The Therapy Jesus Used

     I often read the gospel scheduled by our church each day.  Some readings strike me as relevant and truthful in new ways as I grow, mature and change..  On September 3, 2019 the Gospel of Luke  Chapter 4 verses 31-37 was the Gospel reading.  I read the same story again on January 14, 2020 from Mark 1:21-28 and added some new insights as well.

    "Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee.

     He taught them on the sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching

     because he spoke with authority.

     In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon, 

     and he cried out in a loud voice,

     "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?

     Have you come to destroy us?

     I know who you are–the Holy One of God!"

     Jesus rebuked him and said, "Be quiet! Come out of him!"

     Then the demon threw the man down in front of them

     and came out of him without doing him any harm.

     They were all amazed and said to one another,

     "What is there about his word?

     For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits,

     and they come out."

     And news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region."

       This reading hit me in a new way at this time in my life.

      Jesus taught with confidence.  The ability to convey certainty was key to the spread of his teachings. He taught confidently even in his home region of Galilee. Real courage was needed to speak truth to friends and relatives.  So confidence is key.  What if there is confidence in the wrong methods?  Confidence alone is not enough.

     In this event depicted by two different gospel accounts Jesus frees a man from "demons" publicly in a church.  I am not a theologian or expert in ancient Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek terms so I use context available in the story.  What I do have is experience.  I have experienced a mentally ill person "helped"with memory based therapy who screamed out outlandish accusations to secular and church authorities in a very similar manner about me.  It was quite intimidating and resulted in immense disruption to my life, the loss of my professional position, my computer being frozen, my house being searched, my minor child being interrogated for hours in a counselor office and my adult children being questioned aggressively.   In the end they were unable to substantiate any of the accusations.  I was lucky as I have learned that thousands of innocent men like me are cornered into "pleas" or found guilty on the word of a person disconnected from reality, in psychosis and suffering from hallucinations (as my accuser was found to be).  I have since learned that many are in prison because someone screamed accusations and that was all that was needed.  I was lucky as I was able to get help to my accuser and return her to reality.  So this story has immense meaning for me.  I pondered if Jesus himself faced emotionally fueled and false accusations in that church.  So reading this captivated my attention.  How did Jesus handle this situation?

      The scripture depicts a person with "problems" yelling out at Jesus in the church.   The unstable person identifies Jesus by name and refers to himself as "us" rather than as the person speaking.  Possibly there is more wrong than any one malady (just as in the case of my mentally ill accuser).  Jesus is not his malady but he is the one being screamed at.   Jesus ends up facilitating his cure. What did Jesus do?  

      It is interesting what Jesus did NOT do.  Jesus could have talked and inquired about the details of the charges and topics of his rantings.  Jesus could have asked about when, how and by what mechanism the demon had taken control.  Jesus could have asked the person about the possibility of misguided parenting, neglect as a youth that made him vulnerable to mental illness or demonic activity.  Jesus could have suggested  he was abused "like so many others have been" and then got him to retell his tales that so many in psychosis generate.  Jesus could have referred the man to others in the community who specialized in handling crazy people to help them "remember" what caused them harm.  Jesus could have attempted to  offer him money to stop his rantings.  Some might think that Jesus appeared to have what seemed to be a lack of empathy and compassion because Jesus made no attempt to clarify his reasons for screaming at all.   Instead Jesus provided deliverance and then healing.

     The two things Jesus did prior to the deliverance and miraculous change it explicitly described.  Jesus commanded the screaming person to "be quiet".   Jesus did not seek to be entertained with lurid tales that detailed why he was screaming at him.   Jesus followed the command to be quiet with a rebuke.  It seems to me that the common response to demons screaming out false accusations is one that harms the innocent  (by minimizing their real experience), it harms the innocent who are falsely accused with public media attention that amplifies the screams and rewards the demon screams with large payouts.  It is hard to imagine anything doing more harm than our present reaction.

       Could it be that Jesus is driving out the "demons" in a false accuser?

