Bad Experience with Julian Cowan Hill

This could be said about much of academia as well as many other jobs. Experts who are in fact not experts making a living at being experts.

No one in the tinnitus world is an expert in my opinion, but it depends how you define expert.

 

For me it is shocking that people like those can make a living writing books on tinnitus and hyperacusis when they know even less than patients about these conditions.

 

Just stumbled across this old thread, and, whilst I really don't want to get into a debate that might get me riled up and set my progress back, I do want to say it is cathartic to see this critique of JCH.

I'm not going to get onto whether or not he is well-intentioned - I honestly don't know. I think he has some sensible points and he did get me on the right track. His book opens by saying something like "anything that helps with relaxation, distraction and focus helps with tinnitus". I believe he's right on the the money with that, as that has helped me make progress - however I have progressed towards habituation and NOT towards cure. I think he's also right that in the early stages it's really important to reach out for help and some kind of therapy. It's just too traumatic to deal with on your own in the early stages.

I also think he's right that ENTs and others are far too negative about tinnitus prognoses, and I personally believe that there are people whose tinnitus might have gone away altogether had they not gone to an ENT in the early stages who scared the crap out of them. I put myself in this category.

Those positive things aside, I had a not-very-good experience with him over Skype, and I've felt pretty upset about it ever since, so it's really helpful to see others confirming my suspicions about him. I had my appointment with him at a time when I was absolutely desperate, and I really thought that he was going to really help me understand what was going on and get to the bottom of my issues. I thought I was signing on for high-quality, tinnitus-specific psychotherapy. What I got was, as others have said, just a totally generic regurgitation of his videos. At the time I was barely sleeping at all, was out of my mind with anxiety over it, and when I told him this he said "I've got a great video for that, and sent me the link". Sure glad I paid £70 for that... not.

I also emailed him a few times and my feeling is that he is always in a hurry, sends copy/paste answers, and isn't really bothered about getting to know and understand individuals. I think maybe he has forgotten just how hard tinnitus is in the early stages and just has no idea how to help people who are in a very dark place with it.

Telling me to "do some yoga and just let my ears potter along in the background" is not helpful when you're at the stage where all you can think of is your screaming ears. He also chats absolute nonsense in his book, like "no-one can concentrate on their tinnitus for more than a few seconds straight, your attention always wanders - go on, try it". I'm sorry but even 1.5 years in I can definitely concentrate on my tinnitus for minutes or hours. Absolute bollocks.

I also effing hate the way he says "try this technique, it WILL help HUGELY to lower the volume". And then you do it and it doesn't. And then you tell him and he has nothing to say. It's so disheartening when you're a sufferer. The fact is, a lot of his techniques are quite calming, relaxing, and help with anxiety. If he didn't set these insane expectations of your tinnitus "literally backing off", then he could probably help more people actually get a grip on their panic and start on the path to habituation.

He also has a way of blaming people for not recovering, saying they are "stuck" or "resistant" or whatever. Tbh there are probably a lot of people who have got "stuck", and could use some serious therapy to move forward with this horrible condition, but telling someone they are "being resistant" or "don't want to get better" is seriously seriously effed up victim-blaming, and doesn't help anyone.

Sorry, this is nothing but a massive incoherent rant, but as I slowly recover it's helpful to get some things off my chest about the people who treated me like crap along the way.

JCH was the first person who gave me a tiny bit of hope, but I'm happy to say I have now left his money-grabbing, arrogant ass far behind and I'm making decent progress with the help of a therapist who actually cares about me and listens.

Edit: Also he discourages masking and sound enrichment, and I wish I had never listened to him on that. Adding some background noise has made a HUGE difference to me. Conversely, those first few months where I tried to struggle on in silence were absolute torture and I still feel scarred from it. I know that eventually many people have to give up background noise, in order to make further progress, but to say this to newbies is out-and-out cruelty.

 

To Hotspur2931:

Thanks very much for this authentic, accurate depiction of JCH's woefully fraudulent, useless methods.

