================================================================ MindNet Journal - Vol. 1, No. 55 ================================================================ V E R I C O M M / MindNet "Quid veritas est?" ================================================================ The views and opinions expressed below are not necessarily the views and opinions of VERICOMM, MindNet, or the editors unless otherwise noted. The following is reproduced here with the express permission of the author. Permission is given to reproduce and redistribute, for non-commercial purposes only, provided this information and the copy remain intact and unedited. Editor: Mike Coyle Assistant Editor: Rick Lawler Research: Darrell Bross Editor's Note: The following article originally appeared in _True Stories of False Memories_ by Eleanor Goldstein and Kevin Farmer, 1993. The introduction is by the authors of the book. The author of the letters wishes to remain anonymous. ================================================================ TO MY SISTER'S THERAPISTS By Anonymous 1992 ---------------------------------------------------------------- The following three letters were written by the brother of a woman who recalled grotesque "memories" of satanic ritual abuse during several years of therapy with Mr. Carleton. Initially, she claimed to remember her father molesting her between the ages of four and seven. As time passed, memories began to emerge in therapy of her being ritually abused during elaborate satanic ceremonies attended by several men and women. Among other things, she claims she was raped by her grandfather, using the body parts of murdered women, and she believes she was forced to murder and eat babies. She was later evaluated by a psychologist, Dr. Taylor, because of a custody battle for her children. Dr. Taylor concurred with Carleton's diagnosis and agreed with the treatment she was receiving. Her family later convinced her to see a psychiatrist for another opinion. She was referred to Dr. Hoffmann who also validated her bizarre memories of mass murder, cannibalism and the most perverted sexual abuse imaginable. As these letters demonstrate, none of the three therapists attempted to corroborate the woman's memories or were even willing to consider listening to the pleas and rational explanations presented by her brother and the rest of the family. All three therapists apparently believe that their roles were to validate memories no matter how they were retrieved or how unlikely they were to be true. August 19, 1992 Dear Mr. Carleton, I'm writing to clarify some of the things we touched on in our phone conversation August 4. I recall you saying that as a therapist, you believe your patients in the context of the therapeutic session, regardless of whether their story corresponds with external reality. You also stated that your specialized training enables you to distinguish between a false reporting of sexual abuse and a true one. In fact in one meeting you frankly told me you believe my sisters allegations. At that time these were limited to sexual molestation by my father from an early age through puberty. Since then those allegations have expanded to include multiple homicide, vampirism, cannibalism, and membership in a vast conspiracy dedicated to the overthrow of Christ's benevolent influence on Earth. I assume you are familiar with the details of her memories, which she says have been recovered through your help and that of group sessions with others similarly victimized. As I told my sister in a phone conversation on August 6, I have pored over her statements, numerous similar statements by ritual abuse survivors, read and re-read Michelle Remembers, the writings of Catherine Gould, RoGand Summit and other specialists in the field. I have also studied cases that have come to court based on similar allegations: the McMartin Day Care Center, the case in Lido, Utah, the case of Paul Ingram in Washington. State, the Orkney islands in Great Britain and numerous others. I have consulted three different therapists; one a specialist in hypnotism, one a specialist in sexual abuse and one a former lawyer. I have read two tomes on trance and hypnotism by Spiegel and Bliss. I have studied papers on brainwashing by J.F. Dulles and others. I've also read some of the works of David Finkelhor, Alice Miller, Bass and Davis' The Courage to Heal articles by Jeffery Masson and other authors of like persuasion. I have reviewed proposals to State and Federal legislatures concerning Ritual Abuse and reports from State and Federal justice departments on the subject. I mention all this to assure you that I do not take any of this lightly. Nor have I instantly drawn a conclusion as to the reality or falsehood of my sisters allegations. I comprehend what they imply about the condition of this world, our society, my extended family, myself and most importantly, my unborn child. As I told you, her accusations, and the vast conspiracy theory that lends them context, have not triggered any spontaneous inward belief in me. As I said, I do feel and believe my sisters pain. You asked me how else I account for that pain. I'm not sure if the question was rhetorical, but an abundance of alternative