Bizarre form of psychotherapy sees people given up to 60 lashes with a cane

                       

Patients in Siberia with a range of issues - including sex addicts and workaholics - can now see a counsellor to receive up to 60 lashes on the buttocks with a cane. The theory is that corporal punishment 'counteracts a lack of enthusiasm for life which is often behind addictions, suicidal tendencies and psychosomatic disorders.'. The treatment has been pioneered by Dr Sergei Speransky, director of Biological Studies at

Novosibirsk Institute of Medicine, who admitted undergoing a flogging as an antidote to his own bouts of depression. He said: 'Patients see that the treatment is working when everything else has failed. 'It worked for me. I'm not sadistic, at least not in the classical sense - but I do advocate caning'. The treatment has been continued by psychologist Dr German Pilipenko (right) and Professor Marina Chukhrova (left) who claim that foreigners are flocking to Siberia to undergo the treatment.