      After the man is quieted Jesus "rebukes" and the "demon" is not specifically spoken of by Jesus.  Only after quiet and rebuke is the unnamed demon ordered to "come out" of the afflicted man. Does anyone reading this see the quieting and rebuking a sign of Jesus' anger,  guilt or ignorance of his past that could have made emotionally afflicted man this way?  If so they may have a wrong perspective.  Such a misunderstanding may be empowering the screaming of false accusations.

      The accuser fell to the ground as if humiliated.  The "unclean spirit" left and that crazy acting man acted different after he got up. 

      The news spread because what Jesus did worked.  It was not because Jesus provided a satisfactory or detailed explanation of why the man acted crazy.  Jesus spoke and acted with authority, rebuked, commanded and caused a crazy man to throw himself down in front of others.  That man became better because of the words Jesus used focused the man on ceasing his rant and then becoming different.  Jesus did not focus on what he was "screaming about" during or after the event.  Clearly the crazy acting person was a different man after he picked himself up.  You can tell by the fruit of this interaction.

     The kingdom of God spread like wildfire as a result.  Maybe others will be moved and changed by the power of his word and example.  I have seen it personally.  I can tell you this story is truly how Jesus works.

     This was so worth pondering.  

     If we are unstable and emotional and screaming in anger why not be quiet, accept rebuke and throw ourselves down in front of Jesus? Then why not get up a different person?

MENTAL ILLNESS AND FALSE ACCUSATIONS
HARMFUL PRAYER MINISTRIES
PERSONAL TORIES OF "MEMORY HEALING"
STORIES OF MEMORY BASED THERAPY 
 BOOKS ON MEMORY BASED THERAPIES

LEGAL CASES AND PRECEDENTS

VIDEOS ON MEMORY BASED THERAPIES

EXPERT LECTURES ON HARMFUL THERAPIES

MEMORY BASED THERAPIES NEWS

CLINICAL EXPERIENCES AND MEMORY THERAPY

EXPERTS COMMENT ON MEMORY THERAPY

OUR DAUGHTER BEFORE TREATMENT 

OUR TRAGEDY

====================================

Elephant Illness

      The elephant discussed in this blog entry is mental health. A person may appear to be in good health but the physical dysfunctions that underlie the mentally afflicted may be at work.  If a mentally ill person is placed in the care of a therapist (friend or prayer partner) using memory based therapy  traumatic psuedomemories can be produced.  The inappropriate use of such therapy on someone in psychosis can lead to bizarre pseudomemories, false accusations, family estrangement, innocents being imprisoned and a myriad of other horrid personal outcomes.

How has our culture dealt with the mentally ill in the past?

      In the centuries prior to the 1800's all mental illness was seen as emerging from demons, witchery, evil spirits and other often supernatural sources.  Responses to mental illness included avoidance, isolation, restraints, imprisonment, torture, execution, burning at the stake or some combination of these actions.  All these horrid actions were meant to drive out the demons and evil thought to reside in the mentally afflicted person.   The transition away from these methods was slow partly due to the danger such people posed to those around them.  To protect themselves family members "disowned" the mentally ill person and claimed supernatural causes for the bizarre behavior, uncontrolled rage and/or horrid delusions .  The idea that mental illness was innate and caused by some spiritual deficiency still haunts us today. 

      In the 1800's psychoanalytical treatments arose that sought to assign causes for the emergence of mental illness.  Errors and wrongdoings while "training up a child in the way he/she should go" appeared to be a reasonable way to explain the mentally ill.  The assignment of natural causes for mental illness was in part related to the western culture's embrace of science.  Parental approaches, unhealthy relationships with parents, personal trauma and life conditions were seen as incubators of "mental illness" rather than supernatural spells or possession.   So for a century therapy was the dominant treatment for those who could afford it.   Increasingly options to calm and sedate the anxious, paranoid or manic patients came to include a variety of medications so that the ill person could be then be psychoanalyzed into health.  Eventually some psychiatrists came to recognize that medication was the primary and most reliable way to manage the symptoms of mental illness. The debilitating and often harsh side effects were worth the improvement in both emotional and mental functioning.  Doubts about psychoanalysis began to emerge as drugs alone appeared to help stem the symptoms and the counseling seemed haphazard in results and sporadic to the improvement which appeared dramatically when medication was provided in the right dosage.  Many psychiatrists noticed that mental illness popped up even among those who had healthy childhoods and new directions in research emerged during this fog of doubt starting in the 1950's.

