Scott Adams (1957-2026) was an American author, podcast host, and speaker best known for his hit comic, Dilbert. He also described himself as a trained hypnotist and persuasion expert. After studying at Hartwick College and the University of California, Adams worked at office jobs as he developed his Dilbert comic. By the mid-1990s Dilbert was a success, and Adams became a full-time comic cartoonist. He soon added speaking, writing, and podcasting to his career. In addition to Reframe Your Brain, Adams was also the author of Win Bigly, Loserthink, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life, among others. 

Adams was a controversial figure in later life, attracting criticism for his anti-vaccine stance during the COVID-19 pandemic and for controversial political remarks, such as claiming that no man would ever serve again as president if Hillary Clinton got elected during her presidential run in 2016. In 2023, Adams made racist comments on his YouTube show Real Coffee with Scott Adams, with many newspapers and distributors ceasing to run his Dilbert comic in response. Adams died of prostate cancer in January 2026.

Adams’s claim to be an expert on the topic of persuasion appears to be based on his credentials as a hypnotist, as he believes that hypnosis requires understanding the inner workings of the human mind since hypnotists make messaging appealing and persuasive to others. While Adams does not have scholarly credentials in psychology, he claims that he does not need to earn the reader’s trust, since reframes are a safe and self-directed tool for self-improvement. He explains, “I won’t ask you to trust me on the topic of reframing. I don’t need to. The nature of reframes is that they are so safe, you can try as many as you like” (7). He points to the anecdotal success some of his podcast listeners had with reframing to portray it as a powerful, persuasive tool, explaining that he heard from many people who had successfully used reframing to overcome anxiety or cut out alcohol. 

While Adams has no formal training in psychology or counselling, his reframing tools, which are safe and accessible, may still prove useful to people interested in consciously changing how they think. However, since his work does not draw upon peer-reviewed studies or the expertise of trained psychologists and therapists, it is important for readers to keep in mind the largely anecdotal nature of the work and exercise due caution when assessing Adams’s claims, especially when he offers opinions on serious mental health issues such as trauma and suicidal ideation.