and powerful techniques”, continued “RTT® utilizes hypnosis, which is used to assist with countless clinical and medical conditions. This is just a partial list of documented areas in which hypnosis has been used successfully: Agoraphobia, Irritable bowel syndrome, Addictions, Insomnia, Allergies … Anxiety and stress, Memory and concentration, Asthma, Migraines, Autoimmune disorders … Bedwetting, PTSD, Blushing, Sexual problems, Depression, Skin conditions … Sporting ability, Fears and phobias, Weight control.” Further text stated “New areas for the successful use of RTT® are continually emerging. Recent examples include assistance in … immune syst coaching [sic] …”.
The eleventh page, titled “Undertaking this type of work is so rewarding and becoming an RTT® Therapist can be truly life-changing”, included the claim “Hypnotherapy and hypnosis are among the fastest-growing professions in the world. Marisa describes RTT® as “beyond hypnosis” – so why wait?”.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the implied claims that RTT as a stand-alone therapy was effective for helping with anxiety, depression, addictions, physical health problems, agoraphobia, IBS, insomnia, allergies, stress, memory and concentration, asthma, migraines, autoimmune disorders, bedwetting, PTSD, blushing, sexual problems, skin conditions, sporting ability, fears and phobias, weight control and immune system coaching, were misleading and could be substantiated.Response
More Than Enough Ltd said Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) was a hybrid of psychology, psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, neuro-linguistic programming and cognitive behavioural therapy, and could therefore be classified as a form of hypnotherapy. They provided a list of accrediting bodies that they said had endorsed RTT.
They said they did not position RTT as a medical intervention for diagnosable mental health disorders, but rather as supporting mental well-being. All students were advised to operate within their scope of practice and never advise clients to stop taking medication or work against the advice of a clients’ medical practitioner.
In their view, RTT had been successfully used for over thirty years, and therefore, evidence from clinical trials was not necessary. They also said the evidence for and benefits of RTT were clear from the feedback they received from those who had undertaken the RTT practitioner training.
They said because of the size and nature of the industry, case reports and testimonials were a more appropriate method than clinical trials for gathering independent evidence and provided data from OpenFIT - an independent data gathering programme used to measure an individuals’ overall well-being following a RTT session - as substantiation. They said that initial results were conclusive in showcasing the statistically significant impact of RTT across numerous issues, the most common being anxiety, confidence/self-esteem and depression.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that consumers would understand the claims “RTT® is a hybrid, stand-alone therapy …”, “… RTT® is made up of Marisa’s unique techniques …” and “… Marisa describes RTT® as ‘beyond hypnosis’” to mean that RTT was different from other therapies, including hypnotherapy, and that it could therefore produce different results to other therapies.
The ad stated “… RTT® enables you to work with individuals and groups, dealing with a broad range of issues and conditions, including anxiety, depression, addictions, and physical health problems” and “RTT® utilizes hypnosis, which is used to assist with countless clinical and medical conditions. This is just a partial list of documented areas in which hypnosis has been used successfully: Agoraphobia, Irritable bowel syndrome, Addictions, Insomnia, Allergies … Anxiety and stress, Memory and concentration, Asthma, Migraines, Autoimmune disorders … Bedwetting, PTSD, Blushing, Sexual problems, Depression, Skin conditions … Sporting ability, Fears and phobias, Weight control”, and “New areas for the successful use of RTT® are continually emerging. Recent examples include assistance in … immune syst coaching [sic] …”. We considered consumers would understand from those claims that by training to become a RTT practitioner they could effectively treat all the conditions listed.
We therefore expected to see evidence that related specifically to the use of RTT, and which substantiated that it was a successful treatment for the listed conditions. Because neither CAP nor the ASA had previously seen evidence that RTT could effectively treat or help with the conditions listed, we considered that a high-level body of relevant evidence was needed to prove the claims.
More Than Enough provided data from OpenFIT to substantiate the claims. However, when we reviewed the OpenFIT data, we considered that the information provided did not meet the standard of evidence we required for the types of claims being made, both in terms of adequacy and relevance.
The data, sourced from OpenFIT, was gathered from 847 closed cases since September 2020. The data assessed the effect of RTT therapy on an individuals’ well-being which was measured through an “Outcome Rating Scale” (ORS). More Than Enough provided the overall results for all individuals who had provided feedback and also sub-categorised data based on common conditions individuals presented with, including anxiety, confidence/self-esteem, and depression/low mood. Overall, 80% of individuals reported a positive change in their ORS. While the data suggested positive results, we noted it had not been published and therefore had not been peer reviewed. Individuals who had provided data had chosen RTT for themselves, which we considered raised issues of self-selection bias. Additionally, this was not a clinical study and therefore it was not randomised and there was no control group. We therefore concluded that More Than Enough had not supplied adequate evidence to substantiate the claims made about the efficacy of RTT in treating anxiety and depression.
More Than Enough had also not provided any evidence to substantiate the claims that RTT was a successful treatment for addictions, physical health problems, agoraphobia, IBS, insomnia, allergies, stress, memory and concentration, asthma, migraines, autoimmune disorders, bedwetting, PTSD, blushing, sexual problems, skin conditions, sporting ability, fears and phobias, weight control and “immune system coaching”. Those claims had therefore also not been substantiated. We therefore concluded that the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation) and 12.1 (Medicines, medical devices, health-related products and beauty products).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained about. We told More Than Enough Ltd to ensure they did not make claims for the efficacy of Rapid Transformational Therapy in treating health conditions unless they were supported with new and robust evidence.
