Dr. Mann:

It's a very disturbing repeated pattern of behavior.

If anyone sees a response by Mr Hassan, please post a link to it.

For those not privy to what has been going on behind the scenes, much of this is new information.


Obviously, the link below is a part of this discussion, that came from a Google search on the issue.


Posts tagged ‘Steven Hassan’
[phtherapies.wordpress.com]


Steven Hassan: Critical Material Deleted from his Wikipedia Biography Page
February 9, 2012
[phtherapies.wordpress.com]

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zeuszor
To whom it may concern:

I sent the link to this thread to Steve himself, and he asked me to state that I have been participating in this thread without his direction/permission (but instead on my own time and of my own volition). If anyone legitimately is interested in finding out Steve's responses to Ross, Mann and Pignotti, they are welcome to email him at his publicly-posted email address.

As well, I have never been hired to write a research report that any client paid $125 an hour for.

Furthermore: Steve has consulted extensively with the Rev. Bob Pardon, the individual who introduced me to Steve and Steve has only shown proper boundaries and respect-never wishing to take advantage of me. I hardly feel exploited by anybody.

Steve has held himself back from responding to the attacks and absurd accusations as he has been advised by more than a few prominent people in the filed to ignore these three and not engage them. That it is a huge waste of valuable time. Steve further asked me to say that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Thanks, Zeuszor, for providing evidence to support one of Cathleen Mann's allegations that rather than respond directly to people, Mr. Hassan does this through others, this time you, an anonymous follower.

You say Steve has not responded. Yes he has. He has done it through you and this is typical from what I have witnessed from him over the years. Rather than respond to the substance of the criticism, he responds by vague arguments from authority "more than a few prominent people in the field" and "responding" to others privately (in other words, going behind people's backs). That way we do not have the chance to refute whatever Steve Hassan might choose to tell people about us behind our backs. That is playing dirty, but this is typical of Steve Hassan's behavior, in my experience. Of course Steve cannot openly state what he is telling people behind our backs because then we would have the opportunity to refute him and that would be playing fair. Instead he responds with cliches that imply threats against his critics.

It is also highly ironic that Steve Hassan warns the families he counsels about the dangers of triangulation (a family therapy term that means communicating via a third person rather than communicating directly to that person) and here he is engaging in it himself. And don't even bother to deny that this is what you're doing, Zeuszor. Some of us, who have known Steve for decades find that this was entirely predictable and really, given that we have known him quite well personally, we have taken the high road by refraining from any kind of personal attacks that are not relevant to the issue at hand. Everything Cathleen wrote in that review was relevant to his behavior as a professional, and hence relevant to a discussion of his work.

Now trot on back to your guru and show him this.

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zeuszor
No, I am not comparing Steve Hassan to Sigmund Freud. I am merely pointing out the fact that Freud did not see himself as a scientist.

Steve Hassan is not a plagiarist. Goodbye.

Steve Hassan failed to provide citations for ideas and techniques that originated from others. If a student writing a paper for a class or a professional writing for a journal submitted a paper that failed to properly cite such material, that person would be in major trouble, whether intentional or not. You and Mr. Hassan should look at some of the guidelines and definitions of plagiarism that are issued by universities. It is possible that you and he are unaware of the definition of plagiarism and what the various forms of it are, but ignorance is no excuse. Here is a good resource:

[owl.english.purdue.edu]

The section on paraphrasing the ideas of others seems to be particularly relevant here:

[owl.english.purdue.edu]

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zeuszor
In all honesty, I have not read Steve's new book yet, and so I cannot comment on it. Though I did help to compile the bibliography, which was never published as it was over thirty pages long. Thank you.

Unless the references in the bibliography were linked to specific statements he made in the book, it is worthless. It does not matter how many pages it is. Proper citation means linking specific statements to specific references. Failure to do so is considered a form of plagiarism. A bibliography is not a substitute for a properly cited list of references. There is no way to tell from a bibliography what specifically in Hassan's writings they refer to. Again, if a student turned in such a paper that contained ideas that were not the student's and did not include specific citations, he or she would be in major trouble. A bibliography at the end is not enough and in Steve's book, it isn't even in the book, it directs people to his commercial website.

If Brian has not read Steve's book, how can he comment on it? This seems like a diversionary tactic to me. Unfortunately, I've read the book carefully three times. Before I defend or criticize something, I think it's important to read it first. Otherwise, I'm just commenting on my experience with the person, which is rather arbitrary unless I spend a lot of time with that person. Brian has also posted on another site as FOMResearcher stating that I just don't like Steve Hassan. Really, is that so? Steve is overdue for criticism for some of the outlandish claims he makes in his books, in interviews, and on his website. You can not testify or talk about the character of someone that you have not interacted with substantively, and I don't mean as an employee or political "friend". If I really wanted to get personal with Steve, there's a lot more I can say but haven't. I am providing an expert review of his latest book to someone who self proclaims himself as an expert. However, Hassan's pattern is to elicit support through third parties. I encourage Hassan to counter any of the elements of my review...but by him, not some follower or third party.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2012 01:39AM by Cathleen Mann, PhD.

