How far will people go to separate you from your money?

I went searching on Google to see what the algorithm offered up as an answer to my query about the Hoffman Process--I was actually curious to know if anyone reads what I’m writing--and discovered some statements or claims about this Process that really stretch the facts. They are also a study in how to structure ordinary language to make a lie sound plausible.

“It is the only program of its kind offering evidence-based transformational work proven to deliver lasting results.” (hoffmaninstitute.org)

First let’s examine the phrase: “evidence-based transformational work proven….”

If perchance I were an ordinary Jane or Joe with some personal troubles and an extra 5,000 USD in my pocket, and I was looking for some personal relief for my suffering, and if I came across a program that claimed to be “evidence-based,” I might be interested or at least my curiosity would be peaked. I might assume that a team of mental health professionals, after careful examination of mental disorders ranging from simple neuroses to more acute mental disturbance, formulated and tested several protocols to treat these disorders, and over time evaluated their results. The sequence is important--facts or behaviors were observed, studied, and recorded; the evidence of their harm to a person’s well-being preceded the formulation of a course of treatment based on past psychological treatment; and last, the statistical results were examined. That is how science usually works.

Instead of careful observation by trained mental health professionals, in the case of the Hoffman Process, a psychic tailor was awakened in the middle of the night by the discontented ghost of his recently deceased psychiatrist revealing a way to treat the Negative Love Syndrome from “the other side.” After several people reported some relief and perhaps even personal insight following Hoffman’s process of psychic therapy, a carefully formulated study proved that these people were “transformed.”

Now let’s examine the phrase “deliver lasting results.” The baseline for measuring the improvement is self-reporting; it is entirely subjective or measured against general baseline surveys. Feeling good or being high is not evidence of anything other than feeling good or being high. If that is what you want for your 5000 USD, go for it. But the promises are just marketing, period. The Negative Love Syndrome is not an professionally accepted psychological disorder that has been studied and evaluated. It is not science.

I described my experience in the creation and testing of two surveys of participant’s results in my post, “Science vs. Spooks.”

If you still don’t see this as just marketing copy, read the preposterous claim that heads the sentence: “It is the only program of its kind…” Caveat emptor! Please do not subject yourself to any psychological manipulation by an untrained and unlicensed purveyor of transformation.

I have talked about my own experience with Hoffman at some length. Be forewarned, it includes a description of emotional and sexual abuse: The Dirty Secrets about the beginning of the Hoffman Process.