explanations have come to mind. Before I go into them, I'd like to state that I'm not certain you were entirely candid with me when you implied that you come to therapeutic sessions with an objective and unbiased frame of mind. For my own self I must accept that I am trapped in a bias toward disbelief. I factor that bias into my considerations as best I can. Can I assume you recognize a similarly powerful, though contrary, bias in your own being? Could your own faith in your religion color the impressions you receive from clients? If your faith is such that you see it not as coloring, but as casting on your observation the pure white light of truth, what more can I say? If on the other hand, you hold that portion of doubt that any objective mind must contain, I contend it is worth our time to continue discussing my sister's case. Concerning faith, I agree with St. Paul that it has the power to move mountains. Against such power how can my arguments prevail? But Paul goes on to state that without love, you are nothing. The point is that I love my sister. It is that love that motivates this appeal to you despite your apparent writing me off as being "in denial." Sally Jean is my sister, my flesh and blood. She is your patient, or client; at best a soul to be saved or a mind cured, at worst a lucrative business opportunity. I have long maintained to the rest of my family that your intentions in treating her are, in fact, noble. But I also maintain that the course of advice and treatment you have taken victimizes her and my family and, of even larger consequence, will help perpetuate sexual victimization of innocent children for a long time to come. As to the goodness of your intentions, it is my opinion that equally good intentions motivated inquisitors and witch trial judges throughout history to send untold thousands of wrongly accused men and women to torture and execution. It strikes me that this era of history is being repeated. I feel that the imagery of satanic ritual abuse arising within therapy and amplified throughout the world in seminars, courtrooms and the media is the stuff of phantasm and hysteria today as it was in the past. I believe that today innocent people are accused, suffer the forced removal of their children, and are prosecuted by the same spectral evidence that sent so many to the rack and stake in the not so distant past. And I think that the psychological engine behind that slaughter was driven by the same noble intentions that guide your treatment of my sister. I don't expect any sympathy from you for the anguish that Sally's accusations against my parents and grandparents have on me or the rest of my family. I do expect you to take seriously the effect on genuine victims of abuse when their voices are drowned in this torrent of false and fantastic accusation. The responsibility for that predictable tragedy will be on those of your profession who have nourished a chorus of "Wolf-crying" in their patients and clients. As I said to you, because those crying "Wolf" describe in vivid detail the yellow eyes, dripping fangs, foul breath and even the fleas, the cry is, in my considered opinion, no less a false alarm. If nothing else, the probable consequences are of such gravity that I must continue to urge you to consider carefully alternative explanations for my sister's and other people's pain and therapeutically induced recollections. To repeat myself, I admit a bias to disbelieve the scenario described by my sister. It is utterly contrary to my own memories and to the fruit of my observation, experience and reflection. Although I trust my own judgement, I recognize that I can fervently believe what proves untrue and likewise find false what I subsequently come to believe. Knowing this, I am slow and careful to draw conclusions. I remain open to argument and evidence intended to compel my belief or dispel it. I beg you to do the same. Please look at and consider the following sources I offer from professionals and concerned individuals which support my position. One article is by Kenneth Lanning of the F.B.I., who has investigated numerous similar cases. The others are from a Christian magazine, Cornerstone, which I include in hopes that you may attend more carefully to fellow Christians. I have left out the bulk of my research material because it is plainly less even-handed or sympathetic. If you are interested I recommend the book In Search of Satan by Robert Hicks, The Institute for Psychological Therapies in Northfield, Minnesota, and the False Memory Syndrome Foundation in Pennsylvania. To return to your question: how do you account for my sisters pain? I stand by what I told you. Much of her condition is "iatrogenic." The process she has over the years described by analogy as removing a splinter from a festering wound--a process she credits you primarily with assisting-appears to me as worrying a minor sore into a full-blown infection or a major tumor. She recently told me that she now recalls over, 35 homicides she witnessed my parents committing throughout America. She also said that she must continue to retrieve such memories from her unconscious to complete her cure. "I have come to believe that it is within her ability