When seeking mental health care, it’s important to check the background of any one-on-one counselor you are considering. It's not enough to simply eyeball training and degrees, one must always take steps to ensure that the counselor or doctor is, in fact, human.
Take, for example, Zoe D Katze, Ph.D., C.Ht., DAPA. Her qualifications are impressive enough that a reporter from a major magazine wrote to Dr. Katze for input on an article about hypnosis for childbirthing. Dr. Katze was unavailable for comment, her fur parent, Dr. Steve Eichel, PhD, ABPP, told the reporter because she is, in fact, a cat.
Weary of "therapist-shopping clients" crowing about the many credentials of cut-rate counselors, and alarmed at how easy it is to obtain such credentials over the Internet, Dr. Eichel launched the "Cat Credentialing Project."
Through Internet diploma mills and lackadaisical application screening, Zoe was certified by the National Guild of Hypnotists, the American Board of Hypnotherapy, and the International Medical & Dental Hypnotherapy Association. She is also a professional member of the American Association of Professional Hypnotherapists.
As I’ve written before, cats get a bad rap on the Internet, frequently stereotyped as LOL ignoramuses, forever shredding grammar like a half-dead mouse in what the World Wide Web would have us believe is their endless quest for "cheezburgers." But Dr. Katze is not the first feline to take the Internet education route.
Rescued from a ditch as a kitten, Oreo C. Collins, earned her high school diploma online as part of the Better Business Bureau’s ongoing investigation of online diploma mills.
While Oreo may be the very first in her family to obtain a diploma, she's not alone in her species. Fraudulent diplomas among the house pet set are so popular, there’s even a Wikipedia page that lists the honorees.
So you can see Dr. Eichel’s point — credentials may very well mean nothing. Be especially cognizant of this when you’re looking for someone to get inside your head. And if you’re still not sure, the clawed-up couch in the doctor’s office is a dead giveaway.
Learn more about the "Cat Credentialing Project" and how to find a qualified hypnotherapist on Dr. Eichel's website.
More stories about the annoying way we live now:
- Mysterious 'Roy Castillo' haunts Facebook
- Texting fountain lady's problems bigger than YouTube fame
- YouTube star is hetero bear wrestler on Google
Helen A.S. Popkin writes about the Internet ... a lot. Get your fill of her blather on Facebook and Twitter.
