I have been having a very in-depth discussion this morning with my online business partner Keith… Over the weekend, one of our online customers asked for a refund… When we asked for the reason behind the refund request, we got told (and I quote):
“I did not realise it was all about hypnosis.”
Keith and I joked about the number of times I must have written the word hypnosis in the last few years, how many times it is on our website, and whether I am just not making it clear enough that I am a hypnotherapist and hypnotist…
Hmmm… I really need to rethink my outgoing message and current presence I think… đŸ˜‰ I mean, the meaning of every communication is supposed to be the response it receives…
Well, there has also been a more serious news item working its way across the media and internet that I am loathed to write about…
Here is what this hypnosis article at the BBC states:
A hypnotherapist has been jailed for sexually abusing his female clients.
Stephen Dyer, 50, of Dover Road Folkstone, was sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court to five years in prison on seven counts of sexual assault.
He was arrested in January 2007 after a woman in her 20s, who was treated at his Hawkes Lane offices in Canterbury, reported a sexual assault to police.
Judge Adele Williams told Dyer, who denied the charges, he had treated his patients with “callous indifference”.
Dyer was found guilty by a jury on Wednesday.
‘Preyed on women’
Dyer was also given an order stopping him working as a hypnotherapist, psychotherapist or counsellor and was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register.
Det Sgt Emma Atkins said: “Stephen Dyer is a calculating man who preyed on women’s vulnerabilities for his own sexual gratification.
“He used his training as a hypnotherapist and psychotherapist to groom his clients, gain their confidence and abuse their trust in the worst possible way.”
She added: “We only hope that those that have suffered at his hands can now find the professional help they deserve, although for some the road to recovery will be difficult as they and their families will have to learn to trust another therapist.
“We would also like to thank the victims and witnesses who came forward and those that gave evidence for the purpose of preventing Stephen Dyer from manipulating and abusing the trust of any other client.”
Therapy of any kind requries an intimate and trusted relationship to be developed and it is incredibly sad to see such relationships be abused and misused.
You’ll notice across the board and with every reference to this story, not once does it say “hypnosis was used…” for him to do these bad things… Despite the media filling their headlines with the word ‘hypnosis’ and ‘hypnotherapist’ because it alludes to the notion that it was somehow used… Not one of the articles I have seen pertaining to this story says “counsellor jailed” or “psychotherapist found guilty” … Hypnosis does make headlines more intriguing… The mere word offers a hypnotic effect, doesn’t it?
That is if you can actually read it — even when it is covering an entire website… “I did not realise it was all about hypnosis.” Indeed…
It gets worse Adam – Stephen Dyer was a *qualified supervisor* with the Association For Professional Hypnosis and Psychotherapy. Obviously they’ve taken him off their supervisor list but check out the Google Cache page:
http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:pGB0QXDHnkcJ:www.aphp.co.uk/alpha/103.html+stephen+dyer+hypnosis&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=uk
I know there are pro and con arguments for supervision of hypnotherapists and psychotherapists – it’s clearly not a panacea though is it?
Hi Adam,
I just read your article about the abuse of hypnotherapy. It IS a loathful discussion, as I am a hypnotherapist myself, and would like to think that those who join our ranks do so with the utmost professionalism and concern for their clients. The fact that anyone claims to have been abused makes me question the allegation as you and I both know that hypnotherapy does not put a person into a state where they would abandon any of their deepest values. We can not make a person do something they are morally opposed to do. It is rubbish, and these kinds of allegations will ultimately cause regulations that literally strip others of their privacy and counselor relationships. I hope the allegations are proven wrong, and the innocent venerated. Stay in touch…..Angela
Blimey… Thanks Andy.
I wonder if any of the individuals being supervised by him suspected anything at all?
Hello Angela, thank you for your comments…
Unfortunately with this particular case mentioned, the allegations have become outright conviction… The man in question is in jail.
Angela, despite the headlines using the word ‘hypntoehrapist’ as an angle for the story… No-one has claimed (which I am pleased about) that hypnosis was used to make anyone do something against their will.
The man in question simply abused the trust he had gained in a intimate therapeutic environment. Which is incredibly sad.
I love your passion Angela. đŸ™‚
In a moment of study avoidance, quickly scanned first page of this site for instances of the words hypnosis/hypnotherapy/hypnotic/hypnotherapist. I excluded the “most recent blog entries” bit at the end, reasoning that it’s variable. I still managed to count 46! How could anybody miss that message?!? Unless they wanted to….