      In the 1960's and 70's studies of twins separated at birth through adoption revealed that the emergence of mental illness occurred at the same rate for those twins raised together or separately in different families with different resources and experiences.  If mental illness  emerged at the same rate for both twins even though they were in different families then family dynamics could be ruled out as a factor in mental illness altogether.  This was a stunning finding.  The long held assumptions for over a century that parental approaches, personal trauma or life conditions alone created mental illness was debunked by these landmark "twin studies".  Additional research repeatedly revealed that the family conditions and personal life experiences alone did not always explain the emergence of mental illness.  

Institutionalized Autistic Children in 1982

     We can look at the most documented examples of the mistaken psychoanalytically based assumptions.   The traditional psychiatric view at one time held that "frigid mothers" caused Autism in a child.  This persistent view was researched thoroughly and repeatedly found to have data that was inconclusive.  The assumption was that mothers who failed to show affection created  the condition called "Autism" as the affection of parents was a "primary need".  Mothers were often shamed by therapists, isolated by society and divorced by fathers who felt betrayed.  In the end the cause of Autism is now accepted to be related to physiological factors that emerge prior to birth.  The degree of affectionate behavior of mothers is now known to have nothing to do with the emergence of Autism.  None-the-less families were utterly destroyed by the false assumptions over the last century and the resulting family breakup often meant institutional care for those suffering from this malady. This caused even greater harm for these ill children.  The sad thing is that intact families have now been found to be an important factor to helping the mentally ill reach fullest potential.  Unfortunately false assumptions of psychoanalytical therapists often  caused family breakups and helpless children to be institutionalized and often restrained as late as 1982 (in the picture below).

    Schizophrenia was thought to be the outcome of over involved parents or resulting from traumatic family experiences.   The high suggestibility of these mentally infirmed meant that "recovered memory therapist" could unintentionally "create memories" of events that never actually happened.  This was especially so among those mentally ill and vulnerable to emotionally charged suggestions that was made implicitly or overtly.  The outcome was often parents accused of horrific abuse that never happened, often the father could be jailed, employed parents were terminated from jobs, the family unit was isolated from the community as well as becoming estranged from the extended family.  In the 1980's studies finally confirmed that those suffering from schizophrenia did not have "over involved parents" or "childhood trauma" any more frequently than normal offspring.  Even when there was verified physical or emotional trauma in children many of the children went on to live productive lives at the same rate as those who did not have such verified events.   In 1999 the last such psychoanalytical assumption was found false when large scale study revealed that those with schizophrenia recovered more quickly without relapse if they were at home with involved parents.   This came as the final stake in the heart of psychoanalysis which had long held an errant view of how to treat schizophrenia.  Hospitalization away from from the family "causing trauma" was thought to be productive and helpful.  The data proved that involved parents made all outcomes better.   

       Additional physiological explanations emerged when studies of imprisoned violent offenders.   The study revealed that when trace metal imbalances in the blood were corrected reduced repeat offenses of violence to one fourth the levels of those untreated.   The results were stunning.  Such studies inferred biological reasons were at least a part of the cause for criminal behavior.   The researched links between mental illness and childhood challenges existed but even those from middle class homes with metal imbalances showed increased likelihood for violent behavior.  Increasingly, by the 1990's, the biological foundations began to be seen as a larger than expected contributor to pathological behavior.

     The examples and stories go on and on. The mistaken notion that mental illness always has a root in abusive treatment has been a destructive and harmful notion for over a century. In fact our society may have done better when we attributed these mental illnesses to the devil and curses! In that way at least the "innocent family members" were not victimized socially, economically or criminally.

How does modern psychiatry view mental illness?

      In 1985 a book titled "The Broken Brain: The Biological Revolution in Psychiatry"  Dr. Nancy C Andreasen MD, PhD proposed with detailed evidence the now widely accepted view among psychiatrists that biological processes explains the presence of mental illness.   Dr. Andreasen was chair of the Psychiatric Department at the University of Iowa, did extensive research on mental health using brain scans,  had written psychiatric textbooks and popular texts on mental health and received numerous awards over decades for her service.  In 2000 Dr Andreasen received a presidential award for science..  Her nomination stated:

          "Long before it was broadly acknowledged, Nancy Andreasen 
         understood that mental illnesses are biologically-based brain 
        disorders,  Her groundbreaking research on schizophrenia 
         has inspired hope for improved treatment and recovery..."

