Rapid Transformational Therapy

Marisa Peer and the RTT school

Rapid Transformational Therapy is presented by its originator's school as a method created by the British therapist Marisa Peer. The school's pages say she developed, tested and refined it over three decades of work with clients, and that other therapists kept asking to learn her methods, which led her to turn her practice into a training course. The pages do not give a year in which RTT was first formulated, so no founding date is stated here.

The school's biography says Peer completed an advanced hypnotherapy certification at the Hypnotism Training Institute of Los Angeles and studied hypnosis with Gil Boyne, founder of the American Council of Hypnotist Examiners. It also lists later training at several other schools of hypnotherapy and psychotherapy. These are the school's own statements and were not checked against the named institutions.

What the sources do not establish

The sources reviewed for this page are the school's own pages and independent background literature. No independent history of RTT, such as a scholarly account of its development, was found. The school's statements about awards, the number of graduates and its international reach are marketing claims and are treated here as claims, not as verified history.

The name and the brand

Rapid Transformational Therapy, usually shortened to RTT, is written by the school with registered-trademark symbols, and it is taught as a specific branded course. Practitioners trained elsewhere in hypnotherapy are not described as offering RTT unless they have taken the school's training, according to how the school presents it. The term is therefore a brand name for one school's method, not a general category of therapy.

Hypnosis terms used by professional psychology

The Society of Psychological Hypnosis (Division 30 of the American Psychological Association) defines hypnosis as a state of consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness, characterized by an enhanced capacity for response to suggestion. It defines a hypnotic induction as a procedure designed to induce hypnosis, and hypnotizability as a person's ability to experience suggested alterations in physiology, sensations, emotions, thoughts or behavior during hypnosis. The page lists these as Division 30 definitions created in 2014 and does not define suggestion itself.

These definitions describe hypnosis in general. They do not mention RTT, and they say nothing about whether any branded method uses hypnosis in this sense. The broader topic is covered on the Machipedia page Hypnotherapy, and the clinical use of hypnosis on the page Clinical Hypnosis.

Relation to hypnotherapy, regression and NLP

The school says RTT builds on hypnosis but goes beyond traditional hypnotherapy, and that it does not come from a single methodology but from a layering of techniques. It describes the curriculum as combining cognitive behavioral therapy, hypnotherapy and mindfulness. It presents one step, called The Transformation and developed by Peer, as the element that distinguishes RTT from neuro-linguistic programming, which has its own Machipedia page, Neuro Linguistic Programming. The school's biography also lists NLP, psychotherapy and neuroscience among the fields Peer says she drew on.

The school pages reviewed do not mention regression. Related Machipedia pages on techniques that look for the origins of present difficulties in earlier life include Regression Therapy, Cognitive Hypnotherapy and Hypnotherapy for Inner Child Healing. Whether a given RTT practitioner uses regression-style methods is not documented in the sources reviewed, and this page does not assume it.

How the school describes the method

The school describes RTT as addressing root causes instead of symptoms. Its pages say practitioners use techniques to communicate with the subconscious mind, remove blocks and reprogram the mind. The school also names a technique called command sell therapy for physical health concerns, and The Transformation. The pages give no procedures, session formats or scripts, and none are given here.

Terms such as subconscious mind and reprogramming are the school's own vocabulary. The independent hypnosis definitions reviewed describe focused attention and responsiveness to suggestion and do not use that framework, so these terms should be read as the school's description of its method, not as established mechanisms.

Training route offered by the school

The school presents RTT training as a route into becoming a therapist. Its pages say no prior therapy background is required, that about half of graduates had none, that training can be taken online at the student's own pace, and that more than 10,000 people have graduated worldwide. The training pages reviewed list no modules, duration or fees. These figures are the school's statements and were not independently confirmed.

Uses stated by the school

The school's pages state that RTT can be used for physical health issues, infertility, depression, anxiety, fears and phobias, and weight management. The pages describe the curriculum as evidence-based and refer to neuroplasticity, but they cite no studies, and the outcomes they describe rest on testimonials. These are marketing statements from the training provider, not findings.

School disclaimers

The school's own pages state that individual results can differ and are not assured, that testimonials are for reference only, and that RTT and the website are not a substitute for medical advice. They also advise visitors to consult a doctor and not to delay or stop treatment because of the site. This page does not repeat the school's claims about conditions as if they were established uses.

Searches run and what they found

Searches of PubMed for the exact phrase Rapid Transformational Therapy in titles and abstracts returned no records, and a PubMed search combining RTT, hypnotherapy and the originator's name returned none. A Europe PMC search for the exact phrase returned two records, neither of which concerned RTT. General web searches surfaced the school's materials and promotional or blog pages but no peer-reviewed trial, and trial registries were not searched. On this basis, there are likely no independent controlled trials of RTT as a branded method, although absence from these searches does not prove none exist.

The school's pages present no study of RTT. They refer to neuroplasticity in general terms without citing research, and the research page linked from the school could not be opened for this review.

Evidence for related practices is not transferred

Evidence for hypnosis in particular conditions, for cognitive behavioral therapy or for mindfulness cannot be assumed to apply to a branded combination that has not itself been tested, and this page does not carry such findings over. A 2012 systematic review of neuro-linguistic programming, which the school says RTT differs from, found ten studies, five of them randomized, with high or uncertain risk of bias, and concluded there was little evidence that NLP improves health outcomes. The authors attributed this to the limited quantity and quality of research, not to proof of no effect. That review concerns NLP and says nothing about RTT.

Memory and regression-style work

A 2025 narrative review of hypnosis and memory found the evidence that hypnosis improves recall contradictory, and reported that hypnotic suggestion and guided imagery can inflate confidence in false memories. The authors describe hypnotic regression as heavily criticized, with scarce and mostly anecdotal research, and advise caution with regression and guided imagery, avoiding leading questions, and case-by-case evaluation. The review does not mention RTT, and the school's pages reviewed do not describe regression, so its relevance depends on what an individual practitioner does.

Negative effects of psychotherapy generally

A 2018 meta-analysis of psychotherapy trials for adult depression, covering 18 studies, found that deterioration was less likely with therapy than in control groups, with a median deterioration rate of 4 percent in therapy groups and above 10 percent in some studies. The authors noted that most studies had some risk of bias and that only a small share of relevant trials reported deterioration at all. It concerns established psychotherapies for depression, not RTT, and shows only that worsening of symptoms during therapy is documented and under-reported. See the Machipedia pages Psychotherapy and Life Coaching for how professional counseling and coaching differ.

Care boundaries

The school states that RTT is not a substitute for medical advice and that people should not delay or stop treatment because of its materials. No independent source reviewed gives contraindications specific to RTT. A person with a diagnosed mental health condition, a history of trauma, or distressing memories can discuss any hypnosis-based approach with a physician or licensed mental health professional first, and care for serious conditions should not be replaced by it.

Training, accreditation and registers

The school's pages say graduates earn professional qualifications and certifications but name no accrediting or endorsing body. In the United Kingdom, the Professional Standards Authority oversees voluntary registers of health and care practitioners, and its page for hypnotherapists does not mention RTT or the school. The sources reviewed found no statutory regulation or training standard specific to RTT. Anyone considering a practitioner can ask which professional body, if any, holds that practitioner on a register and check that body's own register directly.