The British Society of Clinical Hypnosis (BSCH) is an organization composed of professional hypnotherapists

Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy is a therapy that is undertaken with a subject in hypnosis.The word "hypnosis" is an abbreviation of James Braid's term "neuro-hypnotism", meaning "sleep of the nervous system"....

.

The main objective the BSCH is to establish standards of training and ethical practice regarding the use of hypnosis

Hypnosis

Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...

 and hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy is a therapy that is undertaken with a subject in hypnosis.The word "hypnosis" is an abbreviation of James Braid's term "neuro-hypnotism", meaning "sleep of the nervous system"....

; within the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

there are (2010) currently no statutory regulations regarding hypnosis. The society was created in the early 1980s and was originally called the Association of Clinical Hypnotherapists. This name was subsequently changed to the British Society of Clinical Hypnotherapists, until finally becoming the British Society of Clinical Hypnosis in 1996. It is a non-profit organisation. Though predominately a UK-based organisation, the society has members in several Commonwealth countries,particularly Malaysia and Singapore, but also members in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa as well as other EU countries including the Republic of Ireland, Portugal, France, Germany and Italy.