The most high profile case, which I was not directly involved in, has been Gates versus McKenna.  The defendant, Paul McKenna, is a very well known stage hypnotist who used to have a show on television.  He was sued by Christopher Gates who claimed that after participating in one of his shows in 1994, he developed a schizophrenic illness.  In accordance with my prediction, in constructing their story, the claimant's side felt it necessary to go some lengths to try to convince the judge that Mr. Gates had been put into a state of trance by Mr. McKenna.  The mantle of the expert witness for the defence naturally fell on Dr. Graham Wagstaff, the leading non-state theorist of hypnosis in Britain.  Mr. McKenna won the case.  At least some media reports of his performance in the witness box were very favourable.  In his summing-up, the judge, Mr. Justice Toulson, stated this: 'By taking part in the show the plaintiff consented to participating in what were no more than a series of silly sketches, harmless in themselves'.

Thus Mr. McKenna emerged as the unlikely public champion of socio-cognitive theory in Britain.  But I should mention that a few stage hypnotists have re-discovered the original findings of Professor T.X. Barber, replicated by social and cognitive psychologists since, on the true role of the hypnotic induction in enhancing suggestibility: any procedure will suffice so long as it increases the motivation and expectations of the participant.  So if the local authority refuses to grant licences for stage hypnosis, then stage hypnotists can still do their show but without using hypnosis.

The Home Office Panel of Experts

Before either of these cases reached court, the British Home Office had already set up a Panel of Experts to study evidence for the alleged dangers of stage hypnosis.  The members of this group were two psychologists and two psychiatrists who had no particular expertise in hypnosis and therefore no prejudices either way.  Evidence was invited from anyone with an interest in the debate.  The report and recommendations of this panel were announced in October 1995.  It concluded that stage hypnosis does not pose a significant mental health risk that would warrant its prohibition.  I did not say to my colleagues at that time 'I told you so'.  But I could have done.  After consulting a wide range of people, the Panel brought out a revised set of Model Conditions for the conduct of stage hypnosis.

Claims of assault during hypnosis

The cases that I have so far talked about have been civil actions.  I have been involved in a number of criminal cases concerning stories of assaults during hypnosis.  This is one such case.  The complainant was a woman who invited a lay hypnotist, a man with no qualifications at all, into her bedroom. She lay on the bed and, with just a candle for illumination, he hypnotised her to stop smoking.  The allegation was that during these proceedings he indecently assaulted her.

What story do we tell that helps us explain the following anomalies: she knew what was going on and was repulsed by what the hypnotist was doing; she felt paralysed and could not stop him, either physically or verbally, yet she was able to check the more advanced probing of his hands by tightly squeezing her thighs together; she was not responding to his suggestions to relax or to forget what was happening; she responded to his instruction that once it was all over she would give him a kiss on his cheek; she was unable to re-join her husband downstairs afterwards, but could only give vent to her distress once she had fled to her neighbour's house.

One story requires us to consider the subtle interplay of a range of influences that are part of the study of human psychology.  But such a story may leave some people feeling dissatisfied and needing something a bit more special.  Thus we can engage in the tautological exercise of inventing something called a hypnotic trance and conveniently endowing it with all the properties necessary to explain whatever we find incongruous or puzzling.

The story that this woman was hypnotised would, I dare say, be the one she and her husband preferred as they struggled to make sense of it all; and it was certainly the explanation preferred by the newspapers.  I did not attend the trial but I read the newspaper account in which the judge, while sentencing the culprit, was quoted as saying that he was 'dangerously good at hypnosis'.

Criminal cases are different from civil cases as far as the submission of expert evidence is concerned.  In Britain, as in some other countries, criminal cases are argued in court on extreme adversarial lines.  That is, experts are summoned by both sides and, unless the testimony happens to be favourable to his or her client, the role of the opposing barrister is to discredit the evidence of the other side by foul means or fair.  Such has been the case for civil actions until some very recent reforms in which the sides are urged to have one agreed expert.  (Goodness knows what will happen next time there is one involving hypnosis.)  In the case of civil actions the expert witness is able to prepare a lengthy report that the judge will study in order to arrive at a decision.  With criminal cases the jury does not see the expert witness's report, but they listen to his or her evidence from the witness box.  Hence it is in the interests of the side the expert witness is representing that the evidence is kept fairly simple - at least not unnecessarily complicated.