     Doctors, current in the research, now know of a variety of physical and biological dysfunctions that create psychosis with its high suggestibility state, paranoia, vulnerability to delusions and even bizarre hallucinations.  Physical causes and biological mechanisms leading to mental illness  now include metal toxicity,  food allergies, undermethylation, over methylation and personal metabolic tendencies that inappropriately eject needed nutrients as waste products when under stress.  Recreational drugs, medication, sleep deprivation and even excessive water intake can are now also known to create psychosis that result in similar forms of mental illness.

     A well known Psychiatrist, Dr. Abram Hoffer, was claiming adamantly as early as 1953 that a biological basis was at the root of mental illness. He was, in that regard, decades ahead of his peers who still saw psychoanalysis as the route to mental health.   He wrote a number of books on the treatment of those with mental illness and shared his insights regarding how to help the patient emerge from the illness in a book titled "The Orthomolecular Treatment of Schizophrenia" and on page 40 of that text he states:      

          "...I find it very helpful to have the family in my office 
         during the interview, with the patient's permission. A 
         lot of time is saved in gathering the information 
         needed to make the diagnosis.  It also helps when the 
         family hears the discussion and knows what the 
         treatment will be.  Although most psychiatrists no 
         longer blame the family for the illness of a relative,
         it can still occur.  It is important to remove any guilt 
        the family may have derived from previous outmoded, 
         harmful explanations."

Dr. Hoffer recognized, in the quote above that therapists with good intentions could implement errant treatments, using memory based therapies.  This harmful technique could be compounded if a mentally ill person in a highly suggestible state and vulnerable to delusions formed horrid pseudomemories of events that never actually happened.  Dr. Hoffer was aware that successful treatment of those suffering from mental illness often relied on families and family members.  The delusional patient treated with memory based therapy could accuse family members of horrid crimes, of being space aliens or of being part of an some effort by a government agency to control them.  The result of such delusions was often alienation from the very people that could best help the mentally ill person most.  Familial estrangement is one of the signs of mental illness.

Why does mental illness persist in spite of our wealth and knowledge?
        In 2019 experts in Memory wrote in alarm in the Journal of Psychological Science about the growth of false accusations and the influence of therapy using methods know to create false accusations. The article specifically addresses the hand in hand relationship between mental illness (psychopathology) and false memories:
        There is good evidence that certain forms of psychopathology 
         (e.g., schizophrenia) go hand in hand with a tendency to accept and give in
         to external pressure (Peters, Moritz, Tekin, Jelicic, & Merckelbach, 2012).  
         More importantly, existing work also indicates that psychopathology 
         (i.e., depression, PTSD) is linked to an enhanced propensity to produce
         spontaneous false memories. 

The connections between mental illness and false memories is only now being documented repeatedly in the research literature.  These false memories may be at the root of the many false accusations of physical abuse, sexual abuse and incest among other emotionally revolting crimes.

       In our culture mental illness is commonly associated with an inborn character flaw, a flawed spiritual formation or the outcome of some shameful trauma. None of these assumptions explain the presence of mental illness and those wrong assumptions work to suppress the needed discussion.   In our culture the family is often totally  unaware of the biological causes of mental illness because of the silence imposed by shame.  In fact a dysfunctional metabolism ignites mental illness that results in despondency, rage, paranoia, bizarre delusions and horrid hallucinations mistaken for reality.  Our city streets are full of such people today.  The mistaken notions about mental illness feed the ignorance, suppress discussion and prevent the proper care of the mentally ill person.  One would expect that the family would be aware of their common physiology but this is often not so. The shame and the silence it nurtures prevents learning about the true cause.  In fact a family may seek to distance themselves from the mentally ill family member.  Nothing could be worse as delusions are strengthened, rage and despondency rewarded and many of the ill live in a hopeless squalor.