Cathleen Mann, PhD:

In my experience Steve Hassan will not respond on topic about any criticism in any professional and/or direct way.

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Cathleen Mann, PhD
If Brian has not read Steve's book, how can he comment on it? This seems like a diversionary tactic to me. Unfortunately, I've read the book carefully three times. Before I defend or criticize something, I think it's important to read it first. Otherwise, I'm just commenting on my experience with the person, which is rather arbitrary unless I spend a lot of time with that person. Brian has also posted on another site as FOMResearcher stating that I just don't like Steve Hassan. Really, is that so? Steve is overdue for criticism for some of the outlandish claims he makes in his books, in interviews, and on his website. You can not testify or talk about the character of someone that you have not interacted with substantively, and I don't mean as an employee or political "friend". If I really wanted to get personal with Steve, there's a lot more I can say but haven't. I am providing an expert review of his latest book to someone who self proclaims himself as an expert. However, Hassan's pattern is to elicit support through third parties. I encourage Hassan to counter any of the elements of my review...but by him, not some follower or third party.

Indeed. There is plenty those of us who know him could have said about him, but we are refraining from doing so and sticking to professional issues. Since Steve is responding privately to others regarding his critics (according to the posting by Brian Birmingham, who apparently works for him) we have no way of knowing what kind of allegations he is making about us behind our backs. This is quite sleazy behavior, in my opinion, not unlike the sort of behavior I have witnessed in some cultic groups I am familiar with where triangulation occurs and allegations are made outside the presence of the one being accused.

In contrast, Cathleen Mann has been more than fair, as she has openly stated her criticisms, giving Hassan the opportunity to respond, yet he declines to do so publicly (other than communication through Brian Birmingham) and instead goes behind her back, offering to give private responses where he can say whatever he chooses to without fear of being refuted or challenged. If his "responses" are anything like some of the others I have knowledge of, I believe he may likely be engaging in personal smears, saying we are unrecovered ex-cult members or maybe even cultists or perhaps even other unsubstantiated personal allegations. It would seem that those of us who challenge him get that label, rather than any kind of substantive rebuttal.

I too find it interesting that Brian has not even read Steve's book. It would seem that he has a very strong faith in Mr. Hassan that has little to do with the substance of what is in his book, which he defends without ever having read.

I have a suggestion for Mr. Hassan. How about issuing a public, substantive rebuttal, rather than talking or emailing behind the backs of your critics? After all, as you like to point out, if what you are saying is correct, the truth should hold up to public scrutiny.

MonicaPignotti:

Some years ago after receiving serious complaints from families and individuals about Steve Hassan's behavior and fees I approached him first for a response before taking any further action.

He never responded.

Subsequently a disclaimer was then posted at the Ross Institute Web site regarding Steve Hassan, which explained that his fees were reportedly $5,000.00 per day and/or $500.00 per hour. Also, that complaints had been received and that the Ross Institute did not recommend him. Links to Hassan's Web site and his book(s) were then deleted. This was done due to the fact that news articles had been archived within the Ross Institute database that quoted Mr. Hassan and/or cited his work and Web site. The disclaimer link appeared only in those articles, so that readers would not suppose that because the Ross Institute had archived the article Hassan was somehow endorsed or supported by the Ross Institute.

Subsequently I received a letter from Steve Hassan's attorney asking that the disclaimer be taken down.

Nothing was done.

I was then contacted by Steve Hassan's wife, who implored me to take down the disclaimer.

I refused, but told her if he would make a statement clarifying his fees that might help. It was then suggested that this could be done via fax.

No such statement was ever received.

Hassan then posted a fee schedule within a public statement made about the disclaimer at his Web site. Hassan did not deny that he had charged $5,000.00 per day and/or $500.00 per hour, but said his current fee schedule was $2,500.00 per day and $250.00 per hour. Mr. Hassan tacitly acknowledged that people had mortgaged their homes to pay him, but rather flippantly added that no one he knew of had lost their house over such a debt. After he posted that statement the disclaimer at the Ross Institute Web site was taken down, but the links to Hassan's Web site and book(s) were never restored. Some time later Steve Hassan removed that public statement from his Web site and there is no detailed fee schedule now publicly available regarding his professional fees.