In one case, a gynaecologist of some eminence had over a dozen charges of indecent assault and one of rape brought against him by some of his female patients.  He was using hypnosis with them, sometimes during internal examinations, without the presence of a third person.  I was instructed by the defence to provide two reports.  In my first report I was asked to answer a long series of questions such as 'What is the nature of hypnosis?', 'What are commonly used induction procedures?' 'How does hypnosis differ from relaxation?', 'Do subjects of hypnosis lose their will power?' and 'How is memory affected by hypnosis?'  In the second report I was asked to consider each complainant's charge in turn and discuss what might have happened if the charge were false.  Naturally my two reports were of considerable length and complexity.

After submitting them I was invited to a conference of the defence lawyers and their client.  This was in an historic part of London known as Temple where lawyers have plied their trade for centuries.  We all sat round a table on which I could see my two reports - monuments of learned knowledge and meticulous scholarship.

'We shan't be using these', the barrister said, nodding towards my masterpieces.  Summoning all my assertive skills I looked him in the eye and said 'OK, fine.' However, I agreed to look at a summary they had made of my first report and, after I had made some minor corrections, it was disclosed to the prosecution.  I was also asked to attend some of the trial to give advice to the defence and possibly to appear in the witness box.

During the 3 days that I attended the trial I was virtually ignored (but again well-paid) and at the end of the third day, the prosecution case having been completed, I was told by the defence barrister that I was surplus to requirements.  What he actually said was, 'Well, unless something goes horribly wrong we won't be calling you'. In fact the only witness he did call was the defendant himself.  What seemed to be happening was this.  In his cross-examination of the complainants, the defence lawyer put great emphasis on the fact that the assaults in question happened many years ago and their memory was now likely to be very unreliable.  Indeed their memories did at times prove to be inconsistent with such recorded facts as their hospital attendances and treatment.  The expert witness brought by the prosecution was a lay hypnotherapist who was coaxed by the defending barrister into saying that people's memory for things that happen during hypnosis is poor and people can have false memories for what happens during hypnosis.  This is all the defence needed and the jury were spared any further instruction on the factual details of hypnosis.

But it was all to no avail: the defendant was found guilty on eight counts of indecent assault, though on the charge of rape he was pronounced not guilty.  He received a sentence of six years imprisonment, a severe punishment.

This obstetrician was more recently tried for another charge of rape, again allegedly committed many years previously.  One story of how the matter came to light was that he asked the husband of one of his ex-patients to do some building repairs to his house.  While the man was there he was amazed at the resemblance between his own daughter and the doctor's.  DNA tests eventually confirmed that the doctor was indeed the real father of this man's daughter (and, moreover, had delivered her).  The wife claimed no recollection of having had intercourse with the doctor, and as he used hypnosis (actually relaxation) one story was that he had raped her under hypnosis and suggested that she would have no memory of this.  He initially denied any impropriety but then claimed that he and the woman had had 'sex games' but she had kept her panties on.  (The doctor was a leading expert on infertility treatment.)  When the 'not guilty' verdict was announced, he went down on his knees and thanked his God.  But he would have done better to have thanked the British Criminal Justice System, which forbad disclosure to the jury of all his previous convictions.  Indeed it has since been revealed that the complainant was told by her lawyer to make up the story that the discovery of the identity of her child's father was triggered when her husband visited the doctor's home.  This was because she was not allowed to disclose to the Court the real trigger, namely that she learnt of his case in the newspapers and on television, but it was too late for her complaint to be included in the first trial. 

When giving evidence in court we swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  Now in real life people obviously tell lies and in some of my stories some people have certainly lied.  But can the truth, the whole truth, ever be told?  Instead, do we not tell stories that are, to a greater or lesser extent, only based on real events?  Stories about stories, and stories about stories about stories, and so on.  Let us not forget also the stories that we tell ourselves in order to make acceptable sense of our lives and our world.  Our capacity to tell the truth is inevitably constrained, not just by our knowledge, memory and language, but by the scripts or templates that are available to us and that suit our purpose.  And this is also the case with the listeners who, even as we speak, are constructing their own version of our story.

I am telling you my stories with certain themes in mind that suit my own selfish purposes: the tale of the prophet, unheeded in his own country; the humble scholar, clinging to the rock of unassuming truth...and so on.