    A just and compassionate response would be to support the family unit in the caring for the ill person. Part of the issue today is that the family is seen by many as the problem that causes or ferments the illness.  Actually the family, as Dr. Hoffer realized, has a huge impact in the successful outcomes (much better than institutionalization).  I hope, one day, that the data and research become better known.  Our entire society would be better off by encouraging recovery from mental illness rather than perpetuating the illness with lack of treatment and isolation from family.

Did you read to the end?  Thank You for your interest! The points that I make are based on research studies I have reviewed, on the books I have read on this topic and the personal experience our family has had in seeing a family member recover from mental illness.  

Books that I have reviewed on this topic may be of interest to anyone who read this far:

Hoffer, A, Orthomolecular Treatment for Schizophrenia (1999)

https://pursuitofhealthhappyliberty.blogspot.com/2019/04/review-orthomolecular-treatment-for.html

Walsh, W. Nutrient Power (2014)

https://pursuitofhealthhappyliberty.blogspot.com/2019/03/review-nutrient-power.html

Other references useful in formulating the summary a mental health treatment depicted above include:

Larson W. {2004). Science in Ancient' World Encyclopedia ABC-CLIO: Santa Barbara. CA: 29 30. 

Debus AG. (1970). Johann Hoachim Bechcr. In: GiIlispie CC. ed. Dictionary of Scientific Biography. I. Charles Scribners Sons: New York.

Conant J B, cxl, (1950). The Overthrow of the Phlogiston Theory: Revolution 1775—1789. I Harvard University Press: Carnbridge. MA; 14. 

Winkler KR ed. John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding I Hacket Publishing Company: Indianapolis, IN: 33-36.

Aristotle (350 BC). On the Soul (de anima).  Aristotle Vol. 8 (1936). Hect. WS, trans. Loeb Classical Library. William Heinemann: London; 1-203. 

Freud .S. (1940). An outline of psycho-analysis (the standard edition). In: Strachey J, ed. Complete Psychological Works Works of Sigmund Freud. W W Norton: New York. 

Adler A. : In: Ansbacher, HL and Ansbacher RR, eds. The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler.  Harper Torchbooks: New York.

 Kendlcr KS. (1983).  Overview: a current perspective on twin studies of schizophrenia. Am J Psychiatry 14: 1413-1425. 

Bertelscn A, Harvald B, Hauge M. (1977) A Danish twin study of manic-depressive disorders. 130:330-351. 

Wender PH. Kccy SS. Rosenthal D, Schulsinger F. Ortmann J. Lundc l. (1986) Psychiatric disorders in the biological and adoptive families of adopted individuals with affective disorders..  Arch Gen Psychiatry. 43: 923-928

Snyder SH. (1986). Drugs and the Brain. Scientific American Books/ WH Freeman: New York

Purves D. Augustine GJ Fitzpatrick D. et al. (2004). Neuroscience. 4th ed. Sinauer Associates, Inc.: Sunderland, MA.

Restak RM (1984). The Brain. Bantam books: New York.

Nancy C Andreason, M.D., Ph.D., The Broken Brain, The Biological Revolution in Psychiatry (1985) Perennial Library, Harper & Row Publishers, New york

https://pursuitofhealthhappyliberty.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-broken-brain-biological-revolution.html

Black, D, Andreasen, N, Introductory Textbook of Psychiatry (2011) American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc., London England

Edelman, E, Natural Healing for Schizophrenia (2001)  Borage Books, Eugene Oregon

MENTAL ILLNESS AND FALSE ACCUSATIONS
HARMFUL PRAYER MINISTRIES
PERSONAL STORIES OF "MEMORY HEALING"
STORIES OF MEMORY BASED THERAPY 
 BOOKS ON MEMORY BASED THERAPIES

