Path: shell.portal.com!svc.portal.com!sdd.hp.com!swrinde!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in2.uu.net!tandem!pacbell.com!toad.com!tim From: tim@toad.com (Tim Maroney) Newsgroups: alt.pagan,alt.religion.wicca Subject: Re: Ritual Abuse Help Groups? Message-ID: <78334@toad.com> Date: 18 Nov 95 22:32:36 GMT References: <480qml$nsn@news.ios.com> <485vjd$n8g@news.ios.com> Reply-To: tim@toad.com.UUCP (Tim Maroney) Organization: As Little As Possible Lines: 30 Xref: shell.portal.com alt.pagan:132362 alt.religion.wicca:15852 PatrickVonRaven writes: >Thank you for you response! Actually, her problems and her memory of >these events had been brought out in therapy (not fundie or anything of >the like...just normal therapy). Sorry, recovered memory therapy is not normal therapy. It is a recent fad in psychotherapy which originated in right-wing Christian books such as _Michelle_Remembers_ and _Satan's_Underground_, both fraudulent stories of recovered memories of ritual abuse. It is finally starting to face serious inquiry, and generally falling apart; your friend has apparently been victimized by one of the holdouts. The therapy is based on disbelieving the client and insisting that they were abused despite their denials. There is a preconceived story about abuse which will be gradually forced on the client through a combination of drugs, hypnotism, and leading questions. There is not a single case in which any of the "memories" elicited through this process have been shown to be correct. When they have been investigated, they have been found to be not correct. >However, since the woman has little >money, she goes to victim services and they are a bit baffled by her >case. So I thought if she could find someone who had experience in ritual >matters, they might be better suited to assist her... Your friend is not at fault. Their therapist is. I am glad to hear that they are now seeking help with more reputable therapists. I hope she has the sense to stay away from charlatans in the future. -- Tim Maroney. Please CC all public responses to tim@toad.com.