A former psychologist guilty of believing in exorcisms and thinking that patients could be possessed by the demon received a severe sanction of six months of disbarment, in addition to having to pay costs of nearly $ 15,000.
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“The Respondent’s actions are serious and worrying. She lacked objectivity, integrity and moderation on many occasions in the exercise of her profession, ”denounces the disciplinary council of the Order of Psychologists of Quebec.
The facts alleged against Louise Gaston are surprising, she who was found guilty of the 12 counts with which she was accused, between July 2017 and May 2021.
Formerly an internship supervisor at the Victoria Institute in Montreal, the former psychologist had accumulated 36 years of experience when she decided to deregister from the Order in June 2021.
“During the supervision of a group of doctoral students, interns in psychology, [elle] asserted that some clients cannot be treated psychologically due to the fact that they are possessed by “pathological entities” such as the “demon”, the “devil” or the “forces of darkness”, relates the decision .
The evidence reveals that individuals supervised by Louise Gaston suffered impacts because of her conduct, some even “questioned themselves about their professional choices or their abilities to exercise the profession”.
Clients to be exorcised who cast spells?
The former psychologist had also “claimed that priests, through exorcism, are the only ones who can help these clients and that it is dangerous for the psychotherapist to follow these clients because they might want to cast spells on them. “.
She even hinted that one supervisee’s stomachache was due to a spell “in a cupcake” and said to “pray in order to ward off the spell cast by this client.”
It was so dangerous to be in contact with these clients in distress that Louise Gaston had suggested that they should be discouraged from continuing their therapy.
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Conspiracy theorist
The ex-psychologist was not shy either to share several conspiracy theories to which she adhered.
In particular, she argued that vaccines could contain “heavy metals” and that they could cause attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity (ADHD), or autism.
However, this is a myth that has been refuted, in particular by the National Academy of Sciences in the United States, “after an exhaustive review of empirical evidence from clinical and epidemiological studies”, can we read in the decision on the guilt of Louise Gaston, who quotes an expert on the subject.
Mme Gaston “also directed doctoral students to sources of information that promote conspiratorial or conspiratorial content, and claimed that these were reliable sources of information”.
“She also compared COVID-19 to a simple flu,” the decision adds.
She had also suggested that it may be relevant to carry out heavy metal detection analyzes by blood or by a capillary sample in order to submit, if necessary, to detoxification treatments offered by specialized clinics.
Important penalty
Faced with the seriousness of these breaches, the disciplinary council sentenced Louise Gaston to six months of radiation, which will begin if she re-enters the roll of the Order of Psychologists.
If she decides to continue supervising interns, she will have to successfully complete an advanced training period of at least one year, at her own expense.
She was also ordered to pay expert fees of $14,625.