pruh-fesh-uhn

Despite being extremely annoyed by Scary Mary allegations, I've been very interested in discussions regarding "professional" hypnotism. The reason for this is simple: as a result of my years in a different industry, I understand the word "professional" to actually have more than one meaning and/or connotation.

You see, as a member of the professional engineering community, I have been involved in several debates about whether the word "professional" really applies to engineering or even architecture. In my experience, lawyers and medical people tend to want to reserve the term for themselves.

I thought that if I went to dictionary.com and searched for the world "professional" I'd find what I was after, but not so much. Instead I found a tremendous list of definitions - try it and see - none of which had anything to do with the one particular thing I was looking for. So since ours is a profession of words and wordsmiths, and we are nothing if not creative and flexible, I backed up to get closer to the root. In this endeavor I was successful.

Within the following definitions, the dramatic highlighting is made by me; the actual dictionary quote is plain text.

pro⋅fes⋅sion [pruh-fesh-uhn]
–noun
1. a vocation requiring knowledge of some department of learning or science: the profession of teaching. Compare learned profession.
2. any vocation or business.
3. the body of persons engaged in an occupation or calling: to be respected by the medical profession.
4. the act of professing; avowal; a declaration, whether true or false: professions of dedication.
5. the declaration of belief in or acceptance of religion or a faith: the profession of Christianity.
6. a religion or faith professed.
7. the declaration made on entering into membership of a church or religious order.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.

learned profession
–noun
any of the three vocations of theology, law, and medicine, commonly held to require highly advanced learning. Compare profession (def. 1).

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.

It seems to me that it might simplify things if we were all more aware of the distinction between a "profession" and a "learned profession". I notice that Random House says to "compare" the terms, not "contrast" them and throw rocks.

Although the meaning of the word "professional" once referred only to those in the vocations of theology, law, and medicine, such is no longer the case. Perhaps those of us who are "learned professionals" have a separate standard to which they must adhere. As people who earn our livings with hypnosis related practices, we are all professionals. At least, according to the 7 dictionary definitions provided by dictionary.com from 5 distinct dictionaries.

Just a thought....

Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.

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Comment by Elisabeth on May 4, 2009 at 7:22am: Tom it might interest you to know that yours is the definition I was expecting to find when I went looking... umm, without the editorializing, since that's what dictionaries are for. Less surprisingly, the closest definition comes from Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary.

Main Entry: 1pro·fes·sion·al
Pronunciation: pr&-'fesh-n&l, -&n-&l
Function: adjective
1 : of, relating to, or characteristic of a profession
2 : engaged in one of the learned professions
3 : characterized by or conforming to the technical or ethical standards of a profession —pro·fes·sion·al·ly /-E/ adverb

Main Entry: 2 professional
Function: noun
: a person who is professional; especially : a person who engages in a pursuit or activity professionally
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.

Comment by Dale Welch on May 4, 2009 at 7:15am: Just to clarify,
i did not say amateurs could not earn money from hypnosis, only that their concern for it came later.
I did take us back to an earlier definition of amateur and purposely spelled it the way i did instead of "amature", though both are correct according to the dictionary.

As for what is "un-professional"... i'm not certain it is so easy to determine. Some would say not wearing a tie, yet there was a time a tie was only worn at meal time. And after-all there are some who if they saw you in a robe and bare feet would think you a greater hypnotist. :-) And other potential clients who would run. :-)
Perhaps according to your market niche?

I wish i could say professionalism had something to do with treating people with respect, but i know far too many "professionals" who don't do that. Of course defining "treating with respect" is another conversation.

And i know people who think kimchi is wrotten smelling. And i've had what i thought was rotten kimchi. But i know others who say there is no such thing. So not everyone knows when a dish has gone stinky or rotten. :-)
Perhaps we should be asking:
What does the client need in a hypnotist? And who has a right to determine that?
How are the needs of the client going to be met?

Comment by the grumpy hypnotist on May 4, 2009 at 7:09am: "do you make a distinction between unprofessional and non-professional?"

Ah... now I really like the way you think. Yes I think anyone could see that those are two different things. A non-professional could approach the work professionally, and at the same time a professional could be completely un-professional in their approach.

