Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction New Age and human-potential movements Bad Cannstatt, Stuttgart, Germany · 2015

Germany: self-styled 'depth-psychological hypnoanalyst' convicted of abusing two clients under hypnosis

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

self-described depth-psychological hypnoanalyst running a private practice in Stuttgart, in a counseling/treatment relationship with paying clients

Organization

No organization assigned

Spiritual nexus

A client seeking treatment specifically for the aftermath of childhood sexual abuse was placed under hypnosis by the therapist she had turned to for help, and abused inside that same treatment relationship — the exploitation of a legally recognized care relationship was itself a statutory element of the conviction.

  • Spiritual healing or treatment

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. Date in cited record · conviction and sentence

    Amtsgericht Bad Cannstatt, Stuttgart, Germany. A 63-year-old man calling himself a depth-psychological hypnoanalyst was convicted of sexual abuse committed by exploiting a counseling, treatment, or care relationship, against two of his clients. In the first case (mid-May 2012) he placed a 43-year-old client under hypnosis during treatment for trauma from childhood sexual abuse and then abused her; in the second (mid-May 2013) he made unwanted advances against a client being treated for depression and weight issues. He was sentenced to two years three months' imprisonment, with no suspension of sentence.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • induced hypnosis used during a treatment session with a client being treated for childhood sexual-abuse trauma
  • exploitation of a counseling, treatment, or care relationship (a statutory aggravating element under German law) with a second, vulnerable client seeking help for depression and being overweight

Primary record

Sources

high quality reporting disposition "Stuttgarter Therapeut verurteilt: Hypnotiseur vergeht sich an Klientinnen", Stuttgarter Nachrichten, February 2015.

Report of the Amtsgericht Bad Cannstatt conviction, sentence, and both clients' treatment context.

Related record

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