Psychotherapy, suicide and foreseeable risks of decompensation by the vulnerable

Utilising the findings and recommendations in a 2010 coronial inquest in New South Wales into the death of Rebekah Lawrence, a person who had recently completed a personal development course incorporating confronting techniques of regression, run by persons without formal psychotherapeutic skills, this column scrutinises issues arising in relation to unregistered therapies. The evidentiary bases upon which coronial findings of suicide can be made are also examined, along with the effects of the ancient presumption against findings of suicide. In addition, the existence of regulatory controls, as recommended by the New South Wales Deputy State Coroner, are discussed. The grim conclusion arrived at is that the potential exists for further deaths of vulnerable people in the aftermath of the wielding of powerful psychological techniques by persons ill equipped to do so and to identify and respond to the sequelae of their therapies.