Group of Russian prison psychologists undergo hypnosis training

A group of psychologists working for the local penal correction service in Russia’s Yekaterinburg completed a training course in hypnosis as a tool of “short-term mental therapy,” the agency wrote on their social media.

The training lasted several days. “The bravest participants agreed to try the influence of trance and received several sessions of private mental therapy,” reads the statement.

The training will be continued online and the work of the trainees will be supervised. They will be able to apply their new skills to convicts in case of a hunger strike or “autodestructive or other undesired behaviour.”