Technology and sciences show themselves as massively independent entities, or so it appears on the surface; however, for a firm believer in logic, they are two sides of the same coin. Science has stamped its approval on what technology creates. But there are numerous fake children of sciences, walking around and convincing people about their authenticity.

The side vaults carry papers on lucid dreaming, hypnosis, regression, Kirlian Photography, measurement of electricity from the finger tips to analyze the emotional pattern and more; I don’t recall the technical name for the last one, but at one point or the other I have had curiosity enough to put enough hours researching on them and meet some people not only involved in them, but making a career out of one or more. It isn’t at all surprising nor do I have any authority to question the sanity of bastards in science (by bastards I mean the concept and not the men involved), because in the times of Plato people called Sun the God and acid his curse; in 2008, people have calibrated new myths to convince people who don’t believe in Sun as their God, but primarily want to believe in something, until there is a reason against it.

Like the league of such people who play with beliefs in people, is a class of people who are medically qualified to be the doctors of mind; the psychotherapists, counselors, who work on the model of questioning. The patient might take a moment to understand what the question is about and desperately look for an answer because the question comes from a credible source. Just like we always have the want to believe, our mind is receptive to any answer, if we don’t have one yet. A process of therapy can be very experimental, especially if one is dealing with a therapist who is inexperienced, or inspite of having all the experience, is sitting behind his desk to exploit. This kind of exploitation can come in different colors, for money, for pleasure. If you follow the petitions in US closely, fake therapists lose millions of dollars every year, trying to defend suits filed against them. India isn’t there yet, creating a massive scope for exploitation.

I will go through the forms of exploitation the broad personality type of such therapists.

Kinds of exploitation:

1. Greed for money: Greed might drive the therapist to invent situations in the patient’s mind. The patient starts implanting the problems/issues in FMS (False Memory Syndrome).

2. For pleasure or control: Some therapists see this opportunity to gain enough control over the patient. This is pure sadistic pleasure, a disorder in the therapist himself. The patient is a sitting duck.

3. For physical pleasure: Having pure control over the patient and having implanted the traumatic childhood thoughts in the patient, the therapist can derive sexual pleasure, either mentally or physically (though this will be an extreme case and a therapist might be exposed).

4. Ignorance: Upon having piled the degrees from the college and rote under the therapeutic techniques, the therapist might use the tools, without connecting with the patient in reality. A formidable set of questions might be more harmful for the patient than actually being any help.

In all the cases one can comprehend that a patient approaches a therapist only when everything else has failed. There is a huge vacuum in her, waiting to be filled. Distress, pressure, marriage, trauma, the reason can be anything, but she is a victim waiting to be nabbed. Among all the above types, please beware of the therapists who talk of regression and hypnosis at the first go. A regular man, anemic of regular emotions will seek any solution, fancy ideas like hypnosis might seem to be very bright, but all you might get out of it is the ideas the therapist silos down your brain. Again FMS.

References

(1) FMS (False Memory Syndrome): “A condition in which a person’s identity and interpersonal relationships are centered around a memory of traumatic experience which is objectively false but in which the person strongly believes. Note that the syndrome is not characterized by false memories as such. We all have memories that are inaccurate. Rather, the syndrome may be diagnosed when the memory is so deeply ingrained that it orients the individual’s entire personality and lifestyle, in turn disrupting all sorts of other adaptive behavior. The analogy to personality disorder is intentional. False Memory Syndrome is especially destructive because the person assiduously avoids confrontation with any evidence that might challenge the memory. Thus it takes on a life of its own, encapsulated and resistant to correction. The person may become so focused on memory that he or she may be effectively distracted from coping with the real problems in his or her life.” – Dr. John F. Kihlstrom, professor of psychology at Yale University.

(2) Read more about court cases in hearing across USA at www.fmsfonline.org