LEGAL CASES AND PRECEDENTS

VIDEOS ON MEMORY BASED THERAPIES

EXPERT LECTURES ON HARMFUL THERAPIES

MEMORY BASED THERAPIES NEWS

CLINICAL EXPERIENCES AND MEMORY THERAPY

EXPERTS COMMENT ON MEMORY THERAPY

OUR DAUGHTER BEFORE TREATMENT 

OUR TRAGEDY

====================================

Children and Credibility

     One of the most heinous crimes that evokes instant emotional outrage in today's society is the abuse of a child.  No child should ever have to suffer harm or horrid abuse as a victim to predators, perpetrators or serial abusers with no conscience.  When such an event happens it only makes sense to exact the highest degree of restraint and punitive actions available.
      Children are mentally undeveloped, physiologically vulnerable, innocent, naive and easily manipulated.  Scientist are aware that children are highly vulnerable to suggestion, deception and manipulation.  While we wish we could always believe them the adults in the room should treat them with respect but always seek verification.
      There is a very dangerous flip side to the desire to protect children cited above.  The emotional switch to protect children can be used to quickly garner attention, gain leverage, accuse, convict and then imprison innocent people.  This switch is used for a variety of reasons by parents in a custody battle, by prosecutors looking for an easy cheap conviction (especially it the falsely accused is unable to afford expert defense) or by investigators looking to enhance professional standing.  The media often piles on eager to garner attention, increase readership by eliciting strong emotions with lurid and horrid depictions.  Truth and fairness is hardly important among those clamoring to protect children. The motivation for using children and accusations for profit or professional gian is often rewarded.  The false conviction rates due to what the National Center for Reason and Justice  calls "the child-protection panic" are extremely high. 
       Placing the descriptor "credible" prior to the noun "accusation" lends a weight or credence to any accusation, true or not, of any heinous, lurid or horrid crime no matter how bizarre.  A successful investigator has been described as a person who "will always get the man responsible".  Below are a sample of typical "credible accusations" by children that have resulted in agreed upon injustices.  Many innocents still languish in prison but it is refreshing when authorities are able to recognize truth and foster justice.

Children are Always Truthful and Credible
      A four year old child was an eye witness able to identify the perpetrator of the rape and murder of his mother.  Most assume that a child is truthful, has no reason to lie and may even have a better memory than adults who are often confused by the myriad details of life .  A child assisted by state experts, skilled police interrogators and seasoned prosecutors generated a "credible accusation" of Phillip Bivens 18 months after the crime.  While in custody Mr. Bivens found himself under incredible pressure and was threatened with the death penalty if he continued to insist on his innocence and went to trial.  Mr. Bivens pondered the image of a tearful child fingering him in front of a jury for the brutal crime against his mother.  Fearful for his life Mr. Bivens offered a confession.  He served three decades in Mississippi prisons before his case was selected by the "Innocence Project" for Review.  Luckily the material evidence (clothing) collected from the crime scene was not destroyed and was then analyzed for the presence of  DNA.   Mr. Bivens DNA was on none of the items found on or in the vicinity of the victim.  DNA on the clothing did identify the actual perpetrator, a serial rapist convicted in other cases.  Thanks to the Innocence Project the true perpetrator subsequently confessed and was convicted for that crime.  Mr. Bivens had served 30 years in prison prior to his exoneration.  The "credible accusation" could have killed him but Mr. Bivens decision to create a confession to a crime he never committed likely saved his life.

Father Imprisoned Using False Accusations
     It it true that a dedicated father can spend decades in prison for false allegations without any physical evidence?   Unfortunately the answer is a resounding YES.  The video above is just one story.  Many similar cases are never resolved truthfully.
     In this story accusations against the father arose in the midst of dispute during a divorce (very common).  Three children were coaxed into accusing the father using known suggestive techniques.  Eventually the children, after they became adults, understood that the accusations they were coaxed into by police and child protection services were false.  They also came to understand that this was the reason for their "missing father" which had left them confused. 
      The children had no idea what happened to the father over a twenty year period.  The father  and was NOT allowed to communicate with them in any form. The truth came out when the "child accusers" (now adults) learned that the stories the police helped them "form" with dolls never really happened. The video of the doll playing was going to be used against the father.  The father was freed after the adult children found out he was in prison due to this videoed game playing.  His adult offspring told the courts that the stories made up were not true.  The father had, by then, spent over 20 years in prison for something he never did.
      This case is not an exception to the competent work of child protective services, dedicated and informed detectives and prosecutors interested in justice.  This story demonstrates how the "hero" complex can drive counselors, police and investigators to use and manipulate children unknowingly.  Prosecutors who are measured by convictions, guilty pleas and average prison length are very willing to use process crimes, pressure witnesses. manipulate children and imprison the innocent if it helps build their resume and career.  

