The Etymological Antecedents of and Scientific Evidence for the Existence of Dissociative Identity Disorder by Neil Brick
This paper will delineate the etiological antecedents of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and enumerate upon the scientific evidence proving the existence of DID. (I will use the term DID for MPD to avoid confusion, even when the original author cited may have used the original term MPD.) This paper will explain the diagnostic criteria of DID, its incidence rates and cross-cultural characteristics, present arguments to counter the idea that suggestibility may be a factor in its misdiagnosis and delineate the data that shows a clear connection between traumatic wartime experiences and dissociation and trauma and DID. It will also consider the historical development of the debate surrounding DID, including its increased diagnosis around the turn of the last century, reasons for its decline in diagnosis in the mid part of the last century and reasons for its increased diagnosis toward the end of the 20th century. It will deliberate upon the claims made by several researchers that DID can be created in the laboratory as well as the critiques surrounding those claims. I will also discuss the neurobiological evidence proving the connection between DID and certain neurobiological indicators. Included will be a discussion of the modern theory of iatrogenic DID and a critique of this theory. A debate about the creation of DID as a social construction and critiques of this theory are presented as well. To conclude, I will present the argument that the research on DID showing it to be a valid psychiatric diagnosis which robustly meets all the necessary validity requirements.
DID is defined in the DSM-IV-TR as the presence of two or more personality states or distinct identities that repeatedly take control of one’s behavior. The patient has an inability to recall personal information. The extent of this lack of recall is too great to be explained by normal forgetfulness. The disorder cannot be due to the direct physical effects of a general medical condition or substance. (American Psychological Association, 2000).
DID entails a failure to integrate certain aspects of memory, consciousness and identity. Patients experience frequent gaps in their memory for their personal history, past and present. Patients with DID report having severe physical and sexual abuse, especially during childhood. There is controversy around these reports, because childhood memories may be exposed to distortion and some patients with DID are highly hypnotizable and vulnerable to suggestive influences. But, the reports of patients with DID are often validated by objective evidence. People that are responsible for acts of sexual and physical abuse may be prone to distorting or denying their behavior. (American Psychological Association, 2000)
Physical evidence may include variations in physiological functions in different identity states, including differences in vision, levels of pain tolerance, symptoms of asthma, the response of blood glucose to insulin and sensitivity to allergens. Other physical findings may include scars from physical abuse or self-inflicted injuries, headaches or migraines, asthma and irritable bowel syndrome. (American Psychological Association, 2000)
DID is found in a variety of cultures around the world. It is diagnosed three to nine times more often in adult females than males. Females average 15 or more identities, males eight identities. The sharp rise in the reported cases of DID in the U.S. may be due the greater awareness of DID’s diagnosis, which has caused an increased identification of those that were previously undiagnosed. Others believe it has been overdiagnosed in those that are highly suggestible. (American Psychological Association, 2000)
Pezdek and Roe investigated some misinformation suggestibility studies and found that the misinformation suggestibility effect may not be easily generalizable to false memories caused by therapeutic suggestions. Pezdek and Grand in separate papers state that there are no independent cases of false memory. Pezdek and Roe found that strong memories are more resistant to suggestion than weak memories. They also found that it is fairly easy to suggestively influence someone to believe that a different event occurred other than the event experienced. But, a large number of experimental subjects rejected a suggested planted memory for an event that had never occurred at all. Pezdek, Finger and Hodge tested the hypothesis that an event must be evaluated as true before it can be put into autobiographical memory. They found that familiar false events were much most likely to be put into autobiographical memory than unfamiliar false events. They even tested suggesting two false events to 20 subjects, one was being lost in a mall, the other was being given a rectal enema. Three accepted the familiar false suggestion of being lost in a mall, but none accepted the unfamiliar suggestion of being given an enema. (Brown, Frischholz & Scheflin, 1999) These studies would back up the idea that it is difficult if not impossible to suggest to a patient that they have DID.
