In August 2026, Kuwait’s Ministry of Health issued sweeping new rules that effectively ban unlicensed and unscientific forms of hypnotherapy, alongside a long list of other “alternative” mental‑health practices.
This ban is alongside other healing modalities practised in Kuwait such as reiki, EFT, NLP, psychological/somatic yoga, breathwork, colour therapy, sound healing, pranic healing, crystal healing, spiritual healing, cosmic healing, "star seeds", astral projection and the activation of chakras and the aura or energy field.
Life coaching, self‑development, emotional intelligence training, or “improving quality of life” when these activities are designed to influence a person’s psychological, emotional, or behavioural state, are also banned. This further evidences that this is not to do with some witch-hunt conspiracy, but it just a clampdown on practices that don't have a regulation body in Kuwait.
For those unfamiliar with Kuwait's culture or laws, this can be confusing. Assumptions have been swirling, with Kuwait being a Muslim country, whether this is a witch hunt against holistic practitioners, and all the rest. As someone who spent most of her childhood between London and Kuwait, going there three times a year at some point, I've seen Kuwait's laws change.
The cornerstone of the reform is Ministerial Decision No. 225 of 2026, signed by Health Minister Dr Ahmad Al‑Awadi. It creates a comprehensive regulatory framework for:
-
Who can legally call themselves a psychotherapist, psychological counsellor, or psychological specialist
-
What qualifications, training, and supervised clinical experience they must have
-
How private centres and complexes offering psychological services must be licensed and operated
-
Which therapeutic methods are allowed and which are expressly forbidden
The stated goal is to protect clients from harmful or ineffective treatments and to align Kuwait’s mental‑health sector with internationally recognised, evidence‑based practice.
Who can still practice?
This doesn't mean these practices are completely banned in Kuwait. Under the new rules, only people who meet strict criteria can legally provide psychotherapy or psychological counselling:
-
They must hold specific, recognised academic qualifications in psychology or related fields
-
They must complete defined amounts of supervised clinical training
-
They must obtain a Ministry of Health licence and work in licensed premises
- They must use only approved professional titles (e.g., “Primary Psychotherapist,” “Psychotherapist,” “Psychological Specialist”) and stay within their defined scope of practice
What do I think as a hypnotherapist? That I would need to become a psychotherapist to become a hypnotherapist in Kuwait? Mixed feelings, but what I would say is that I do see their point. I had someone come to me who was scammed for more than £6,000 for a six-week group 'therapy' where the hypnotherapist, who now calls herself a hypnotist, promised to get rid of her traumas, erase her memory of the trauma even happening and put her into a new identity. She told me this, and I felt sick. The sessions were group hypnosis, and each person in the group would have a few minutes to say something.
This is happening as Kuwait's laws get stricter under the current Emir Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. Tens of thousands of citizenships have been revoked in a mass revocation campaign, anti-corruption laws have been installed, and the rule of law is being implemented with an iron fist. Am I really that surprised this is happening in Kuwait? Absolutely not.
This is not a witch hunt, and this is not a backlash against energy therapy. It's just another tightening of laws and regulations as the Kuwaiti government regulates as much as it can.