True Crime Story: Look Into My Eyes

I only made it through 2 of the 4 episodes before deciding this is just so outlandish I couldn't continue to watch it. People don't commit suicide from being hypnotized. I understand these parents want somebody to blame other than their own children, and perhaps themselves (not saying these kids did it because of their parents, but people close to suicide victims tend to blame themselves), but claiming 1 or 2 hypnosis sessions were the cause is just a huge stretch. People are hypnotized ALL THE TIME, for different reasons, one of them being that it CAN be therapeutic, and their not going around committing suicide. Ever. And if they were, it would be illegal, or at least seriously frowned upon in the world of psychiatry.

It's tough being a teenager and things that adults think are small, teenagers think are the end of the world. I know SO MANY kids that committed suicide in high school its almost unfathomable. The youngest was 12. TWELVE! He was popular and had a ton of friends and nobody knew what provoked him to do it. I can think of more than 10 others in the 3 years I was in high school. Most of them, nobody saw it coming. Not friends, parents, teachers, no one. It happens. And so do fatal car accidents. The kid was 16, barely old enough to drive, coming home from a dentist appointment where he was probably hopped up on laughing gas and certainly anesthesia. This is ridiculous and I feel bad for the teacher getting this kind of backlash. Anybody who is watching this and buying into it is a moron.

I am class of 2012. I was in school during this. The documentary omits and straight up lies about critical events.

Marcus Freeman died because his girlfriend made him drive when he was under anesthesia. I was in school when it happened. Ask any North Port High Alumni and they will tell you the same thing.

The creators of this documentary display a flagrant disregard for the truth or common sense. The amount of false information in this documentary is criminal. Literally the standard for libel has been more than met. Anyone associated with this documentary needs to take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror and then slap themselves in the face.

I will not rest till justice has been served to the producers.

I see a lot of reviews here saying that the documentary omits information and steers the narrative to one side. Perhaps this is true in some sense.

However, regardless of how effective or influential the hypnosis was on these students; this high school principal, again....this high school PRINCIPAL, should never have, under any circumstances, been performing these hypnotherapy sessions on students. He wasn't even the guidance counselor, which would have still been inappropriate, but at the very least it would've been adjacent to his professional scope of practice. "Scope of practice" being a key concept here. This is why dentists are not supposed to write prescriptions for depression meds even though they are also doctors who care about your health.

I felt like I was taking crazy pills as I watched these people struggle with some perceived moral conundrum about whether he was at fault or not. How in the hell is an educational administrator allowed to perform psychiatric therapy without the proper credentials and on minors no less?! What year is it? What country is this? These actions alone are criminal. I graduated high school in 2005, so not too far from these students, and I couldn't fathom my old high school principal holding private, recorded, hypnotherapy sessions on students.

So, it's impossible to prove how much or how little these sessions may have affected the outcome of these students' lives. One thing we do know is that we wouldn't be asking these questions had any adult used common sense in this situation and said anything close to, "Um, actually, no. This is entirely inappropriate and bizarre to think that you can mess around in the minds of children as a high school principal with nothing more than good intentions and a hypnosis certificate."

This is exactly why we require credentials in this country. And this principal was incredibly narcissistic to think that he could circumvent the proper credentials based on his own comfort in his level of understanding. And that's what the documentary truly succeeded in proving to me. That he is, without a doubt, guilty of being irresponsible with minors and abusing his position.

Despite what this ridiculous show claims you cannot simply hypnotize someone and force them to do anything you want. Auto or self hypnosis is not easy to learn or master and many people are resistant to hypnosis, at least without there being a certain level of trust.

The whole case on which this is based is ridiculous and based on many misconceptions that are carried over into this program. This episode should be named "Only in Florida" as that is the location in which it took place

If the misinformation presented in this show is indicative of the poor quality of others in this series then I will not be watching further and I don't recommend it to others.