In the USA are psychologists forced to use CBT or can they use anything?

Question

If they have a strict scope of practice then what happens if they started using hypnosis or another technique like NLP ?

Answer 1

Psychologists in the US aren't limited to CBT or any other particular practice.  However, many insurance companies or public aid will require that health-care professionals utilize approaches that can be "measured"; these are referred to as evidence-based practices and CBT falls into this category.  Therefore it may seem that CBT has to be used, but it's just seen more often in hospital settings or agencies that serve those who are on public aid.  Often times psychologists in private practice have more freedom to utilize approaches other than CBT.