MENTAL ILLNESS AND FALSE ACCUSATIONS
HARMFUL PRAYER MINISTRIES
PERSONAL STORIES OF "MEMORY HEALING"
MEMORY BASED THERAPY NEWS 
 BOOKS ON MEMORY BASED THERAPIES

LEGAL CASES AND PRECEDENTS

VIDEOS ON MEMORY BASED THERAPIES

EXPERT LECTURES ON HARMFUL THERAPIES

MEMORY BASED THERAPIES NEWS

CLINICAL EXPERIENCES AND MEMORY THERAPY

EXPERTS COMMENT ON MEMORY THEORY

OUR DAUGHTER BEFORE TREATMENT 

OUR TRAGEDY

====================================

Further Reading:

American Psychological Association. 2001. Understanding Child Sexual Abuse

Baker, Robert A. Hidden Memories: Voices and Visions From Within (Buffalo, N.Y. : Prometheus Books, 1992.).

Crews, Frederick. (1997). Memory Wars: Freud's Legacy in Dispute. New York Review of Books Reprint Edition.

Dawes,Robyn M. Everyday Irrationality : How Pseudo Scientists, Lunatics, and the Rest of Us Systematically Fail to Think Rationally (Westview Press, 2001).

Erwin, Edward. (1995). A Final Accounting: Philosophical and Empirical Issues in Freudian Psychology. MIT Press.

Gardner, Martin. (2006). "The Memory Wars."Skeptical Inquirer. Part 1 is in vol. 30 no. 1, parts 2 and 3 are in vol. 30 no. 2.

Goldstein. Eleanor C. (1992). Confabulations: Creating False Memories, Destroying Families. Sirs.

de Rivera, Joseph. "'Trauma searches' plant the seed of imagined misery," The Sacramento Bee, May 18, 1993.

Hallinan, Joseph T. "Money for repressed memories repressed," Sacramento Bee, Jan. 12, 1997, Forum.

Johnson, M.K. et al. "Source Monitoring,"Psychological Bulletin, 114, 3-28.

Johnston, Moira. Spectral Evidence: The Ramona Case: Incest, Memory, and Truth on Trial in Napa Valley (Westview Press, 1999).

Loftus, Elizabeth and Katherine Ketcham. The Myth of Repressed Memory (New York: St. Martin's, 1994).

Mullen Paul E. and Jillian Fleming. 1998. "Long-term Effects of Child Sexual Abuse"

Ofshe, Richard and Ethan Watters. Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy, and Sexual Hysteria (New York: Scribner's, 1994).

Pendergrast, Mark. Victims of Memory : Sex Abuse Accusations and Shattered Lives 2nd ed. (Upper Access Book Publishers, 1996).

Schacter, Daniel L., editor, Memory Distortion: How Minds, Brains, and Societies Reconstruct the Past(Harvard University Press, 1997).

Schacter, Daniel L. Searching for Memory - the brain, the mind, and the past (New York: Basic Books, 1996).

Singer, Margaret Thaler and Janja Lalich. Crazy Therapies (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 1996). Review of "Crazy" Therapies

Tavris, Carol. "Hysteria and the incest-survivor machine," Sacramento Bee, Forum section, January 17, 1993.

Wakefield, Hollida and Ralph Underwager. Return of the Furies - An Investigation into Recovered Memory Therapy (Peru, Illinois: Open Court Publishing Co., 1994).

"Debunking Myths About Trauma and Memory," (2005). Richard J. McNally, Ph.D. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, Vol 50, No 13, November.

My review of Crazy Therapies by Singer & Lalich

StopBadTherapy.com

Twelve Myths about False Memories

Mass Media Funk: Study shows the longer one is in RMT, the more disabled one becomes

Statements by Professional Organizations on recovered memory therapy

"Truth or invention: exploring the repressed memory syndrome" excerpt from The Myth of Repressed Memory by ElizabethLoftus and Katherine Ketcham

"Remembering Dangerously" by Elizabeth Loftus

False Memory Syndrome Foundation WWW Page

Recovered Memories or Modern Witch Hunt? by Douglas E. Hill

Recovered Memory Therapy and False Memory Syndrome by John Hochman, M.D.