to enter a state of trance allowing her to invent vivid "memory." I believe that the content of that memory is assisted by a system of belief brought to her therapeutic sessions and by her exposure to material engendered by that same paradigm. I feel that this paradigm constitutes an assault, not so much on the truth, but on the means that truth can be arrived at. I am not alone in the opinion that the truth cannot be discovered without debating contradictory conclusions from the same observations. It was in the spirit of such debate that I sought to meet with you and Sally. I felt compelled to inform her that I was unable to resolve all I had learned about the phenomenon of satanic ritual abuse in favor of her assertions. I wanted to do so in an environment she would feel protected in, namely your office. I have found that professionals of your persuasion regarding this subject tend to shield themselves as well as their clients from contrary opinion. Unfortunately the cancellation of our meeting of August 11 tends to confirm my expectation. It is a shame that I now feel driven into an opposing camp because we do share a fundamental concern: that the sexual abuse of children must be stopped. Do not think that because your camp bears this as a standard, that myself my family, or others who similarly disagree with you can be branded as approving of sexual abuse of any nature. Nor should you rely on the concept of "denial" to neatly categorize and dismiss those of us who doubt your version of reality. I appreciate that you have staked your professional reputation on your interpretation of my sister's condition. I also realize that you are not alone in that interpretation. In fact yourself and like-minded colleagues, as well as members of law enforcement and a growing body of elected officials, have arrived at the conclusion that satanism is rampant. Many regard such memories as my sister's as proof. It is apparent to me that the numbers of professionals and individuals of your persuasion constitute a powerful force, I'm not sure you appreciate that power. When I spoke to you of an impending backlash you responded in tones of one already facing overwhelming odds. I feel, however, that the greater risk is to those who would oppose your assumptions. It frightens me to do so. I hope you will understand that it is your assumptions and not your character that I oppose and that my opposition to them is motivated by concern for my sister and my family. This has been a difficult letter to write and doubtless unpleasant for you to read. I don't consider it a strictly private correspondence and you are welcome to show it to whoever you please. I will include a copy to my sister and the rest of my family. August 26, 1992 Dear Dr. Taylor, I'm writing to you in keeping with a practice of clarifying and documenting discussions I have with professionals regarding my sisters case. Thank you for considering the materials I left behind; transcripts of my sisters correspondence with family members, my letter to her therapist and the Kenneth Lanning monograph. I was flattered that you found me bright and well-informed. Indeed I regard you with respect for your sincerity and intelligence. However I did understand your statement to imply I had merely armored myself in my convictions. In turn I must admit that I question your own conviction that you can flawlessly distinguish testimony that corresponds with external reality from that which does not. So stripped of the mutual eloquence of our conversation it is possible we spent an hour calling one another fools. If so, I am the greater fool for I left a hundred dollars behind. I did take with me your suggestion that I hypothetically suspend my doubt and look at those things within me that satanic ritual abuse may account for. One value of the exercise was that it made me appreciate how much that hypothetical model of reality can release one from personal responsibility for shortcomings, sins and failure. Another result was unexpected: I realized that I rather like the person I am. I rarely meditate on this, but I do see myself as a loyal and trustworthy friend and mate. I cleave closely to the rule of doing to others as I would have them do to me. I feel exuberance and pleasure at beauties of life: music, art, the natural world. I participate in them enthusiastically. I feel spontaneous love and appreciation for fellow occupants of this planet. I endeavor to help those I can and seek help from those who will offer it. I have developed a refined curiosity and a kind of gourmet hunger for knowledge. Nor do I think I mistake the accumulation of information for knowledge or the accumulation of knowledge for wisdom. As I said to Jack Carleton, I am slow to leap to conclusions and to fly from particulars to generalities. This was not actually an epiphany, and it did present at least one troubling thought; if I like the person I am, and that person is the result of a satanic upbringing, should I positively credit that upbringing? When I have thought at all about Satan, I've regarded that being as a metaphor, one that conveniently embodies all the misfortunes of life from spoiled milk to war and world famine. But that being never seems