I have a reaction to "The Sleep of Reason" that is probably not at all typical. I am a trained psychotherapist and have also been trained in hypnotherapy. Because of this, I spotted many mistakes in the show that the average person would never see. So, the notion that a person could be hypnotized to do evil like in this show is pure nonsense...believe me. After all, if I could have used it to steal or kill, I certainly would have tried....or at least considered it!!
When the show begins, a student walks into a lecture hall and shoots the professor--killing him on the spot. Later, the killer has no recollection of the event and Petrocelli thinks that perhaps someone used hypnosis to make the guy kill. Again, I must point out this isn't possible, as surely SOME hypnotists over the years would have done something like this...and there are no known cases even remotely like this one.
My complaint about this one is obvious. The writer didn't do their homework and as a result they spread misinformation. However, I am pretty sure that most folks (even non-professionals) would see this show and assume it's all a lot of mumbo-jumbo.
By the way, at one point Petrocelli claimed that the killer had an IQ of 161. While this was possible back in 1975, today's accepted and widely used tests (the Wechsler IQ tests) top out at 150. Also, if you care, many mental health professionals believe that a high or low IQ score actually has little meaning other than the person is good or bad at taking IQ tests!
When the show begins, a student walks into a lecture hall and shoots the professor--killing him on the spot. Later, the killer has no recollection of the event and Petrocelli thinks that perhaps someone used hypnosis to make the guy kill. Again, I must point out this isn't possible, as surely SOME hypnotists over the years would have done something like this...and there are no known cases even remotely like this one.
My complaint about this one is obvious. The writer didn't do their homework and as a result they spread misinformation. However, I am pretty sure that most folks (even non-professionals) would see this show and assume it's all a lot of mumbo-jumbo.
By the way, at one point Petrocelli claimed that the killer had an IQ of 161. While this was possible back in 1975, today's accepted and widely used tests (the Wechsler IQ tests) top out at 150. Also, if you care, many mental health professionals believe that a high or low IQ score actually has little meaning other than the person is good or bad at taking IQ tests!
