Our blog was recently mentioned on 23NLPeople.com, and it was said that many people, especially on the hypnosis forum "www.hypnothoughts.com" did not support our work, providing threats of litigation and so forth. Very simply, these individuals feel threatened. They feel threatened because they, or their friends, falsely claim to have earned a doctorate or master's degree. Some are showboating (aka brown-nosing) to win the admiration of some well-known hypnotists and/or business partners who are doing the scamming. The argument that "so and so is highly respected" doesn't explain or give anybody the right to enhance their credibility by citing false academic credentials. If they are indeed THAT good, they wouldn't need to.
Actually, we have received scores of emails from people who want to high-five us. There is a silent majority who agree with our mission and who are observing the actions and rants of those who are guilty, and also observing those who are nay-saying us. To you, we raise our glasses and toast you.
A question remains -are these individuals simply misinformed and mere victims of these diploma mills? Or are these people maliciously trying to dupe potential customers and students. In other words, are these people truly idiots who think they can earn a degree by not properly attending school or are they pure-bread scam artists? Our answer is, "does it matter?" No it does not. If you are one of these people, we urge you to STOP USING YOUR FAKE CREDENTIALS no matter how real you think they are. Otherwise we will continue to expose you. Don't think you're immune if you're hiding in Micronesia. We are receiving tips from well-meaning individuals daily. You will eventually appear on this site.
While it appears that we are focusing on the hypnosis profession, this wasn't intentionally the case when we first created this forum. It was our intention to call out those in any profession who falsely claim credentials that they haven't properly and rightfully earned. However, it seems as though the hypnosis profession is rampant with such individuals. As such, when one knows how to identify these perpetrators, it quite simple to know who they are.
There something to be said about these so-called ethical organizations such as the National Guild of Hypnotists and the International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association/International Association of Counselors and Therapists hybrid (the NGH is supposedly non-profit [at least according to the IRS] where Dwight Damon has been the president for decades (who actually elected him president, nobody will ever know as no dues-paying member can recall an actual election). On another note, has anybody actually witnessed Dwight Damon hypnotize ANYBODY?) and the IMDHA and IACT are private businesses both owned by Robert Otto). There are several other hypnosis "organizations" but these are two/three of the largest.
These organizations have Codes of Ethics which many hypnotists proudly boast that they adhere to, giving their clientele some sort of confidence. However, it is clear that none of these organizations actually care about or enforce these codes and many involved in these organization's hierarchies are guilty of using fictitious degrees. They are merely lip-service. If these Codes of Ethics meant anything, the fraudulent use of fictitious degrees would cease to exist. However, the last thing any of these organizations want to do is eliminate a source of dues. Let's examine the Codes of Ethics of these organizations:
Members seek to promote integrity in the teaching and practice of hypnosis. In these activities members are honest, fair and respectable of others. To the extent feasible, members attempt to clarify for relevant parties the roles they are performing and to the function appropriately in accordance with those roles. Members rely on scientific or professionally derived knowledge when making professional judgments or when engaging in professional endeavors.
Section A4 reads, "4. The member neither claims nor implies professional qualifications exceeding those possessed by them and is responsible for correcting any misrepresentations of these qualifications by others."
As one can see, ethics, integrity, and the whole shabang are clearly outlined in these organization's Codes of Ethics. YET....the preponderance of fake academic credentials is overwhelming. These organizations are also, supposedly, preparing for the day when hypnosis is regulated be mandating CEUs and the such. Unfortunately, they aren't preparing well enough because, as long as there are individuals who are committing fraud by boasting fake academic credentials, nobody will ever respect the profession as a whole.
Taken from http://www.23nlpeople.com/blog/2012/11/fake-qualifications-phds-and-hypnotherapy.htm
On my Brass Bollocks training where I open the doors to the business end of my work and show exactly how and what I did and do now to run a successful business I repeatedly expound a simple principle:
"Humility will save you from humiliation."
It shouldn't be a difficult concept but in the world of personal development where everyone is chasing a high status in the industry, it is a very rare thing indeed.
I believe that I can accurately predict how quick a new practitioner will fail and return to their day job. The quickest failure will follow a single use of a single word. "Us"
On the practitioner's contact page they write, "Contact Us" instead of "Contact Me" - this is true as a predictor of failure where there is a solo practitioner, rather than a group or two practitioners on the site.
Why do they write "Contact Us"? Well, because he or she is trying to appear more than they actually are.
Their very first point of contact with their customer is built on a simple little deception, a lie. Not exactly the best start, don't you think?
And the reason their business will fail? Because they are deceiving themselves as to the true nature of their business and they will continue to build on this lie as they ever inflate their ego and bolster a false identity.
A fairly common extension of this lie is the use of false and fake qualifications and certifications. The fake PHD is just one example.
Another tragically common example is the endless creation of self serving "Regulation Boards" "Associations", "Societies", Institutes" and so forth all in an attempt to affording status and prestige, when in fact they are just merely a brief invention to "endorse" their own practice and courses.
What this does is contaminate the marketplace so much that the public no longer know what is a genuine society (i.e. it actually has members, a charter, etc) and what is just a webpage on the 'net purporting to be such. Actually, I think so many hypnotherapists are utterly ignorant and in their quest for status don't ever bother checking these things out themselves. They just send off a cheque, receive a certificate and that is that - they are a member, have a logo and so on, and so they perpetuate the lie and the falsehood.
I managed to terminate the totally fake and illegal "British Board of NLP" operation 2 years ago by threatening to bring a criminal action against its "chairman" unless he removed all traces of the website and notified his "members" of such. Yet, if you google it today, you will still find people claiming to be members of "The British Board of NLP", displaying a logo and claiming status as a result. It worries me when supposed experts in mental health display such crass stupidity. And I do think this is stupidity rather than a deliberate fraud.
And here's the funny thing - they display these logos, memberships and false qualifications so that we...err...trust them.
It's worth mentioning here that a few years ago the original "chairman" of the "British Board of NLP" sent me a legal letter threatening me with litigation for libel unless I immediately ceased my public statements about their shenanigans. I couldn't help but wonder how interesting it would be to see them actually try to prove in court that the 'British Board of NLP' actually existed. It didn't and never did, so it was impossible for me to libel it. I never heard anything further from them until "it" (actually, this was just the domain name for the website and company name, which wasn't actually "The British Board of NLP") changed hands and the nonsense started up all over again.
I've recently challenged people about the use of fake PHDs on a hypnosis forum and interestingly received a collective outrage from forum members suggesting that to do so was somehow unsporting and that I was. Needless to say the usual threats of litigation followed and expressions of outrage followed.
You can read the reactions here: http://www.hypnothoughts.com/forum/topics/doctor-or-phd-in-hypnotherapy-how-valid
A recent anonymous blog (http://fakedoctorate.blogspot.co.uk) has taken to "outing" the hypnotherapists who claim to have PhDs when they allegedly don't have any such thing. Whilst I cannot claim to know the validity of the claims that are made on this blog, I thoroughly applaud the sentiment.
The hypnotherapy community appear outraged because apparently such a blog is unprofessional and brings the profession into disrepute. Well, I have news for them - so is lying about one's qualification in order to con clients out of their money.
My inbox is starting to receive emails from outraged individuals who think I am the one posting the Fake PhD blog and telling me to cease and desist. I'm not anything to do with the blog of course, I first saw this blog when a link to it was posted on the Hypnothoughts forum.
Here's the link to the BBC program about such nonsense that was aired in 2009 to which I was a main contributor behind the scenes and make a fleeting appearance. https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=176394112754
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