to take personal credit for his deeds. On the other hand the historical record details extraordinary torture and execution practiced by proud and righteous Christians on human beings suspected of associating with Satan. Does the fact that I find such behavior by Christians repulsive lead me to have sympathy for the devil? I bring this up because I genuinely fear the power embodied in the convictions you apparently share with my sister, her own and other therapists, and the politically entrenched Christian right. I fear the effect that power can have on those who would disagree with your shared convictions. For the record, I have no interest in Satan or Satanism other than how it seems the focus of all my sister's energy. In order to stay in contact with my sister she has required I take a daunting leap of faith, and I imagine she referred me to you to assist that leap. Your own experience with your son's ritual abuse and the stretch of rational faculties that event required of you, and your stature as doctor of psychology no doubt qualifies you for such assistance. I would like to outline the mental steps I must take: 1) Disregard my memories which are typified by feelings of love, care and protection, are vivid, spontaneous, detailed and chronologically consistent. If I understand correctly, I must consider them to be manipulated and tailored by satanic experts. 2) Likewise disregard my sense impressions of the character of my parents and their parents. The feelings I have of their essential humaneness, protection and concern I must dismiss as a product of denial and fantasy. I must substitute those feelings with the hatred and vengefulness my sister embraces. 3) Accept as fact that my parents and grandparents belonged to a vast and ancient cult. That this cult required its members to regularly engage in prescribed ritual accompanied by elaborate accoutrements, featuring decapitation, cannibalism, and every manner of rape and sexual abuse of my sister and other victims. 4) Accept that this cult practiced these rituals undetected among an isolated rural population consisting largely of relatives and devout Christians. Accept that these rituals and their attendant murders either escaped detection by law enforcement in specific and varied locations throughout America, or that upper echelons of the law participated in and covered up these crimes. Accept that no disaffected members of this cult were able to escape its domain and reveal its existence to authorities. Accept that those authorities were in fact so well controlled by fraternal members that even non-participating and in formed underlings produced not a peep. That no gossip circulated regarding these activities and no rumors surfaced until recently. 5) Accept that the majority of institutions, financial, religious, fraternal, military and political in this country and abroad are controlled by this cult. That its members include experts in evidence disposal far too sophisticated for detection capabilities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or that the F.B.I. conspires with the criminals. 6) That this arch-conspiracy entails more than mere human agency, but is guided by the manifest hand of a supernatural being, namely Satan and his demonic cohorts. Its a big leap. If I'm correct that my sister expects you to assist me in that leap, it will require more than your assurance of professional acumen in deciphering reality, or even your obvious intelligence, kindness and sincerity. I hope you can come to accept that my assertions and arguments in your office were neither intellectual fencing nor thoughtless protection of a self-imposed or externally programmed world view. I was expressing my thoughts and feelings. An alternative to this leap of faith I understand my sister to require, is the opinion that her world view is in fact delusional; and that her delusion is buoyed up by the profession of psychology. Such an opinion would imply that the profession has lost its intellectual and philosophical moorings, and its rational and scientific rudder, is adrift and infested with verminous catch-phrases, buzzwords and checklists in the place of serious research or cogent analysis. That would be a mournful opinion to arrive at, but maybe you can see why I tend toward it. You offered me a pair of guidelines in accepting testimony as fact. One was the affect of an adult patient in recall, the vividness and detail of their memory, and the assumption that these things could not be imagined or acquired from any source but actual experience. The other is the testimony of children, how their natural innocence should dispel all doubt in the listener. You referred to the statements by my nephew, and to those of your own son. In fact I accept that your son's memory and experience was a real and terrible thing. I do not deny that not only sexual abuse, but abuse involving ritual, does exist. In my nephew's case I would like for you to consider a few things. He has been constantly exposed to his mother's process of recall over many years. Unlike yourself my sister is a crusader on this subject. Her belief leads her to suspect that her children were abused as she remembers her abuse. She has taken him to