The average time period from DID’s first presentation of symptoms to its diagnosis is six to seven years. DID may become less manifest as patients reach past their late 40′s, but it can reemerge during stress, trauma or substance abuse. It is suggested in several studies that DID is more likely to occur with first-degree biological relatives of people that already have DID, than in the regular population. (American Psychological Association, 2000)
Research by Putnam has shown that the vast majority of dissociative disorders were induced traumatically. Wartime amnesic syndromes give us excellent documentation showing the connections between dissociative reactions and trauma. A substantial percentage of those that have fought in wars have either complete or partial amnesia for their combat experiences. Part of war-induced posttraumatic stress reactions include persistent feelings of estrangement and detachment, and active dissociative phenomena like abreactions and flashbacks. Estimates of the rates of dissociative syndromes during wartime, usually psychogenic fugue reactions or psychogenic amnesia run in a variety of studies done in the World War II era between five and 14%. One study by Kirshner in the early 1970′s showed the overall dissociative reaction’s rate among peacetime military psychiatric patients at 1.3%. In Abeles and Schilder’s 1935 study of psychogenic amnesia patients at Bellevue Hospital, they observed that an unpleasant conflict, familial or financial was significant as the amnesia’s immediate cause. A variety of studies have shown a high incidence of depersonalization syndromes in those that have survived experiences that were life-threatening, like being in a concentration camp. There is strong evidence linking the genesis of DID to recurrent, severe traumatic experiences that usually happen in childhood or early adolescence. Trauma in childhood has also been identified as contributing to the beginning of hypnoid states. (Putnam, 1989)
The original explanations of multiple personality as being derived from a supernatural etiology like reincarnation or spirit possession during the 19th century have pretty much disappeared. From about 1880 to 1920 physiological explanations of DID often described some sort of hemispheric disconnection syndrome came about due to the discovery of lateralization of some brain functions like speech. From 1920 to 1970, there was a considerable decline in the number of reported cases of DID. Iatrogenic creation by hypnosis and role playing were often commonly offered as explanations. These theories occur today in modified forms. State dependent learning was also proposed as an explanation for DID in the early 1900′s. (Putnam, 1989)
Historically by 1910, a believable view of DID began to decline, partly due to the increase in psychoanalysis and then behaviorism, and partly due to skeptical views toward hypnosis and the connection between hypnosis and hysteria. During the period of decline, Taylor and Martin reviewed 76 cases in the literature from the 1800′s to the mid 1940′s. They found that even though some multiple personalities may have been caused by suggestion, they concluded that multiple personality is a genuine phenomenon. This is because of the wide spread of these cases, because most of them had no information about other cases and because they had been judged as authentic sufferers of multiplicity by different observers. Sutcliffe and Jones believed the number of cases reported in the late 1800′s was increased by misdiagnosis. They added that many of the cases of DID could not be simply dismissed as simply being incorrectly diagnosed. They also stated that though shaping has played a part in the development of multiple personality cases, it doesn’t explain the nonexistence of these cases. Some cases manifested multiple behavior prior to therapy. They concluded that one should reject the idea that shaping in hypnosis may explain DID, but multiple behaviors can be shaped in those that already have DID. (Brown et al., 1999)
Estabrooks worked with the experimental creation of personality states in the 1920′s. He was trying to create hypnotically programmed couriers for certain intelligence agencies. The extent of his success of creating artificial DID for the military is unclear, since publication was not encouraged. The CIA however, formally conducted such experiments with Estabrooks consultation for some in the 1950′s. He claims to have created unconscious couriers that were amnesic for specific information. None of his work describes a single case in any detail, nor do any of his writings show that he succeeded in creating DID. (Brown et al., 1999)
Harriman extended Estabrooks work by inducing a profound hypnotic trance in good hypnotic subjects and then he suggested a role to produce automatic writing in a subject. The subject’s arm and hand had been dissociated from the body by hypnotic suggestion. He claims the subjects were like different persons when they did the writing. Problems with Harriman’s work include his repeated work with a small number of subjects, that he did not control for extraneous variables and that the secondary personality states he created were, for the most part, temporary states produced partially by the subject, which were used to explain dissociated experiences. He experimentally failed to meet the criteria of the DSM-IV-TR, where an alter personality must take executive control. His personalities produced ineffectual, poorly acted and complaint personalities limited to the demonstrations he made. (Brown et al., 1999)
