lawsuits?

[JockRelaxer]

For those of you who haven't heard...

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/10/07/florida_high_school_suicides_followed_hypnosis_by_principal_lawsuit_settled.html

This had me wondering if anyone in the wmm community has stories of hypnotists being sued successfully, or, even worse, in terms of recreational erotic hypnosis. A search in the forum for "lawsuit" yields no relevant results.
I've always viewed the public's reluctance to accept hypnosis as a real phenomenon would preclude any lawsuits over hypnotic malpractice from being successful.

what sort of precautions can we take online to prevent this from happening? Or should we even be concerned. I would never want to endanger anybody, but i can't give everyone individual attention.
Thoughts?

[JockRelaxer]

I should also note that nobody has EVER complained about my files suggestions. :D

[Endo]

Aside from having some authoritarian ruling body that has to document and review every single file that's posted to the site in a process akin to peer review for scientific journals, I'm guessing there's not much that could be done.

Sure, you could require some sort of professional license (I'm not sure what that is for hypnotherapists) in order to have file-posting privileges, but that would require revealing your "real" identity.

I'd be far more worried about abusive 'tists on this site than I would be about accidental whatevers based on how well the file was carried out.

[RationalCat]

It sounds like he was fined for practicing without a license rather than anything contributing to suicide. Even still, one person on this forum lost his complete motivation for life after listening to cock sucking files, and another became suicidal after listening to Curse force gay. The problem with these forums is that they BLAME THE VICTIM and have an "anything goes" attitude instead of having empathy and understanding that identity changes are traumatic and incompatible with some people. When people say the files are making them depressed, people fail the basic human requirement of having empathy.

There are also two feminization files that give depression at the thought of being a boy. The real way to transition would be to remove social anxiety, not to become depressed.

[ProfessorPig]

as others have pointed out, in this case it was about practicing medicine without a license. most states don't even have that law. i have heard of several lawsuits that were referenced in some of the books on hypnosis i have read. but they were all related to medical hypnosis. i have heard of several instances of stage hypnotists causing serious medical problems through abnormal reactions, but i have not heard of any lawsuits from it. that does not mean they are not out there though. lawsuits against stage hypnotists would be the ones that would be most relevant to erotic hypnotists.

if you are concerned about it, be sure to check your state and local laws. most states have no laws on the books about hypnosis, florida is an odd exception.

edit: a quick google search turned up a couple results. there are at least a couple cases out there. i also turned up this story in my search...
http://www.startribune.com/tevlin-a-work-party-a-hypnotist-and-an-orgasm-event/282653491/

[MN_FriendlyGuy]

To be clear... it is NOT the hypnotist being sued for the instance cited in ProfessorPig's note.

...i also turned up this story in my search...
http://www.startribune.com/tevlin-a-work-party-a-hypnotist-and-an-orgasm-event/282653491/

Instead, it's the organization that hosted the hypnotist's stage performance that's being sued.

[JockRelaxer]

I have heard of stage hypnotists being sued for physical injuries and even death--supposedly, about 15 years ago a woman ran off stage--but i haven't heard of one successfully sued for psychological damages.
Rationalcat, i agree with you, in the way subjects interpret suggestions can vary considerably from person to person and that is one of my concerns.
I, myself, have suffered from depression while listening to certain files without there being any direct suggests to do so. I'm not sure if my first listen was during a painful era of my life or my subconscious mind interprets the suggestions in a way that pervades beyond my sexual self. Even though i have listened to them repeatedly in a waking state and i find the suggestions very arousing, i still become inexplicably depressed the next day after listening.
I was in denial for some time that there was any link, but I have accepted, now, that the subconscious can interpret suggestions in a completely different way than the conscious, and quite frankly that scares me sometimes when i think about throwing my files out into the world.

I'd hope if there ever was a case of someone being sued for consensual erotic hypnosis we'd all know about it.

[cardigan]

I think that there is a disclaimer on WMM that listening to any files on here is at your own discretion and that the website cannot be made responsible for anything on here.

Making recreational hypnotic files is not - I understand - against the law in the US. Only practising medicine without a license.

When you sign up to enroll as a user here, it clearly states that you must be of legal age, and you probably acknowledge the fact that WMM cannot be made responsible for any weird side effects that occur.

In Denmark where I live anybody can call himself a hypnotist and can treat anybody that wants treatment. It's not a regulated profession being a hypnotist. So this is a very relaxed attitude - quite different from what is the case in many states in the US. Here a hypnotist cannot treat anybody without a referral from a physician - except in the case of smoking cessation, weight reduction and af couple of other "harmless" things. So you might say it's more exciting being a hypnotist in many European countries than in America.

All that being said: the principal did treat a lot of pupils without the necessary referrals, which was his mistake. And it's impossible to link the 2 suicides to his hypnosis sessions. They might have been very troubled souls already with a clear tendency to commit suicide anyway? The third person died in a car crash, I think.

I think that basically the principal lacked the training and certification that would have made him realize that he was breaking the law. But he did his best anyway. He just should've had the proper training. And he should've obtained the necessary permissions in his area to practice hypnosis.

Cardigan

[rafaela]

There are also two feminization files that give depression at the thought of being a boy. The real way to transition would be to remove social anxiety, not to become depressed.

Yes.