This account is very similar to our subscriber Corinna's report on how disappointed and exasperated with him she was.

Just type in this name ("Corinna") and see how closely her commentary reflects yours.

As I suggested to her, you may want to notify whatever Consumer Advocacy or Dishonest Practices / Better Business Bureau Agency exists in your area and submit a report with your very salient points contained above.

 

I tried Cranial Sacral with 2 therapists since it was covered under my insurance if I used RMT. Useless. @Dr. Nagler had told me the same thing.

@Hotspur2931 I hate to break it to you. It's not only folks in their early days that suffer. Still good on you for sorting it out.

 

Something else about Julian Cowan Hill occurred to me.

In one of his videos he mentioned that he was nearly completely deaf in his left ear (and so hearing impaired that he had to learn sign language) because he walked directly in front of a huge, apparently decibel-blasting music speaker at a carnival.

He claims to be the ultimate, unassailable authority on tinnitus and all matters concerning the physiology of audiology. Why, however, would you trust or give credibility to an "expert" who was so willfully irresponsible (and just frankly stupid) that he would be so unheeding about the dangers of such massive sound exposure?

I imagine that he apparently never mentions hearing aids because he is not authorized to sell them and capitalize on such profits. I wonder if he has them but never wears or refers to them because they would detract from his otherwise know-it-all demeanor. Interestingly, he never implies that his methods will restore hearing, because even he is aware of going too far with such outright fraud.

If he does not have them, and for whatever reasons cannot avail of their benefits, then in a way I actually feel sorry for him.

 

To bobvann:
I also tried three sessions with a Cranial Sacral therapist recommended by my Doctor, and it was useless as well.

 

Maybe I'm missing something here but this makes no sense.

It sounds like he made a mistake at the carnival, like many of us have. Who knows, maybe he was very drunk at the time. He probably didn't know much about tinnitus or hearing hazards before this event? And because of the event and resulting tinnitus his interest in trying to help (or scam) people with tinnitus started I'd imagine.

 

As I recall, he walked in front of a speaker that did not have any sound coming out of it, and it suddenly blasted out. Also, he'd had tinnitus for many years prior to that incident (to which he'd habituated), so I doubt very much he would have walked in front of a blasting speaker. He said it took him a few weeks to "re-habituate" after that particular spike.

@Hotspur2931 -- Thanks very much for your balanced description of your experience(s) with JCH. In my early days, I watched some of his videos, and like you, found them to be helpful and encouraging. Little did I know however, what his "bedside" manner was, and how people who came to him for counseling ended up dealing with yet another trauma.

The fact that your description(s) matches so closely with that of the author of this thread tells me your perspectives are totally valid. I'm sorry you had to go through the trauma of dealing with that on top of your already debilitating tinnitus. It appears you're doing at least somewhat better these days, and I'm happy to hear that. -- Take care...

 

To Lane:

I do not recall that he was "ambushed" by this suddenly blasting speaker. Also, he most definitely did not say that he "re-habituated" to this spike; as usual, he said that it eventually went completely away. In fact, he contends that once he had tinnitus so severely that he could not converse on the phone, and now it is completely eliminated with total silence.

In conclusion, I am so heartily sick of pointing out the egregious gaffes, contradictions, flat out pseudo-scientific declamations, et.al of this guy that I will let others react to him however their particular bent carries them.

 

To Lane:

From JCH's YouTube post on 06/14/18, "Curing tinnitus by feeling safe Surely not..."
From 2:34 to 3:22 - "When I damaged my nerves walking in front of a loudspeaker I became deaf; I am now severely deaf in this ear, I have to lipread. I can't get that back. I also developed quite bad tinnitus the second time around...this nerve damaged tinnitus backed off."

He never said that he was caught by surprise or that he was not able to eliminate it completely.
If in fact he made such comments in another video, I would be interested in reviewing the contents.

 

This still going?

I met him twice. His thing is adrenaline. Get rid of adrenaline, get rid of tinnitus.