By the mid 1960′s, government researchers for the defense department and the CIA were aware of the information on how to heal victims of severe early trauma, so they were able to reverse the process. Their goal was to take a child under age seven, create a unique personality and train it to be a killer so that no other ego states would be aware of this training or any acts this personality would commit. Each personality was created by trauma, usually sexual in nature. (Hersha, Hersha, Griffis & Schwartz, 2001)
Misdiagnosis of patients with DID may have also caused some confusion in the earlier development of the explanations of the etiology of DID. Rosenbaum notes that the diagnosis of schizophrenia became popular in the late 1920′s. Starting in about 1927, there was a sharp decline in the number of diagnoses of DID matched by a sharp increase in the diagnosis of schizophrenia. Bleuer (who originally introduced the diagnosis of schizophrenia in 1908) included multiple personality in his description of schizophrenia. It is probable that patients with DID were misdiagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia during this time. A variety of studies during the 1980′s (Putnam, Bliss, Bliss and Jeppsen) have shown that DID patients were often misdiagnosed as having schizophrenia. A decrease in patient/clinician interaction due to the psychopharmalogical development of neuroleptics, like Thorazine, may also have added to the decreased recognition of the sufferers of DID, who often need a long period of close therapy before being able to reveal their dissociative experiences and amnesias. (Putnam, 1989)
The connection between DID and childhood trauma has slowly come out in the last century. The slow recognition of the connection between the two was due to the fact that few clinicians worked with more than one case and it was also due to the fact that there wasn’t enough stringent diagnostic criteria, which caused an overlap with other disorders, such as organic amnesias, epilepsy and psychogenic fugue. In the 1970′s, early reports that clearly connected DID to childhood trauma appeared in single case histories, like Sybil. (Putnam, 1989)
Schreiber in 1973 postulated that a hysterical environment will cause a person to be a “hysteric.” The “hysteric” then becomes a person with multiple personalities to escape an oppressive environment. A missing piece is why one person does this and another in the same environment may not. He cites the case of 24-year-old patient with four separate alters that were given a psychological word association test. Each of the four alters answered like they were four separate people with no leakage of a single word association. A 27-year-old patient with four alters was given a battery of neurological and psychological tests. All four selves reacted completely independently from the others. Even their EEG’s were not alike. Thirteen army psychologists could not spot the type of illness this 27-year-old patient had. It is possible that many people who suffer from amnesia may also suffer from DID. (Schreiber, 1973)
A National Institute of Mental Health survey looking at 100 DID cases reported by Putnam in 1986 found that 97% of DID patients reported significant trauma during their childhoods. Incest was reported 68% of the time, but also reported were physical abuse, extreme neglect and other factors. Coons and Milstein in 1984 reported in 20 DID patients a rate of sexual abuse in 75% of them, 50% had a history of physical abuse and they had an overall rate of 85% of child abuse in their sample. According to Putnam, as of 1989, it had not been proven that child abuse causes DID. Independent verification of abuse which may have occurred ten years or more before being reported in therapy is nearly impossible to obtain by the clinician. Kluft and Bliss have been able to verify the veracity of the abuse reports in some of their patients. Putnam believes that therapists that have worked with more than a couple of patients with DID would not doubt the existence of a causal relationship between DID and childhood trauma, mostly child abuse. Some sufferers of DID report being used in Satanic rituals. Putnam believes that the abuse suffered by patients with DID is more bizarre and sadistic than that which occurs to most victims of childhood abuse. (Putnam, 1989)
In the early to mid 1980′s, several important clinical papers were written documenting the relationship between DID and trauma, including those by Coons, Greaves and Spiegel or hypnosis and MPD (Bliss). Putnam in 1989 presented a developmental model of DID where he demonstrates that the consolidation of identity and self across behavioral states is a normal developmental part of one’s childhood, unless this process is disrupted by severe forms of trauma or other developmental issues. These disruptions cause a chronic vulnerability to personality states and the shifting states of consciousness. Under some conditions these may become organized into DID. (Brown, Scheflin & Hammond, 1998)
One theory of the etymological development of DID promoted by a vocal minority of clinicians (McHugh, Merskey and Piper) is that DID is an iatrogenic artifact of therapeutic practices that are suggestive. This theory stands in contrast to a generally accepted belief that DID is a legitimate diagnosis in the DSM-IV. Critics of DID have drawn their evidence from laboratory simulation studies where multiple role enactments that resembled the behavior of alter personalities were demonstrated in normal laboratory subjects. Promoters of the DID iatrogenesis hypothesis believe that the DID diagnosis overlaps other diagnoses, the diagnosis is unstable over time, there is no relationship between DID and trauma, its over diagnosis is encouraged due to literature on DID, its increase in incident rates is due to misdiagnosis and therapeutic suggestion, and alter behavior is shaped by the therapist. Clinicians promoting the iatrogenic view recommend that clinicians keep a treatment focus on issues in the here and now and discourage any focus on supposed childhood memories. (Brown et al., 1998)
Gleaves systematically shows the logical errors and the selective misuse of the scientific evidence proposed by the DID iatrogenic theory proponents. The DID diagnostic category was derived empirically from many studies, which gave researchers a relatively clear set of DID’s clinical features. A variety of self-report instruments that are clinically sound, such as the Dissociative Experiences Scale and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Dissociative Disorders (SCID-D) demonstrate that there is a set of clinical features that are stable and valid and reliably discriminate those with DID from those with other disorders and those considered normal. DID has also been diagnosed around the world. Gleaves mentions that the DID iatrogenesis proponents rarely cite any of the diagnostic research, nor do they show that they are aware of DID’s clinically defining features. They make the logical error that multiple identity enactment is the only relevant feature of DID. Alter-like behavior may be shaped in some social interactions, like therapy, but there is no evidence to show the disorder can be created per se. (Brown et al., 1998)
Proponents of the iatrogenesis hypothesis argue that patients simulate DID to get attention, yet Gleaves cites several empirical studies that show no significant relationship between histrionic personality and other attention-seeking traits and DID. In a study done by Ross, Norton and Wozney (1989), only 27% of those with DID had hypnosis before getting the DID diagnosis. The iatrogenesis argument also doesn’t account for the fact that many patients with DID had a long history of dissociative symptoms before the DID diagnosis was made. Putnam in 1986 showed no significant differences in the clinical features of those with DID, whether hypnosis was used or not in treatment. Gleaves also states that researchers have found a strong association between forms of childhood trauma and DID. (Brown et al., 1998)
The treatment strategy recommended by proponents of the iatrogenesis of DID that therapists discourage alter behavior and recollections of abuse may be harmful. Not dealing with the condition of DID may cause interminable treatment. Simply because some of the features of DID can be role played, this does not meaningfully explain the etiology of any mental disorder. Gleaves believes the iatrogenesis model is flawed and lacks support. The role-playing theory cannot account for the primary features of DID. (Brown et al., 1998)
Several lawsuits have been brought successfully against clinicians for allegedly using suggestive practices to implant supposed false memories of abuse. Alongside a good portion of these cases there was an additional complaint that a diagnosis of DID or DDNOS was given during treatment by the defendant or accepted by the defendant if previously given. A significant part of these defendants were being sued for using treatments that were well within the scope of standard practices, such as individual psychotherapy with psychodynamic orientations. Expert testimony promoting the viewpoint that DID can be created through the suggestion of therapists extremely overgeneralizes the sparse and inadequate data available and misleads the courts it is presented in. (Brown et al., 1999)