"First of All, Do No Harm" A Recovered Memory Therapist Recants An Interview With Robin Newsome By Mark Pendergrast

Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance: repressed memory therapy page

"Recovered Memories of Abuse: Assessment, Therapy, Forensics," By Kenneth S. Pope, Ph.D., ABPP and Laura S. Brown, Ph.D., ABPP

"Recovered Memories of Sexual Abuse: Scientific Research & Scholarly Resources" By Jim Hopper, Ph.D.

Lisa Nasseff claims therapist Mark Schwartz brainwashed her A woman is suing a St. Louis therapist, claiming he hypnotized her into falsely believing she had been a part of a satanic cult, had multiple personalities, and had taken part in satanic rituals.

Back to Salem: Paul Shanley and the Return of "Recovered Memory" by Alexander Cockburn

Exonerating the Friedmans by Chris Mooney

    

DUBIOUS REPRESSED MEMORY LOSING GROUND

          According to proponents of "repressed memory therapy" (RMT), numerous mental health problems in adults are due to subconscious damage from repressed memories of sexual or Satanic ritual abuse experienced in childhood. RMT practitioners claim to be able to help their clients recover memories of trauma and heal. Many mislead their clients into believing they have multiple personality disorder (MPD) and into accusing family members of abuse. The consequences have included divorces, family feuds, loss of employment (as charges have become public), lawsuits, and criminal convictions.
          Although many naïve psychotherapists have accepted some of the premises of RMT, according to sociologist Rael Jean Isaac, PhD [writing in Priorities for Health 12(4);2000/13(1);2001.], the repressed memory movement has been on the wane since 1994. For example, the number of continuing education courses on RMT offered to clinicians has decreased considerably. Clients and falsely accused family members have initiated numerous lawsuits against RMT practitioners. Hospitals have closed MPD units. Insurers have refused to pay for RMT. Prominent RMT practitioner Bennett Braun, MD had his medical license suspended. He was expelled from the Illinois Psychiatric Society and the American Psychiatric Association. Braun's insurers had to pay a malpractice award of $10.6 million to one of his former patients.
          Instead of repressing memories of traumatic events, people tend to have trouble forgetting them. Memory is a process of reconstruction prone to error. Therefore, it is not difficult for therapists to implant false memories. The failure of RMT practitioners to acknowledge this is a psychotherapy scandal. Isaac quotes False Memory Syndrome Foundation Executive Director, Pamela Freyd, PhD: "We have a whole culture that has accepted the notion that the proof that something happened is that the person forgot it."
          Elizabeth Loftus, professor of psychology at the University of Washington (now at University of California), has been the most prominent critic of claims about "recovered memories" of child abuse. RMT fanatics have responded to Professor Loftus's research findings with threatening letters, filings of complaints, lawsuits, and defamatory falsehoods in newspapers and over the Internet. Nevertheless, in June she received the William James Fellow Award of the American Psychological Society. The award citation [published in the November/December 2001 issue of Skeptical Inquirer] states in part: "As a result of her pioneering scientific work as well as her activity within the legal system, society is gradually coming to realize that such memories, compelling though they may seem when related by a witness are often a product of recent reconstructive memory processes rather than of past objective reality."


Excerpted from:

NCAHF News, Nov/Dec 2001

Volume 24, Issue #1 https://www.ncahf.org/nl/2001/11-12.html
OUR DAUGHTER BEFORE

MEMORY BASED THERAPY 

MEMORY EXPERTS COMMENTS
BOOKS ON MEMORY BASED THERAPIES
LEGAL CASES AND PRECEDENTS
HARMFUL PRAYER MINISTRY
PERSONAL "MEMORY HEALING" STORIES
VIDEOS ON MEMORY BASED THERAPIES
EXPERT LECTURES ON HARMFUL THERAPIES
MEMORY BASED THERAPIES NEWS
CLINICAL EXPERIENCES IN MEMORY THERAPY
TRAGIC THERAPY