After my second treatment he said I don't need to come back and spend money with him, I know too much about chi kung, just do chi kung...

He may be barking but he is a decent fella.

 

To Carlover:

As far as I am concerned, the only important question is:

Given his absolute assurances (repeated ad nauseam) that he can completely eliminate all forms of tinnitus (and please don't deny that he has flatly claimed this), why wasn't he able to do that for you?

And, why hasn't the entire Global Medical World recognized the miraculous value of his methods?

Why hasn't Dr. Rauschecker delivered a Mea Culpa statement about his failure to recognize JCH's methods that result in actual cures?

 

As I said he may be Barking as in Barking mad...

 

To Carlover:

Thanks very much for this clarification. You English have various descriptive expressions that we Americans should utilize for extensions of meaning.

 

I have read some of his writings and seen a good number of his videos and overall see him as having a positive effect on the tinnitus community. Meditation, diet and other methods of calming the body have helped me to habituate to some extent and to be able to ignore it even when it does get loud. I probably would not pay money to see him but you cannot blame him for trying to sell his ideas.

 

Joey Remenyi and Julian Cowan Hill just posted on YouTube where they interview each other (each is over 50 minutes, and I did not watch them in their entirety). What I did glean with real interest was their total retreat from offering a cure to the hackneyed recommendation of just habituating so that tinnitus is your "friend."

In his YouTube entry of 08/27, Julian Cowan Hill becomes quite snarky when he complains about the number of his Quieten App purchasers who said that "I offer no solutions and go around in circles rambling" (his exact words).

Perhaps the increasing number of uncured and indignant customers has cowed them into this rearguard position.

Also, someone commented on Joey's outrageous fees.

 

I think these two posts, taken together, say a lot, and summarize my feelings: if you find some value in Hill's videos, then use that and take it, but don't expect that giving him money is actually going to give you more value.

It's kinda like meditation for me; I am an advocate and love discussing it and doing it with other people and in various formal settings, but anytime I am being charged for it, I become suspicious. (This is different than sanghas which ask for a voluntary donation to the teacher; that can be abused, but it can also be a normal part of allowing small meditation communities to function and be able to pay for some kind of space in the community to use, and provide formal sitting and instruction).

 

As I said above, having met him, if that is his new stance that is a complete u turn because he has always said he totally cured his own 16 year-old tinnitus.

 

To Carlover:

Julian Cowan Hill has become nearly apoplectic when various responders have challenged and doubted his contention that he even ever had any degree of tinnitus. Apparently this has occurred so frequently that to address this he produced one video where he momentarily flashed (and too briefly to read carefully) some sort of "Medical Certificate" stating that he was indeed diagnosed with this.

I noticed that Joey Remenyi would expatiate at length on habituation, and Julian Cowan Hill would agree and add that the title of his book was "Tinnitus: From Tyrant to Friend" (not, interestingly, "A Cure For Tinnitus"). He omits his assurances about a cure when it suits him.

I imagined what it would be like to do a parody of this guy, but why bother? He is already such a multilayered parody of himself.

 

Yeah, the guy is a source of hope. But like most people who found what works for them believe it will work for everyone. I don't believe he can do anything to help if it the tinnitus is caused by hearing loss due to noise exposure. I do believe he is trying to help but at this point, probably more about selling hope.

 

Regarding Joey Remenyi's recent 09/04 YouTube interview with Julian Cowan Hill:

At 39:00 with breathtaking arrogance she actually said: "I've got this knowledge; I don't think anybody in the World has this knowledge I have."

JCH ingratiatingly agreed with her (and I thought he arrogated all such knowledgeable authority to himself).

Her fee for her on line courses is $2,200.00. I suppose that once this unique knowledge is paid for and disseminated, she will no longer be the sole recipient of this secret curative method.

Please, Lord, enable us to develop a real treatment that will render these characters superfluous.