Not the story of Snow White

Now for someone else's story, one that I find very interesting.  It is told by Dr. Kleinhauz and Dr. Beran in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis in 1981.  It concerns a teenager who was admitted to hospital after participating in a stage hypnosis show.  She had fallen into a deep stupor and could not be roused.  Neurological and other medical investigations were negative, whereupon a number of psychiatric diagnoses were made without reference to her stage hypnosis experience.  She was like this for 6 days and the staff were beginning to grow weary of her.  She was then seen by the main author, a psychiatrist and expert in hypnosis, whose story was that she was in a pathological post-hypnotic state.  He then began the gradual process of establishing rapport and dehypnotising her.  After 4 hours the patient recovered.  She then underwent several months of psychotherapy.  Follow-up over the years disclosed that she was reintegrated into the community and was preparing for marriage.  This story was instrumental in assisting the banning of stage hypnosis in Israel.

No disrespect, no criticism of any kind, and no trivialising of these events are intended now, but may I be permitted to be just a little provocative?  We can all recognise this as a traditional story about good triumphing over evil.  There is the villain who, incompetently and uncaringly humiliates the young girl, the victim, causing her to fall into a deep stupor.  When everything and everyone else has given up on her, comes the hero who restores her with his great wisdom, skill and kindliness.  She lives happily ever after.  There is a moral to this story and the wicked villain and his kind are banished from the land.

Now, as in many good stories, towards the end of the tale, when everything seems to be going well, and the young lady has not seen her therapist for some months, there is a crisis.  She is suddenly back in hospital, once more in a deep stupor.  Has she fallen foul of a stage hypnotist again?  No.  There is no obvious villain this time.  How then is the story to be resolved?  Is the theme of good triumphing over evil to be rescued?  Yes.  This girl is engaging in manipulation.  This time her state of entrancement is self-induced in order to control and punish her therapist for what she sees as his rejection of her; thus she attempts to regain his special attention.  All turns out well again but clearly this is not the story of Snow White.  And clearly, while the moral of the tale requires villains, victims and heroes, heroines are dispensable.

Another modern day story of witchcraft and wizardry

Now another of my own stories. Mr. Jones is a teacher at a residential school. In 1997 he was visited by the police and advised that they were investigating allegations of sexual abuse. These had been made by two young men who had been pupils at the school some years previously. It appears that at least one of the complainants had a grudge against Mr. Jones. It was alleged that Mr. Jones was known to have practised witchcraft in the past and on a number of occasions he had, unbeknownst to them, bewitched the complainants when they were young boys and cast magic spells upon them. One magic spell had made them believe that they were homosexual and that homosexual activity was normal behaviour. Another magic spell was that they believed that they had been rendered invisible. In this way Mr. Jones was able to persuade them to take off their clothes while he photographed them in the nude.

The last time I spoke to Mr. Jones he had yet to be charged with anything, but he was still suspended from his job as a teacher. He was by then out-of-pocket by 10,000 pounds because of lost income and fees for legal proceedings.

How is it that, as we approach the 21st century, our law enforcement agencies could accept such a story? I have changed some key words. For 'witchcraft' read 'hypnotism'; for 'bewitched' read 'put into a trance'; and for 'magic spell', read 'hypnotic suggestion'.

Epilogue

What lessons may we draw from all of this?  I suppose it depends on the way the stories are told.  My way of telling them suggests this.  We may not be able to tell the truth, but some stories may be more truthful accounts than others.  That is, the ideas we have, the language that we use, and the stories that we tell can be governed by and be accountable to agreed rules of logic that are applied to shared observations.  This is the way of science, but it is also the way we regularly think and communicate effectively in everyday life.  And science has the capacity to correct and improve the stories that it tells.

Now, there are certain ideas that are so overvalued and endowed with such authority, that, particularly when they are undisciplined and ungoverned by such rules, they may be put to whatever purpose the user wishes.  Such concepts include hypnosis and the hypnotic trance, the unconscious mind and, more recently, ego states and the right brain.  In this way, the stories that they are allowed to tell quickly run to absurdity, occasionally in exponential fashion.  Thus we have the false memory disaster, the ritual Satanic abuse conspiracy, mass abductions by extra-terrestrial beings, and the epidemic of multiple personality disorder, something to which, mercifully, British people have shown a commendable immunity, popular preference running heavily in favour of possessing just one personality at the very most. But all that is another story.