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From: johnscar@microsoft.com (John Scarborough)
Newsgroups: sci.psychology,talk.religion.misc
Subject: Fundamentalist shrink: a sting operation
Keywords: fundamentalism;brainwashing;child-abuse;parental rights
Message-ID: <1992Oct07.011837.18632@microsoft.com>
Date: 7 Oct 92 01:18:37 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corp.
Lines: 78

I'm looking for advice and information, fast.  Legal and 
psychological.

   Most of all, I need to find someone who's been in these woods 
before -- I'm fond of exploring unfamiliar territory, but I don't have 
the time for trial-and-error, and the stakes are quite high.

   The "woods": my sister is in the closed ward of a fundamentalist 
funded hospital, where she is under treatment for suicidal tendencies 
and what has recently been diagnosed as MPD (multiple personality 
disorder).  This, her most recent hospitalization -- she's been 
hospitalized several times over the last four years -- followed a 
no-holds-barred suicide attempt about three weeks ago.  She had not 
been hospitalized for several months, and was believed to be 
stabilizing.

   She's in her early fifties, her children are all on their own.  
They're out of money and out of insurance, and her husband has become 
desperate for a cure. 

   In their search for a therapist who would be in sympathy with her 
fundamentalist Christian beliefs, she and her husband (who is also her 
conservator) found and retained a therapist with a reputation for 
springing  MPD's from hospitals in record time.  Although her husband 
hesitated when he learned that 60% of his caseload are Satanic ritual 
victims -- something else for which he is well-known -- they chose him 
because of his reputed efficiency.

   The psychologist assured my sister and her husband that he would 
have her out of the hospital in 5 days.  Her husband contacted our (my 
sister's and my) father and, when my father saw their financial need, 
he offered to pay the $7000 that the hospital required as advance 
payment, which was to cover her accommodation at $500/day.  The 
psychologist informed my sister's husband that he must tell my father 
he was to have no contact with my sister during the treatment, since 
she seemed to be working through some childhood issues.

   I spoke with my sister about 1 week after her "treatment" had begun. 
In addition to relating some bizarre acccounts of childhood abuse, she 
also described her treatment.  Her psychologist, by innuendo and 
suggestion, persuaded her that she was the victim of Satanic rituals 
conducted by her (our) parents, and that her suicidal tendencies are 
the result of being "bound to an obligation of silence" about the 
ritual: if anyone ever gets close to discovering her involvement, she 
must kill herself.  A registered nurse, an employee at the hospital, 
came to her "closed" unit at night and confided to her that 90% of 
MPD's are victims of Satanic rituals.  

   She has been in the hospital now for close to three weeks.  The 
hospital submitted a bill to my father (thru my sister's husband) after 
two weeks:  $15,000 on top of the $7000 already paid.  At the $500/day 
rate they originally quoted, they were billing for 44 days! The 
psychologist's bill is $4000.

   Having grown up in the same house with the same parents, I know the 
allegations are outrageous and false.  I smell a sting operation, and 
suspect they're just getting started.  Although I have not known anyone 
in this situation, I have heard of alleged victims of childhood Satanic 
rituals suing their parents and winning or settling for extraordinarily 
large settlements.

   The high stakes are my sister's life and my parents' limited financial
resources.  

   Does anyone have experience or knowledge of similar situations?

   I have heard of a group called "Fundamentalists Anonymous" who could 
refer me to well-informed lawyers and psychologists, but have not been 
able to locate them.  Does anyone know a contact or telephone number 
for that group?

   I've also heard of a support group for parents who are accused of 
sexual abuse.  Can someone give me an address or telephone number for 
that group?



  John Scarborough
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