Mail from SSCH to ISH/ESH Newsletters
An ethical issue is under severe discussion in Sweden now. I want to share this problem with you, because it is a common problem. The lay hypnotherapists and the stage hypnotists are more or less banned by our various National Governmental Offices, Health and Care jurisdictions etc. The ISH and ESH ethical guidelines show no tolerance for these phenomena, so as members we don't need to hesitate. A common problem regarding our congresses, which I have adressed to the organizing office in Vienna, is how to deal with active lay and stage hypnotists, who register at our international congresses and use their diplomas as merits. At the ISH congress in Rome I realised that a director of an institute for lay hypnotists in Sweden was participating. He is not a professional, although his organisation has the reliable title of Swedish Society for Ethical and Analytical Hypnosis.
We had a wonderful SSCH annual meeting in Stockholm last April. Kathryn and Ernest Rossi were invited and so was Peter Bloom. Unfortunately, Ernest had a serious infection, so the Rossis had to cancel their seminar. Peter Bloom stood in, and made the best possible of the loss. You all know the excellence of Peter Blooms approach, so You must know he was appreciated. My ethical queries hit me by surprise at that seminar. We have been argumenting with the National Board of Health and Welfare regarding the risks of allowing stage hypnosis. One such stage hypnotists has been allowed to hypnotize as entertainment and this man knows about our protests. He is not educated in any care profession. To my my surprise, he was present at Peter Blooms seminar - and as by a strange coincidence, Peter had just demonstrated a very impressing arm catalepsy - a precious skill for a stage hypnotist! I consulted a few of my colleages and realised that people differ in opinion of how or if to react. As president I had to make a decision. I chose to inform the audience that we had been vague on informing about criteria for attending, and I mentioned the ISH ethics on not giving lectures on hypnosis for lay people. Without mentioning names I asked the lay and stage hypnotist to leave at lunch time.
It showed that he had a psychiatrist friend who had registered two persons not naming the stage hypnotist. The psychiatrist was upset and demanded me as the president of SSCH, to send them a personal letter and explain. I did and found it very easy to quote the ISH by-laws. Of course I apologized for not having spelled out clearly on the website, the criteria for registration.
Back to the issue on stage hypnosis in Sweden: For the moment the SSCH plan to complain to the Swedish Government on how the applications to the NBHW have been managed. Only one expert has been consulted and he is tolerant to stage hypnosis. I am collecting information about various laws in Europe and the rest of the world on this - please mail me if there is a law against stage hypnosis in your country.
Susanna Carolusson