Cat registered as hypnotherapist

There is a report just out illustrating the extremely lax nature of the regulatory bodies representing alternative therapies.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8303126.stm

Even if their treatments are not evidence-based, it would at least be reassuring to know the regulatory bodies of alternative practitioners strongly vetted their members to make sure they were at least trained in their discipline and that they work to ethical standards etc.

One would hope that a list of accredited hypnotherapists wouldn't have animals listed as qualified practitioners, for example.

Not so! George, a pet cat, managed to get registered as an accredited hypnotherapy practitioner with: the British Board of Neuro Linguistic Programming (BBNLP), the United Fellowship of Hypnotherapists (UFH) and the Professional Hypnotherapy Practitioner Association (PHPA).

Although this is a superficially amusing story, it does give rise to real concerns about consumer trust and protection when quite literally anyone (or anything!) can register as an 'accredited' hypnotherapist.