History of the American Institute of Hypnotherapy (AIH)
Dr.
A.M. Krasner
A.M. Krasner Ph.D. was the founder and director of the American Institute of Hypnotherapy (AIH) in Irvine, California. An innovator in hypnotherapy in the US, Dr. Krasner practiced in Rhode Island for over 20 years before moving to Southern California in the late 1970s where he continued developing his methods. In 1980, he founded the American Institute of Hypnotherapy (AIH) to teach clinical hypnotherapy to others.
American Institute of Hypnotherapy
Based in California (School no. 3004761), the American Institute of Hypnotherapy (AIH) was a State approved educational establishment under the jurisdiction of the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Vocational Education (BPPVE). Degree granting authority at that time came from the Office of the Superintendant of Public Instruction under the provisions of Section 94310.3 of the Education Code of the State of California.
Until 2007, the BPPVE was the state agency vested with the authority to approve and regulate private postsecondary institutions in California and was charged by the California legislature with the mandate to encourage the development of strong, vigorous and widely respected sector of private postsecondary education. State 'approval to operate' meant that the BPPVE had determined that at the time the institution was reviewed, it met standards established by the bureau for integrity, financial stability and educational quality.
Licensing
Under California law, AIH was licensed to teach bachelor degree programmes and to offer a Doctorate in Clinical Hypnotherapy (DCH). Although originally offered as a PhD programme, state regulators mandated that this award in clinical hypnotherapy be re-titled as a Doctor of Clinical Hypnotherapy (DCH) and modelled on a PsyD type program in which more emphasis is placed on clinical practice than on research. The DCH programme was developed to train practitioners who would keep up with research but might choose not to engage in research themselves. The American practice of recognising specialist institutions for speciality disciplines allowed the AIH to offer these facilities for practical training and off-campus study. In order to obtain a doctorate, students had to have attained a Bachelor Degree level of education. AIH offered an opportunity to study diverse applications in hypnosis via a wide range of hypnotherapeutic educational modules including the fields of healthcare, psychotherapy, self-development and business (see 1998 curriculum of courses at end of this document).
Methodology
Degree courses were offered via Directed Independent Study (DIS). Apart from the initial diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy which was offered at the Irvine Campus, the AIH degree programmes required certified attendance at pre-approved seminars and workshops relevant to the courses being followed. For each course, the DCH programme required studying recommended relevant texts and developing a 20-30 page typed response on each to questions relating to subject matter of the course. These were graded by tutors and faculty for content and analysis of the topic. The Bachelors degree required the earning of 120 units of credit and 65 credits for the Doctorate.
Bears Guide to Earning Non-Traditional College Degrees 10th Edition (published 1989) described the AIH programmes as follows:
Change of Direction
In 1995, Dr Krasner decided to retire. At this juncture management control of the American Institute of Hypnotherapy and responsibility for degree programmes appeared to pass to American Pacific University (APU) in Hawaii. When Dr. Krasner transferred ownership of the institution, commitment to development of the clinical hypnotherapy programmes faltered and also, without the new owners finding an appropriate mainland qualified body to provide for existing doctoral students and graduates. As a result, the award ceased to appear on national registers. When the hypnotherapy programmes were transferred offshore to APU in Hawaii, the fundamentally different educational ethos, standards and management focus had a significantly negative impact on the AIH degree programmes (although the State of California continued AIH institutional approval up to 1998 - see below). (see: https://app.dca.ca.gov/bppe/view-school.asp?schlcode=3004761). Since these degree programmes ceased to be offered (since 2008), they have ceased to have currency. If anybody has anything to add to this brief history of the American Institute of Hypnotherapy, please email seancollins@healthrestoration.ie
Accreditation in the United States
The issue of requirement for accreditation in the United States was address by Mr Justice Eady in the High Court Judgment against Mirror Group Newspapers in London in 1996 (click here) . A copy of the the State of California Approval Certificate is shown below.
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Listed Below are some of the specialist courses leading to AIH hypnotherapy degrees offered in the mid to late 1980's.
