Peter Masters - Look Into My Eyes

Information about using hypnosis to enhance your sex life

Suggested reading My Voice Will Go with You: The Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson

Stage hypnotist loses in court: found negligent

Hypnosis can be a very powerful tool. Used well it can be amazingly helpful and effective in some forms of therapy. It can also be pretty nifty in the bedroom. Used carelessly or thoughtlessly it can just go badly wrong. Following is a case where it did go badly wrong for a woman who reluctantly participated in a stage hypnosis show.

So, this comes from an interesting report in the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper on the 22nd of May, 2001 about a stage hypnotist who had been taken to court for negligence over trauma suffered by a woman who he had regressed to the age of eight during a stage show in 1994. A follow-up report on the 26th of May, 2001 noted that the stage hypnotist had been found guilty and had had damages awarded against him.

Now, before I go on, I want to just explain that "regression" is a technique which attempts to take a subject back to a previous time in their life, often making them think and react as if they were at a certain age or as if they were experiencing particular events from their past.

Reading the reports you see that she was a reluctant volunteer at a charity stage-hypnosis show and was regressed--as part of the show--to the age of eight. Unfortunately she had been sexually abused as a child and the age of eight was not a happy time in her life. The stage experience awakened significant trauma for her.

There are a number of issues here that are worth discussing:

Aftercare

After anyone's first experience with something that could be remotely traumatic--even a first ride on a horse, talking in front of a group, or a child's first ride on a merry-go-round--it's important that there be the opportunity for the person involved to unwind, be hugged and, most importantly, not be alone.

Stage shows often don't and can't provide this aftercare. At the end of the show the subjects are sent back into the audience, the hypnotists heads backstage and that's it. It can be a very lonely experience for a someone who has had an unexpected and negative experience or memory during the show. This loneliness can amplify the effects, and can also make it hard for them to get timely support on their own.

Risky entertainment

The incongruity of seeing someone acting like a child or baby (regression) can be very funny, but as the news report shows it can be a serious risk... and the risk is that without a proper interview before the hypnosis session you really don't know what you are going to expose or trigger during the regression. In this case the hypnotist triggered a bad trauma reaction. To me the money awarded in court is not important; instead it's important what the woman went through. It's true she volunteered to be a subject in the show itself, but she didn't volunteer for depression and the need for psychiatric treatment afterwards.

A serious point here is that the stage hypnotist concerned went somewhere he couldn't control. He had no control over what this woman would remember during the regression but took her there anyway.

Many hypnotic activities though are quite safe. Using hypnosis to take control of someone's fantasies or to give them post-hypnotic suggestions are things that rarely cause difficulties, especially if they have been discussed and agreed to beforehand, and which can be in any case "put back in the bottle" afterwards simply by cancelling them.

So as not to spoil the show stage hypnotists typically don't get agreement on each activity they intend to do beforehand from each subject. This leaves open the question about what consent has actually been given by the subjects.

The safest activities are those that end at the end of the trance, or shortly thereafter. Reawakened memories of trauma don't end so easily.

Divided attention

A stage hypnotist is a performer for an audience. The focus of hypnotist isn't solely the well-being of the subjects under his care. It's also the entertainment of the audience, often primarily. On stage a hypnotist divides his attention between the audience and a number of subjects. In a clinical environment, with just one subject and no-one else, it's also possible that this woman would have reacted badly, but it's much more likely that the hypnotist would have observed any problems as they developed and been able to act to minimise them. With the very divided attention required on stage he did not.

Impersonal

A stage hypnotist doesn't have time to speak personally to each volunteer before he starts hypnotising them. This means that he doesn't have the chance to evaluate their personality and send back people who are less than keen but who have been sent up on stage by their friends, or those who appear affected by alcohol, drugs or psychological problems. He can only judge his volunteers by how they react once he starts hypnotising them. In the reported case this was too late.

Conclusion

I am not opposed to stage hypnosis, but the people on the stage are under the care and protection of the hypnotist--whether he likes it or not--and they are due attention, support and aftercare. It can be easy to play to the audience and focus on them, but as the court ruling shows the hypnotist also has a responsibility for the well-being of his subjects.

For readers of my book I'd note that your partner also merits your full attention, support, cuddles, debriefing and aftercare. But they get that anyway, right?