A legal case of a man complaining of an extraordinary sexual disorder following stage hypnosis

Abstract

In 1997, the author was involved as an expert witness in a civil case in which a man claimed to have suffered from an overwhelming urge to have sexual intercourse with his furniture and domestic appliances following his participation in a stage hypnosis show. In addition, in the subsequent months and years he reported an extraordinary variety of bizarre symptoms and problems which received a range of diagnoses including major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizo-affective disorder and paranoid psychosis. The two psychiatrists who represented the plaintiff considered that his problems had been caused by two factors: (i) the stage hypnotist's suggestion that the volunteers would feel extremely sexy when they went to bed that night, and (ii) the plaintiff's not being properly taken out of his trance at the end of the show. They also asserted that the plaintiff had been traumatized by his experience either during the show itself or afterwards when he was indulging in sexual behaviour with his household effects. The author, who appeared for the defendant, considered that the plaintiff was clearly malingering in his claims to have been afflicted with his unusual sexual compulsions; however, there was a case for considering his more long-lasting problems as belonging in the category of factitious disorder. The trial took place more than four years after the event, the plaintiff reporting further symptoms. On the fifth day of the proceedings the hearing collapsed when the plaintiff's funding was withdrawn. Copyright © 2000 British Society of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis