If you’ve been a victim of deepfake pornography then hypnotherapy and psychotherapy could help you to recover your mental health
Deepfake porn is, perhaps, the newest form of sexual violence and its consequences can be just as severe as a sexual assault in ‘real life’.
Deepfake porn is the newest problem to have affected my clients. It’s currently predominantly a problem for celebrities and for teenagers but people of all ages can be victims too. I’ve recently worked with a few victims of deepfake porn and have used a combination of psychotherapy and hypnotherapy to help them to recover their mental health and sense of self-worth.
Perhaps you’re here because you’ve been a victim of deepfake porn. Perhaps you’re here because your son or daughter needs help with the issue. You might even be here because its your own child who has been caught creating or distributing deepfake pornography. In any case, I’m extremely sorry that you’re having to struggle with these themes. It’s a problem I hadn’t even heard of until relatively recently. It’s now something I am hearing of more often, in my work with clients, and I’ve come to understand just how damaging it can be – for victims and perpetrators alike.
The consequences of deepfake porn can be life-changing and life-long
Being a victim of deepfake porn can destroy a person’s trust in those around them. Victims often have to defend themselves against the assumption that the image might be real. Even close friends (particularly when the victim is a teenager) can express doubt or ask for evidence that the image isn’t genuine. Victims are left wondering when the image will resurface in the future, who they can trust and whether others, around them, fully appreciate how upsetting it is to be exposed to such an experience.
Victims can be left suffering anxiety, depression and isolation. Teenage victims will frequently withdraw from their friends and may also, very commonly, be reluctant to go back to school. Schools are increasingly aware of the problem but their ability to reassure the victim, that the problem has been permanently dealt with, is limited.
Having your friends joke about the problem, not knowing whether they may have been involved, and wondering who believes the image to be real can permanently affect the victim’s ability to trust and so to build secure attachments in their relationships.
Similar problems can arise at work, when the victim is an adult. Victims can be driven to leave their jobs, for fear of never being able to move beyond the after-effects of deepfake porn.
What about the perpetrators?
As for the perpetrators (often a teenage boy in a school setting) the consequences can be life-changing. They may be permanently excluded from school. They may lose their friends when their actions become known. They may also suffer from mental health challenges as they are made to become aware of the way in which their behaviours have affected the victim. We may lack the full depth of empathy for these people, yet we do need to accept that children make stupid decisions and that these decisions cannot be allowed to wreck their entire lives. This isn’t to diminish the need for punishment or for recognition of the needs of victims. It’s simply the case that perpetrators need to be helped too.
What was originally, perhaps, seen as being a joke suddenly becomes a life-changing event and they are also left wondering whether their deeds will catch up with them in their new school. Boys perpetrating these kinds of actions can be seen as victims too, victims of a generation exposed too soon to pornography. Stupidity and ignorance of the consequences of their actions will come with a heavy price. For their sake and for the sake of their future partners, action needs to be taken to ensure that they not only understand the gravity of what they did but that they can also move beyond their actions in order to be able to form healthy relationships into the future. Punishment cannot be allowed to come with permanent alienation, isolation and mental ill-health. For the sake of victims, and for the sake of society as a whole, the child perpetrators of these awful actions need to be rehabilitated.
Hypnotherapy and psychotherapy can help!
I have used hypnotherapy and psychotherapy, with adults and teenagers, in order to help them to move beyond the consequences of deepfake pornography. If you, or a loved one, needs help in overcoming anxiety or depression. If you, or they, need to find a way of rebuilding trust in others, self-esteem and the ability to get back to school or to work then hypnotherapy could be part of that package which makes the difference. This is a very new problem but the symptoms of the consequences are as old as time. Therapy can help and I’d be glad to help you, or a loved one, to recover from the consequences of this dreadful phenomenon.
Call me on 07786123736 or email me at paul@resolvedhypnotherapy.co.uk. Together we’ll work to put things right.