Spanos believed that naturally occurring DID does not exist, that it is the outcome of social construction. He believed that patients were encouraged to learn the rules that are central to a process where DID is created. Spanos hypnotized two groups and didn’t hypnotize a control group, all of which were asked to role play an accused murderer. Control subjects did not adopt a different name or become amnesic. The alleged multiples created showed evidence of significant differences in psychological testing, compared to their original tests. Spanos study was replicated by Frischholz and Sachs. They found that hypnosis was not necessary to create the signs of role enactment. Their data shows that hypnosis doesn’t facilitate the making of DID-like symptoms. Additional critiques of Spanos work and socio-cognitive model include his model’s minimization of the often severe pathology connected with DID and his model’s not considering the neurobiology of DID. Sar did a study which suggested that the parietal and frontal lobes may be involved as neuromediators in DID. DID may have a neurological basis. Simulations of multiple-role enactments are not evidence that a complex disorder like DID has been created. True DID is characterized by enduring alter-personality states. (Brown et al., 1999)
Many studies have shown that the separate identities contained in patients with DID may be cognitively and physiologically distinct. Brain scans of different alters may be quite different. These differences cannot in an obvious way be intentionally simulated. These studies show that a DID diagnosis is in many cases more than role playing or feigning. Spanos, Weekes and Bertrand in 1985 demonstrated that normal college students by suggestion can be induced to show some of DID’s phenomena, including adopting a second personality. However, this does not convincingly address questions about DID’s reality. The fact that a person could give a good portrayal of a person with a broken leg does not show the nonexistence of people with broken legs. (Carson, Butcher & Mineka, 2000)
Putnam believes that a valid psychiatric diagnosis needs to fulfill three different forms of validity, content (specific and detailed description of the disorder), criterion-related (laboratory tests are consistent with the disorder) and construct validity (the disorder needs to be defined differently from other disorders). The research on DID robustly meets all three of these validity requirements. Its clinical phenomenology has been well delineated and this has been replicated by different investigators, using different methodologies, with different age groups and populations. Its core pathological process, which is dissociation, has been measured and detected by reliable scales. By looking at psychological tests, patients with DID can be distinguished from normals and other psychiatric patients. DID is also found in other cultures and can be differentiated from other disorders in these cultures. This demonstrates its cross-cultural universality. It is also one of the oldest Western diagnosis in psychiatry (Janet, Prince and Rush). DID is consistently not only found across cultures but also across time. Few other diagnoses can show this documentation. DID and other types of pathological dissociation have also been found in children. These cases have features that connect with developmental theories and data. (Putnam, 1997)
The critics of DID’s existence often appear to direct their critiques at a mass media stereotype, rather than the actual condition. Putnam wonders what the existence of DID’s critics fear the most, DID per se, or what it may say about the human condition. The existence of the first four dissociative disorders (dissociative amnesia, fugue, depersonalization disorder, DDNOS) listed in the DSM are rarely attacked. But attacks on the existence of DID/MPD have continued for more than a century. (Putnam, 1997)
To conclude, DID has had a very controversial history. Even with numerous case studies and strong data backing its existence and traumatic etiology, DID’s diagnosis has been attacked for over a century as being overdiagnosed, misdiagnosed and being created by a variety of nontraumagenic origins. Its critics have not attacked other dissociative diagnoses, nor have they criticized the connection between wartime trauma and dissociative disorders. DID itself has been misdiagnosed as other diagnoses, under diagnosed and falsely criticized as being diagnosed due to patient suggestibility throughout the last century up until almost the present time. DID has been falsely simulated (according to DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria) in laboratories.
The question would have to be, why, in the face of such strong scientific evidence, is there the continued denial of the existence of DID as well as its traumagenic origins? Is there a reason for the consistent denial of the scientific evidence? Could it be due to a social denial of the existence of the severe, repeated nature of child abuse that many children have to suffer through in our culture and cultures around the world? And what is the price of this denial? Will more children need to suffer the horrible abuse that survivors of DID have suffered? Or will our culture be able to accurately look at the etiology and frequency of the DID disorder, and begin to work on ways to end this suffering.
References
American Psychological Association (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed. text revision). Washington, D. C: Author.
Barlow, D.H. (2001). Clinical handbook of psychological disorders (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Brown, D., Frischholz, E., Scheflin, A. (1999). Iatrogenic dissociative identity – an evaluation of the scientific evidence. The journal of psychiatry and law. 27, 549-637.