psychologists to probe this suspicion. Unlike you, a great number of therapists are not reticent about asking leading questions and rewarding expected answers. I recall your condemning this type of questioning in the McMartin case. My sister also believes in the principle that only a specialist, such as yourself with a full understanding and belief in the existence of satanic ritual abuse, can properly treat a supposed victim. From this predisposition I would imagine that the therapists she selected for her son would be of this type. I also would understand that my nephew is in a double-bind regarding his mother. What would you do if given the choice of finding your primary care giver delusional and unstable, or joining with her against an insidious enemy? Unfortunately you and I don't share your opinion of your ability to objectively determine reality from a victims statements. Also, unfortunately, it is obvious that my involvement disqualifies me from objectivity. So I am left to persuade with only the power of my opinion and what authoritative sources support it. I think that the ability to be coerced to believe varies in individuals and their situation, something along the lines of Spiegel's Induction Profile I described. My nephew's family situation and perhaps a hypnotic gift I venture he, my sister and myself share, would readily explain the memories unveiled in your office. But we come back to what divides us. Why should I think my memory is real and my sisters is not? All I can offer is that I have been only minimally exposed to therapy and trance induction. That unlike my sister, my memories are not fantastic or bizarre. I do not subscribe, on a weekly or daily basis, to the influence of groups and individuals devoutly committed to and focused on a specific version of reality. And most distinctively, I do not isolate myself from contrary opinion. Your personal experience and professional commitment to the satanic paradigm not withstanding, I expect you to seriously consider my interpretation. If you've gotten this far in this letter, I can hope that your own mind is actually open enough to provide a truly mediative role in future contact with my sister, for myself and possibly the rest of my family. September 24, 1992 Dr. Hoffmann, You have played a brief but significant role in shattering my family and breaking my heart. Neither the ethical concept of confidentiality nor the legal one of privilege that you cited in cutting off my entreaty cast month forbid you from reading this. I sincerely hope that you do. I called you on August 20th because my sister suggested I do so and I assumed that she had granted permission to discuss her case. You have served as a signal beacon in a therapeutic journey which has led her by steps to declare my parents and grandparents rapists, murderers and cannibals. In the course of this journey doubtful family members begged her to seek the opinion of a professional psychiatrist unallied with her own therapist, Jack Carleton. She was referred to you by Sutton Hospital. Your advice, according to her, was to stay the therapeutic course and avoid those "in denial." Whether or not I am "in denial" I am a member of her family; a brother who loves her and has stayed in close contact with her over the past 12 years. When I revealed that I doubted the reality of my sister's therapeutically recovered memories, I felt your tone turn defensive and your manner become abrupt. I think it is possible that my sister's recollections stem from a source altogether different than actual experience. I am not alone in that opinion. I am including in this letter articles citing such authorities in case their views have escaped your attention. I think it reasonable that a professional conclusion as to the reality of allegations of such grave implication--psychological, social, spiritual, not to mention legal--would reflect familiarity with thoughts and feelings of the victim's family. It disappoints me that my offer of such a perspective was so curtly dismissed. It offends me to have my own memories, thoughts and feelings summed up as "denial." It frightens me that this summation from a man of your profession carries with it the authority of diagnosis. But what most hurts and confuses me is your seeming lack of concern for the consequences of your assessments, to myself and my family, if you are wrong. In fact if you are correct and all my sister describes is true, your response seems even more disheartening. Is it not worth your time to illuminate and help protect a person who your patient contends was similarly victimized? My exchange with you and my understanding of your role in my sister's current condition leaves me angry and frustrated. Knowing that you may represent a significant trend of thought and behavior among those of your profession makes me weep for the poor souls seeking help from psychotherapy. Beyond the ethical guidelines you advised me of in our conversation stands that fundamental axiom "first do no harm." A dreadful harm has been done, Dr. Hoffmann, and I directly suffer it. I beg you from my heart to at least consider and investigate that harm as a human being, if not a man whose business it is to heal and protect.