Problem
Case of a young man who may have been abused by a member of the clergy.
A 36 year old male visits you for counseling--you're in your first year of full-time work as a therapist and have a supervisor that you consult with each week. The client tells you that his last therapist has recently retired and moved to Florida. The client reports that he has had periods of depression and relationship instability since he was a teenager. His work with his last therapist has led him to believe that he may have been sexually abused by his parish priest when he was 8 or 9--the client has vague memories of being uncomfortable around the priest when he served as an altar boy and currently does not go to church because priests "make him nervous." In addition to this, the client has recently read in the local newspaper that the priest (now in his 80s) has been accused of sexually abusing other boys in the parish and is under investigation. The man tells you that he has read several books that describe that he can uncover or clarify his vague memories through hypnotic regression: He wants you to hypnotize him in order to recover his possible memories of abuse.
What actions would you take in this case and what concerns do you have?