Informed Consent and Uninformed Clinical Practice: Dissociation, Hypnosis and False Memories

Abstract

My brief article (Lynn, 2001) on hidden observers and informed consent seems to have jangled a raw nerve among a group of commentators whose names are a virtual “who’s who” of the proponents of the use of hypnosis for memory recovery and of ego-state and dissociation-based therapies and theories. Dr. Kluft is right: “Proponents of paradigms often conduct themselves as if they were the agents of the manifest destiny of that paradigm, charged with sweeping away all that preceded or opposes their paradigm of choice (Kluft, 2001). ” This is a cogent characterization of the commentators’ responses to my article. It therefore should come as no surprise to the reader that my suggestion to provide patients with informed consent regarding the metaphorical nature of hidden observers, inner advisors, ego states and the like, was rejected by the commentators.