Dutch Prisons Use Psychics to Help Prisoners Contact the Dead

Paul van Bree has been hired by prisons in the Netherlands to help prisoners contact and make peace with dead relatives:

He has claimed that by talking to both the prisoner and the prisoner's dead parents he can discover key psychological insights to help the prison authorities rehabilitate criminals.

"With my antennae I sometimes reveal more than a psychologist or a prison welfare officer," he said. "My work can be compared to mental health care in widest sense of the words." [...]

The Dutch employment service has also looked beyond the normal to use "regression therapy" and tarot cards to help the jobless.

Uncooperative welfare claimants have been told they will lose benefits unless they accept the guidance of a regression therapist to help them get in touch with their past lives.


Link via Andrew Stuttaford | Photo: Getty

This is seriously unethical.

It would be bad enough to feed the fantasies of the gullible, but forcing it on people is harmful and essentially violating religious freedom as well.

These people need to use real mental health professionals to deal with problems, and not foist cheap frauds off onto a vulnerable population.
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The Justice department of the Netherlands has never heard of van Bree.

The whole article was based upon van Bree's website.
It's all made up by van Bree to give himself legitimacy.
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If you don't believe me check this article:
http://www.hpdetijd.nl/2010-03-24/justitie-laat-paragnost-gevangenen-behandelen

The Telegraph article was a rewrite of that article (and some others) which itself was based on van Bree's website.

Incredulous, bad & sensationalist reporting from all sides. Conned by a psychic; congratulations.
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I'm so incensed that I forgot to mention that the regression bit was based on - wait for it... - one case.

Think for a moment. Do you really believe they could get away with such a policy that's so absurd and abhorrent?

Really?
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This news story is not all it's cracked up to be. The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe podcast first reported it and then backtracked after further investigation revealed sloppy reporting and factual errors. Go to their podcast to get more info. It's on this weeks episode.
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