Brown, D., Scheflin, A. W., Hammond, D. C. (1998). Memory, trauma treatment and the law. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Carson, R.C., Butcher, J.N., & Mineka, D. (2000). Abnormal psychology and modern life. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Hersha, C., Hersha L., Griffis, D. & Schwartz, T. (2001) Secret weapons. Far Hills, NJ: New Horizon Press
Putnam, Frank W. (1989). Diagnosis and treatment of multiple personality disorder. New York: Guilford Publications
Putnam. Frank W. (1997). Dissociation in children and adolescents : a developmental perspective. New York : Guilford Press
Rutz, C. (2001). A Nation Betrayed. Grass Lake, MI: Fidelity Publishing
Schreiber, Flora Rheta (1973). Sybil. New York : Warner Books
Sunday, June 5, 2011
The Neurological Basis for the Theory of Recovered Memory
The Neurological Basis for the Theory of Recovered Memory
by Neil Brick
This paper will present research showing the biological basis for the theory of recovered memory. I will define recovered memory as the phenomenon of partially or fully losing part or a specific aspect of a memory, and then later recovering part or all of the memory into conscious awareness. This paper will include data from the works of van der Kolk and Fisler, Knopp and Benson and Bremner. Supporting data will include PTSD studies on Vietnam veterans and survivors of childhood trauma, subjective reports of memory, measurements of stress-responsive neurohormones, animal research on neurohormones, neuroimaging and MRI brain studies. Different theories of memory and amnesia will also be presented.
van der Kolk and Fisler’s research shows that traumatic memories are retrieved, at least at first, in the form of mental imprints that are dissociated. These imprints are of the affective and sensory elements of the traumatic experience. Clients have reported the slow emergence of a personal narrative that can be considered explicit (conscious) memory. The level of emotional significance of a memory correlates directly with the memory’s veracity. Studies of subjective reports of memory show that memories of highly significant events are unusually accurate and stable over time. There are a variety of memory systems which usually operate outside of conscious awareness. These systems operate with some independence from the other memory systems. While people appear to easily assimilate expected and known experiences, aspects of traumatic experiences appear to get stuck in the mind, unaltered by time passing or experiences that may follow. The imprints of traumatic experiences appear to be qualitatively different from those of nontraumatic events. Explicit memories of personal facts or events are affected by lesions of the front lobe and hippocampus. These parts of the brain are also involved in PTSD neurobiology. Traumatic memories may be coded differently than ordinary event memories, possibly because of alterations in attentional focusing or the fact that extreme emotional arousal interferes with the memory functions of the hippocampus. (van der Kolk & Fisler 1995)
Traumas can interfere with several memory functions. van der Kolk divided these functional disturbances into four sets, traumatic amnesia, global memory impairment, dissociative processes and traumatic memories’ sensorimotor organization. Traumatic amnesia involves the loss of remembering traumatic experiences. The younger the subject and the longer the traumatic event is, the greater the chance of significant amnesia. Global memory impairment makes it difficult for these subjects to construct an accurate account of their present and past history. Dissociation refers to memories being stored as fragments and not as unitary wholes. Not being able to integrate traumatic memories seems to be the main element which leads to PTSD. In the sensorimotor organization of traumatic memories, sensations are fragmented into different sensory components. (van der Kolk & Fisler, 1995)
van der Kolk and Fisler’s study of 46 adults supports Piaget’s notion that when memories can’t be integrated linguistically or semantically, they are organized in a more primitive manner as somatic sensations or visual images. In a collaborative neuroimaging study with the authors, it was found that when subjects had flashbacks in the laboratory, there was increased activity in the right hemisphere in areas connected to the processing of emotional experiences and in the right visual association cortex. Broca’s areas in the left hemisphere showed significantly decreased activity. This helps back up the theory that traumatic memories are made up of emotional and sensory states with minimal verbal representation. van der Kolk and Fisler’s hypothesis is that under extreme stress, the memory categorization system based in the hippocampus fails, allowing for these memories to be kept as emotional and sensory states. Excessive arousal at the moment of trauma interferes with the clear memory processing of the event, leaving unaltered memory traces. When these memory traces are remembered and put into a personal narrative, they are subject to being condensed, contaminated and embellished upon. When memory traces are recalled, increased activity in the amygdala might cause the personal assignment of accuracy and individual significance. (van der Kolk & Fisler, 1995)