 

This is why we will continue to see a lot of resistance and apathy towards real treatments that there could be like OTO-413 or FX-322 which will actually assist at dealing with the underlying causes. Consequently this is all coming from the same area predominately which is the various audiologist fields that don't want a real treatment because it is inevitably going to take out a lot of their business. Basically I have been made aware by someone that apparently we are also actually 20 years away from a cure according to Joey Remenyi. I am yet to see how she supports this claim.

Consequently comments from those who got FX-322 in a trial indicate that they gained improvement in their tinnitus. This tends to indicate to me, and what many think, that the repair of the cochlea will lead to a reduction in tinnitus. Hence individuals like Joey not only fail to provide evidence to support their claims but they are actually also seemingly using those shady marketing tricks that companies use like telling us prices will never be this low again in order to get people visiting them today. This crap is exactly why I am hoping and also thinking that the medicine will work to benefit people because it will put questionable individuals like this out.

 

Funny that he reacts like that when he has been challenged. Even funnier that he interviews Joey Remenyi and vice versa. Very much a good example of a stage managed and false interview that you could ever see. Simply stay hopeful that a treatment will come soon. Something suitable like FX-322 or OTO-413 will work hopefully and also I think something will come soon. Simply this will not only deliver us benefit but also rid these questionable individuals too.

 

On 12/28/20 Julian Cowan Hill presented on Vimeo "Stop traumatizing yourself on the Internet."

(He actually said that he left YouTube because there are so many quacks and scammers advertising for cures; talk about the proverbial pot calling the kettle black).

More importantly, he specifically refers to this Forum, and urges viewers to stay away from it; he said that "people in this Forum for a long time are stuck". There are too many "damaging negative beliefs", and this Forum prevents people from forming "independent thoughts" (which is also amazing, given that he displays the lack of tolerance for contrary views of a Cult Leader).

I will have been on this Forum for two years in February, and it has been a genuinely valuable, especially in assuring me that I am not so bleakly alone with this. Also, it is the best site for discussions of evolving treatments.

If comments can be posted on Vimeo, I am going to tell JCH to shut the hell up with his admonitions about urging new sufferers to avoid this Forum.

 

Has the quack removed this video? I can't find it on his Vimeo page...

 

To ajc:
You are correct - it does not appear on the Vimeo page. However, I went on Bing and typed in "Julian Cowan Hill stop traumatizing yourself on the Internet" and it came up.

 

I damaged my hearing in front of the loudspeaker at the Notting Hill carnival and I've been severely deaf in my right ear ever since. This happened about 10 years ago. It took me about seven weeks to get back to silence but it was hard work and for the first couple of weeks I really struggled again.

 

To Julian Cowan Hill:

I was wondering when you were going to get around to reading the very negative reviews from various subscribers who had seen you and were adversely emotionally affected (for an additional example, check out Hotspur2931's report).

I drew a final conclusion about you when you stated that writing the word "LOVE" on a piece of tape and affixing it to the outside of a steel cooker would enable the alleged force contained within the presence of the word to penetrate the steel and improve the molecular composition of the substance inside (the examples you gave were ice and rice).

This sort of blatant, outright quackery (which is also indicative of much of your other commentary) is definitely not appreciated on this Forum. There are many serious, committed, very knowledgeable Science subscribers who are not interested in arguing the ludicrousness of such "findings."

We are only interested in the consideration of legitimate, scientifically verifiable data (and please spare me that oft-repeated assurance that tinnitus is entirely stress related, based on some unverifiable "fight-or-flight" reaction, and can be virtually eliminated by ignoring it). There are over 31,000 subscribers on this Forum who will agree that such "methods" have as much affect on their tinnitus as shining a flashlight on their heads would have had.

 

Whilst I cannot supply any science to tinnitus, I believe it has its place. Particularly with medication, sound therapy and some research but not all. Tinnitus is an integral part of a person's mental and emotional wellbeing and cannot be separated from it. This is something I do have experience in as well as others in this forum, that try to help people to manage the condition better.