More Life and Death Matters

Take a moment and imagine this scenario

A hypnotherapist claims on his students whats app group that he has developed a hypnosis technique that will help prevent covid 19. This is a major claim as the entire world’s science community are working 24/7 to find preventions and cures for this virus.

He further suggests to his colleagues and students that its a waste of time following WHO advice and masks and gloves do little or nothing to assist as preventions against covid 19

His new bespoke hypnosis covid filter technique doesn’t come from standard hypnosis thinking which he describes as “cowboy” and “hit and miss” in one of his promotional videos for his own trainings. Instead, this new technique is from his exclusive brand of “new hypnosis” which only he and his students can teach.

One of those who have access to his whats app group become so concerned about these claims that they then post the article on social media. The article subsequently appears in many places all over the internet. One of the reasons why this person does this and voices concern about this matter personally has a number of close friends who are seriously ill with covid 19 as well as his mother in law’s care home where 50% of residents died recently from the virus. One of the main reasons for this high death rate was a lack of PPE masks and gloves. Understandably he is not impressed by others promoting ignoring WHO advice.

History of bogus claims

Bogus claims are not of course unusual during pandemics. During the Spanish flu epidemic all manner of people tried to make a fast buck from other people’s misfortune. Here are some adverts from that period

Public domain issues

This hypnosis immunisation claim is now in the public domain.

Once somebody shares a message on social media its in the public domain. The original poster can complain about this to the person that put it there, but essentially “the cat’s out of the bag” The post is now causing a wave of concern among other colleagues who begin to ask questions about the validity of such claims.

The concerned parties then discover that this person advocating ignoring WHO advice is a member of a leadership hypnosis group.

This group makes the following bold statement on their website, claiming to be

“The leaders in the field of hypnosis”

For those who like attention to detail, note that they are not saying “leaders” but “The leaders”

On seeing this claim the person makes contact to see if they can get some form of redress to their concerns about duty of care. Over the next few weeks others begin asking the leadership group if this is acceptable behaviour from one of their members. As the group states they have an ethics group, it seems reasonable that this matter can be easily addressed

Racist and plagiarist claims?

One of those asking questions has a medical background, is a published author on talk therapy, and is himself a victim of covid 19. He starts to voice concerns online about what he has heard. He knows the original poster as this poster has sought to engage him in a professional capacity in days gone by to teach students.

Rather than address any concerns the hypnotherapist begins to engage in a personal attack calling the author a racist and a plagiarist which comes as some surprise to the author. The covid immunisation enthusiast also refuses to answer any questions about this matter and deletes any comments/questions about this matter online. He does however decide to create a video online talking about “integrity” in hypnosis.

The hypnosis leadership group also continues to refuse answering any questions, despite many polite requests for clarification on the matter. Others making similar complaints are issued with blanket word for word replies designed by committee which completely ignore addressing the original concerns.

Some making complaints are then also told

“Don’t send your complaint to person X or Y in the group, only send it to me!”

This seems odd as one of those on the “don’t communicate list” is the founder of the group and another is the day to day administrator for the leadership group. It becomes increasingly clear that there are all manner of divisions and opinions within the group and even though they have been in existance for many yers they are far from organised. Despite this they continue to promote themselves as “The leaders” for the field.

Public v private stances?

An internal leaked communication from the head of this group’s ethics committee says

“These people (those seeking answers about this behaviour) are adopting positions of judgement on what we do (or don’t do) rather than wanting to be part of creating a solution to the many issues we want to address.”

This private position regarding not addressing member’s covid claims seems somewhat at odds with the group’s public declaration. The only caution seems to be about protecting the image of the group in a suggested leadership capacity.

“We are opposed to making such claims. No hypnosis methods have been researched to show effectiveness against contracting covid 19. We suggest caution about any individual making such claims.“

E-mails here, there and everyone!

Many such leaks are now commonplace as the hypnosis leadership group has a policy of mass viewings of e-mails, so hundreds of people all see the same information. Once again a number of people become so concerned that they now talk to others outside the group to voice these concerns as the global death toll rises and lockdown restrictions become standard across the globe.

The hypnosis leadership group closes ranks and defend the poster, who now claims the communication was always private and its perfectly within his rights to advise his patients to ignore WHO advice and any scrutiny regarding duty of care doesn’t count as he didn’t post it in the public domain. He is now more focussed on creating and selling his new persuasion products to the wider public.

A sizable portion of the leadership group are also clearly concerned and issue a formal statement on the group’s website distancing themselves from the original poster. Others question the group’s inability to hold member’s behaviours to account, even though in theory they have an internal ethics committee. Many now suggest that such committees are essentially purely for show and nothing more.

The hypnotherapist’s post is of course not private and even the head of the group’s ethics committee privately admits this in here communications with other group members , but publicly refuses to mention this detail in an attempt to protect her member. The original poster feels suitably insulated by the group and there’s very little or no chance of him having to account for his comments. He enthusiastically proclaims in one of his e-mails to the ethics leader –

“Bravo to you and the others”

This story starts to catch fire on social media, but the group continues to close ranks, getting their stories straight and now declines to answer any questions about the matter, in the hope that others will give up asking about this issue. In the meantime the infection rate across the globe is now in the millions with hundreds of thousands dying.

The masks that the hypnotherapist claims offer little or no protection and now there is a legal requirement for these in most countries. It remains unclear if he continues to maintain his own assertion about masks offering little or no protection and whether he now complies with the standard directive from the World Health Organisation on this matter.

50 days and counting the group has yet to address any of the complaints about this matter…

What happened to all these characters?

The hypnotherapist who made the covid claims continued to avoid any quesions and instead started to create videos attacking other colleagues in the field proclaiming his own sense of integrity while doing so

The leadership group and head of ethics kept their heads down and months on never replied to original complaints. The group however continues to urge existing members to recommend new members to its mission to be the leaders in the field. They seem unaware that many of their exiating and ex members will keep asking questions about this matter during the global health pandemic. The longer they duck answering, the worse the image for the group.

The whistle blower who originally called out the group and the covid technique enthusiast remains seriously unwell with covid 19.

This could never happen in real life could it?