PS. I think the definition offered by Dr. Nevitt above has a good deal of validity to it, but even with those standards, you know that there are licensed, well-educated people in established professions, who are still un-professional. So conversely, I think there can be people operating professionally in a field that is un-professional.

Comment by Elisabeth on May 4, 2009 at 6:45am: So out of curiosity, do you make a distinction between unprofessional and non-professional? Because I think there ought to be one....
:-)

Comment by the grumpy hypnotist on May 4, 2009 at 5:18am: Elisabeth, I see your point (I think). All the possible combinations make my head want to explode. So I still think it is just easier to identify what makes something "un-professional", instead of the other way around. It's like how people may never be able to agree on what kind of meal tastes or smells good, and why... but everyone knows a stinky, rotten dish when they taste or smell one.

Comment by Elisabeth on May 4, 2009 at 4:46am: Grumpy,

Well then, since only a subset of hypnotists meet that definition, then I would guess you would agree that the larger set, does not meet that definition?

No, I'd say it was a different subset.

The overall set is "professional hypnotists". We so far have one subset "learned professional hypnotists" and another "professional hypnotists who make money by hypnotizing".

But that's only going by the one definition that says something about earning money. There are 13 different definitions just from that one dictionary reference, and the next dictionary reference has 7 definitions, one of which is "having or showing great skills". So even if by definition one is not a "learned professional" and does not "make a living" or "earn money", by definition one "having or showing great skills" is still professional and we have another subset.

It reminds me of the NLP teacher who drew a pie chart of visual/audial/kinesthetic. I don't remember the exact percentages, but it was something like 38% visual, 30% audial, 32% kinesthetic. He then drew the conclusion that the majority of people are visual, because that was the biggest slice of the pie. But was that an accurate conclusion? 30+32=62, and 62 is not less than 38. Actually, the majority of people are NOT visual, but the rest fall in two other categories, not just one.

Which reminds me - can someone tell me whether olfactory is a category of its own or if it gets combined with a different one?

Comment by the grumpy hypnotist on May 4, 2009 at 3:50am: Hello Dale,

Please note, that the definition of "professional" which included the "earning a livelihood" aspect, was not my definition, and it is not something I agree is true. Even people who earn a livelihood from hypnosis can be very un-professional. As noted in the my first reply, I think whether or not something is "un-professional" is more usable way of thinking about this subject. It's kind of like obscenity, I don't know if there's a definition for it, but people know it when they see it.

Just wanted to clarify that, thanks.

PS. I think there is no basis for concluding that "amateurs" have a deeper love of hypnosis than people who profit from it.

Comment by Dale Welch on May 3, 2009 at 8:23pm: I am happy at this time to be "unprofessional" by some of these standards.
In fact i may prefer to be an "amateur". :-)

You see "professionals" are often more concerned about how much money they are going to make.
Amateurs have such a deep love of hypnosis and the people they help that the concern for money comes much later or indeed they may have other sources of finances.

"Amateur" was a good word until the so called "elite" in France looked down on the street artists and started calling them "amateurs" with distaste in their mouth even though the word means to love what you do. Of course some fantastic artists were among those that might be found at times on the streets.

Now if we wish to talk about competency levels, and methods of presenting to people that is a different subject. Though do remember that a Tie was originally a bib.

--- dale, Amateur in many things.

Comment by the grumpy hypnotist on May 3, 2009 at 6:48pm: Elisabeth, just thinking further about your statement:

"As people who earn our livings with hypnosis related practices, we are all professionals. mmm... that's a subset, seems to me."

Well then, since only a subset of hypnotists meet that definition, then I would guess you would agree that the larger set, does not meet that definition? Therefore, the larger set of individual "hypnotists" are unprofessional, by your definition. Logic is brutal, isn't it? PS. I like you, and even Scary Mary too. ^_^

Comment by the grumpy hypnotist on May 3, 2009 at 6:03pm: Who gives a flying f*vck about the semantics or anti-trust economic issues. The fact is, the majority of people who present themselves to the public as "certified hypnotists" do not approach this work either as a vocation or a dedicated calling --- for most it is a hobby, at best. From what I have observed, most are "armchair hypnotists", and therefore not professionals by the definitions presented. Is that plain enough English for you? But that is my observation, it may be wrong. Please tell me that I am wrong.