In van der Kolk’s work on the psychobiology of PTSD, he states that trauma responses are bimodal. The response to trauma is hypermnesia, over reaction to stimuli and reexperiencing the trauma, which exists with numbing, avoidance and amnesia. When compensating for chronic hyperarousal, behaviorally subjects with PTSD may shut down and avoid stimuli similar to the trauma. Psychobiologically, they may emotionally numb both to trauma and everyday experience. PTSD subjects may go directly from stimuli to response without an adequate appraisal of the situation, due to their overgeneralization of incoming stimuli, creating flight or fight reactions. (van der Kolk, 1994)
Abnormal physiological responses in PTSD have been shown in two ways. One is due to reminders of the trauma. The second is due to intense, neutral stimuli, such as loud sounds. Individuals with PTSD show several autonomic responses to these stimuli, like blood pressure, skin conductance and heart rate. These highly elevated responses show the timelessness and intensity of how traumatic memories may affect one’s present experience. Lang proposed that emotional memories are stored as associative networks, where these networks are activated when a person gets confronted by a sufficient number of elements that make up these networks. Kolb proposed that excessive stimulation of the CNS during trauma could cause permanent neuronal changes. These changes would have a detrimental effect on stimulus discrimination, habituation and learning. (van der Kolk, 1994)
Abnormal acoustic startle response (ASR) has been a main feature in trauma response for more than 50 years. ASR in PTSD subjects response is mediated by such excitatory amino acids as glutamate and aspartate. ASR is modulated by several neurotransmitters and second messengers at supraspinal and spinal levels. Abnormalities in habituation are found in ASR with PTSD subjects. This failure of habituation for PTSD to loud sounds suggests problems with evaluating sensory input. The fact that PTSD subjects are unable to properly integrate trauma memories is shown physiologically by their misinterpretation of nonthreatening stimuli. (van der Kolk, 1994)
PTSD develops following intense stressors. Intense stress causes the release of stress-responsive neurohormones, like cortisol, norepinephrine, epinephrine, etc. Constant exposure to stress changes an organism’s adaptiveness and how it deals with its daily environment. Studies have shown neuroendocrine abnormalities in PTSD subjects. These studies have shown chronically increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system activity in PTSD. The neurochemicals measured in these studies include catecholamines, corticosteriods, serotonin and endogenous opioids. Through self-reports of emotional responses, it is suggested that endogenous opioids are responsible for the numbing of emotions in response to trauma. Putnam’s work shows large neuroendocrine changes in sexually abused girls when they are compared to normals. (van der Kolk, 1994)
Trauma victims do not respond to stress the way normals do. Pressure situations may cause a feeling of retraumatization. High states of arousal may promote the retrieval of trauma memories and associated phenomena such as sensory information or behaviors connected to prior trauma. Therefore, traumatic memories may be considered state dependent. Under stress, people secrete endogenous stress hormones that affect memory consolidation strength. Through studies on animal models, it is assumed that the large secretion of neurohormones during a traumatic event in part causes long-term potentiation (LTP) and the over-consolidation of traumatic memories. This LTP may cause an organism to remember a trauma whenever aroused. Neuroepinepehrine may be the major hormone causing LTP. Endorphins and oxytocin may actually cause inhibition of the consolidation of memories. Reliving the traumatic event may cause stress hormones to strength the memory trace causing a positive feedback loop. (van der Kolk, 1994)
The limbic system is believed to be critically involved in memory storage and retrieval as well as giving emotional significance to sensory inputs. Research in brain imaging studies suggests that trauma patients may have limbic system abnormalities. One part of the limbic system, the amygdala, may assign free-floating feelings to input which are then elaborated upon by the neocortex and imbued with personal meaning. It may also integrate internal representations of the external world in memory image form associating emotional experiences with these memories. The septo-hippocampal system is thought to record memory in temporal and spatial dimensions, and plays an important role in storing and categorizing incoming stimuli in memory. Hippocampal damage is connected to over responsiveness to external stimuli. When stress interferes with the hippocampus’ mediation of memory, it is possible that some of the memory is kept by a system that records emotional experience, but there is no symbolic placement of it in time or space. In animals, high stimulation of the amygdala interferes with hippocampal processing. Strong affect may disallow proper evaluating and categorizing of an experience. (van der Kolk, 1994)
