Video “Feeling of a trap”, “fog in the head”, “frozen body”… The practice of hypnosis often mentioned by the alleged victims of Gérard Miller

Since the end of January, several women have accused psychoanalyst Gérard Miller of rape or sexual assault. Romane was a student and was allegedly attacked after obtaining an interview with the famous columnist. Like her, Mathilde was 19 years old at the time of her meeting with a fifty-year-old Gérard Miller. They testify in this extract from an investigation to be seen in “Special Envoy” on February 29, 2024. Their stories show many points in common.

For these two young women, as for other accusers of Gérard Miller, it was during a hypnosis session that the situation would have changed. The facts allegedly took place in a room in the psychoanalyst’s private hotel which seemed, according to them, “dedicated to relaxation”.

“He told us to imagine that there was a horse that represented our lover”

Mathilde was with a friend who managed to leave during the session. “He told us to imagine that we were in a desert, that there was a horse, that this horse represented our lover,” she says. She remembers finding “odd” this term‘”lover” And describes caresses which become clearer “gradually” during this “game”, until we find ourselves “with his tongue in his mouth, extremely suddenly”.

“And he comes towards me, and it’s by seeing his face that I understand his intention. (…) And there, it’s really the feeling of a trap closing on me that’s falling. I’m like a cold buffet, that is. So he helps himself, and he takes.” Mathilde claims to have been raped afterwards, but her trauma prevents her from recounting this part of the scene. Romane remembers her embarrassment, a “fog not possible in the head”, and his body “fixed”.

Questions about the possibilities offered by hypnosis

“Special Envoy” questioned Professor Pierre Castelnau. At the Tours hospital, he practices hypnosis for therapeutic purposes. According to him, “put the person in a state of body control”, either the state that Romane describes (feeling trapped in her body while being aware of the situation), would not be impossible “if we implement techniques to deepen the trance”. Everything would depend on the intention of the hypnotist…

For his part, Gérard Miller maintains that it was a question of “fun moments” can be interrupted “at any moment”. He denies having practiced hypnosis, whether in his psychoanalyst office or at his home. On the set of the show “Everybody talks about it”, in 2001, he nevertheless claimed the opposite in front of Thierry Ardisson. “In a few moments, we manage to provoke effects of absolute suggestion”, he asserted. He is also the author of a book on this subject… which will probably be addressed in the judicial investigation.

Contacted by “Special Envoy”, the psychoanalyst refutes all accusations of sexual assault or rape, and said to himself “ready to respond to each of the alleged facts, but […] now wish to book [sa] word to the judicial institution”.

Excerpt from “Gérard Miller: the complaints are piling up”, a report to see in “Special Envoy” on February 29, 2024.

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