Richard Grannon is not a Psychologist and Other, Much Worse Issues with This Guy

Grannon belongs to the same group of “experts” who pander to “victims” of “narcissistic abuse” and demonize people with the diagnosis of NPD. Ramani is the leader of that tribe and the self-hating Vaknin is its now long-forgotten founder in the 1990s. They all make a small fortune by peddling their wares – thousands of USD a month just from their YouTube channels, not to mention “counseling”, merchandising, seminars, and whatnot. At least Vaknin’s seminars are free. 

Recently Richard Grannon (RG) is calling himself a “psychologist”. Problem is: he is not. Impersonating a psychologist is a criminal offense in all jurisdictions. Grannon claims to have a BA in psychology from some obscure university in the UK but has failed to produce a copy of his diploma over the past 15 years. The only two jobs he has ever held with any certainty were as a martial arts trainer (moonlighting as a cage fighter) and a bar bouncer. Then, literally overnight, he declared himself an expert and a coach on narcissism (and a “Spartan” to boot). On the web, you could still find people claiming that he and his partners defrauded them (during his MMA phase). 

Todd Grande had these unsavory thoughts about Grannon and his NLP “skills”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to19aZiiwRg 

But Grannon’s lack of credentials is the least of the issues with this guy. 

I came across Grannon’s work 4 years ago when he was the protégé of his mentor, Sam Vaknin. Yes, that Sam Vaknin! Five-bell alarm! Vaknin and Grannon have collaborated for years. 

Grannon was confined to the role of a fawning admirer and “translator” of Vaknin’s abstruse teachings. Grannon also copy-pasted Vaknin’s work, claiming it as his own which pissed Vaknin no end and led to the public spat between them in 2022. Vaknin also accused him of sexual misconduct. 

When Vaknin discarded Grannon and disavowed him publicly, Grannon went apeshit and tried to take down Vaknin’s YouTube channel by filing more than 50 spurious copyright strikes against it. He also embarked on a wide-ranging smear campaign that, as far as I understand, is still ongoing. 

Rumors have always been swirling around Grannon, not the least on Reddit: he was labeled a cult leader, there were reports of abuse of subscribers and members, vulnerable women, and more. It is only fair to mention that these kind of allegations are common with everyone in the field because the people they work with - especially the women - are volatile and labile and dysregulated, to put it charitably. As far as I could ascertain, Grannon has never faced any criminal charges recently (though his earlier life may have involved some transgressions, as he himself has confirmed in several videos). 

Ever since the pandemic, Grannon has become a deranged conspiracy theorist. One of his pet narratives: narcissists have teamed up with psychopaths to rule the world and subvert justice. Not as a metaphor, but literally! Of course, Grannon, the self-described “wounded healer”, is always available to sound the alarm and save the day. He literally uses thumbnails depicting him as a superhero. Major creep vibe. 

When I watched  Grannon’s videos (I no longer do), I got this psychopathic aggressive vibe. He even admitted in an interview that he is a sadist. But this is only my personal reaction. 

What do you have to say? I am curious to hear your POV.