POSSIBLE LEGAL ISSUES???
I’ll very much be looking forward to seeing and experiencing the final result of this project, namely a “Psychological” Ride devised by Television Mentalist, Hypnotist and Magical Mind Bender Derren Brown which is planned to launch at Thorpe Park (Theme Park) in March 2016…
Read the full Story as it appeared in the Daily Mirror Today here:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/derren-brown-creates-psychological-theme-6705618
More interesting will be to find out if the nature of the end result is something that should be legally licensed/regulated by The 1952 Hypnotism Act as per: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6and1Eliz2/15-16/46
And if it is, I wonder how they will go about getting permisison/license granted for each new show (ride) and Audience (riders) and how insurance will work etc…
After all Section Six of the 1952 Hypnotism Act says:
Section 6 Interpretation.
In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires it, the following expression shall have the meaning hereby assigned to it, that is to say:—
“hypnotism” includes hypnotism, mesmerism and any similar act or process which produces or is intended to produce in any person any form of induced sleep or trance in which the susceptibility of the mind of that person to suggestion or direction is increased or intended to be increased but does not include hypnotism, mesmerism or any such similar act or process which is self-induced.
THOUGHTS = If they try going for the “All Hypnosi is Self-Hypnosis” loophole that will be pretty sad and remove much of the power of the Placebo Effect, Belief and Expectancy that are sure to be key elements to this working. Although the biggest key of all will be SUGGESTION and arguably as all Suggestions create some form of Trance it could I reckon be easily be argued that Derren Browns ride should be regualated under the 1952 Hypnotism Act.
There are also a whole host of other legal arguments that could be brought up under the 1952 Hypnotism Act about such a ride if it indeed does use anything that could be argued to be SUGGESTION, Trance Inducing or Hypnotic in any manner..
BUT HEY THAT WOULD ALSO BE AWESOME PUBLICITY FOR THE RIDE.
In any event I very much look forward to finding out and experiencing the final result.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/derren-brown-creates-psychological-theme-6705618
I also have my concerns that if its billed as a “Psychological” Ride then it could well lead to claims from people claiming they have been “Psychologically” harmed by particiapting.
Whether those would ever be valid claims or not is irelevant to the harm such a claim could do to the Stage Hypnosis and Hypnotism Industrys, as with Derren being percieved as a Hypnotist and the article clearly stating the ride will be “Psychological” and involve amongst other things “Suggestion” a potentially huge can of worms could suddenly be opened.
Anyhow this is all purely conjecture at this stage, as until the ride opens we won’t know whether it should be (or is) regulated by the 1952 Hypnotism Act and we won’t be able to assess what the potential (if any) Health and Safety Risks of potential “Psychological” harm may or may not be.
This will be very interesting to keep an eye on for sure!
But knowing Derren he will no doubt have a twist that means all will be OK, well at least I hope he does!
For more information on the Potential Dangers and Very Real Psychological Harm that can possibly be caused by Hypnosis and Suggestion Techniques visit my website of www.magicalguru.com
Then go to the “Shop” and look for “The Transparency Template” as per:
I also fear that such an attraction may attract lots of wannabe Hypnotists, especially those Magicians and Mentalists who have read a pamphlet on so called “Street Hpynotists” and now think they are Safe (when most often they are not as they don’t have a clue) to go out Hypnotizing People.
I fear this as such types have started showing up more at mine and my colleagues live Stage Hypnosis Shows and then try to Hypnotize people before and after the show, despite the fact they are not Licensed and not insured to do so, let alone that most of them don’t really have a clue what they are doing,
And in that regards such “Street Hypnosis” that I fear may occur as a direct result of people visiting the attraction as it has Derrens name attached would most certainly be classed as ILLEGAL without the correct Insurances, permissions/licenses and risk assesments being in place as is illustrated at this link: