[www.craigslist.org]

This URL was posted on craigslist.org, a bulletin board I use quite often. It is a prospectus for a workshop on powerful hypnotic techiques, including Neuro-Linguistic Programming. It is offered by a group called 'Somnambulistic Sleepwalkers' ([www.seakayaker.com])

They emphasize the personal power/ego-driven benefits one can expect to get by mastering the technicques. No reminder that hypnosis is a powerful medical tool that requires ethics and knowledge on the part of the practitioner. Nothing said about 'only qualified applicants need apply'-No pre-screening to determine whether an applicant is ethical, has training/accountability as a mental health professional, or has a psychological condition for which trance is counter-indicated. Rick and his team want to see whether this is worth adding to his office files.

When something is run by non professionals and doesnt require participants to have clinical credentials, there is always a risk that an enterprising but unethical person could take this type of workshop, learn some covert hypnotic techniques here and then use it to create their own franchise.

Do a search on Google using the terms 'NLP' or 'neuro linguistic programming' and 'women'.

See how many ads you get promising that if you learn NLP you can score with women. Its really scary.

[www.craigslist.org]