Hebb distinguished between short-term and long-term memory. He postulated that any memory that stayed in short-term storage for a long enough time would be consolidated into a long-term memory. Later research showed this to be false. Research has shown that direct injections of cortisol or epinephrine help the storage of recent experiences. This is also true for stimulation of the amygdala. This proves that excitement enhances memory by the stimulation of hormones that affect the amygdala. Excessive or prolonged stress (with prolonged cortisol) may hurt memory storage. Patients with amygdalar damage are no more likely to remember emotionally charged words than nonemotionally charged ones. Baddely and Hitch developed the term working memory to show that temporary storage is more than a station on the way to long-term memory, it is the way we store memory when memory is worked with or examined. The hippocampus is important for explicit memory. The hippocampus is also important for memory consolidation. The hippocampus receives input from different parts of the cortex and sends it’s output out to different parts of the brain also. The input comes from secondary and terciary sensory areas that have processed the information a lot already. Hippocampal damage may also cause memory loss and problems with memory storage. (Kalat, 2001) This data backs up the idea that the hormones caused by excitement may enhance memory. An example of this is being able to remember sexually charged words. However, excessive stress and hippocampal damage may damage memory processing. This is somewhat similar to what van der Kolk described.
Kolb and Whishaw describe two groups of theories about amnesia. The defects in sequential processing theory states that to get a memory to become permanent, there needs to be a structural change in the brain. Amnesia is assumed to occur when the consolidation process is disrupted and either the memory trace doesn’t produce a structural change and gets lost or there is a structural change and access to the memory trace is lost. The multiple memory systems theories state that amnesia occurs due to a problem in one of the memory systems. These theories assume that the impairment of a psychological system may cause deficits in some kinds of memories but not others. Kolb and Whishaw claim that none of these models can explain all of the aspects of amnesia. (Kolb & Whishaw, 1995) van der Kolk’s theory of traumatic amnesia appears to be a combination of both of the above theories. In the defects in sequential processing theory, amnesia occurs when the consolidation process is disrupted, and access to the memory trace is lost. Amygdalar disruption of hippocampal processing may cause this consolidation disruption in terms of the proper categorization of a memory. The multiple memory systems theories state that impairment may be caused in one system but not another. van der Kolk’s work theorizes and attempts to prove that there is a difference between traumatic and nontraumatic memory storage and retrieval.
The body’s need to respond in danger situations can be strong. There is a tremendous physiological and neurochemical cost to this type of response, due to the depletion of hormones and neurotransmitters. With adequate recovery time, the body can return to its own homeostasis. When there is inadequate recovery time between stressful situations, alterations may occur to the neurophysiological parts of one’s stress-response system. Some of these alterations may be irreversible. One’s body’s memory and learning systems may be altered affecting implicit and explicit memory. This may cause maladaptive or pathological responses. This damage may cause memory loss, learning deficits and other maladaptive symptoms. Children’s neurological and physiological systems are very vulnerable to the negative impact of trauma. Highly resilient people may have a better chance of experiencing a trauma without developing PTSD. But if a trauma is strong enough, no person is immune to the consequences of developing PTSD. Uncontrollable stress may have a similar impact biologically. It may be possible to look at an individual’s pre and post trauma neurochemistry and tell if they have experienced trauma, but it would not be possible to say what kind of trauma. Animal studies show us that learned helplessness can develop from repeated exposure to inescapable trauma. In humans, physical paralysis has been shown to be a main feature connected to a traumatic event. This paralysis has been shown to be connected to hypermnesia, amnesia and dissociation. Traumatic events may be unavailable to recall or may be recalled only in pieces. (Knopp & Benson, 1996)
Cathecholamine activity may be altered due to trauma. The intrusive symptoms of PTSD are thought to be connected to the dysregulation of the cathecholamine system. Several systems are regulated during the cathecholamine systems reaction to stress. These include, the locus ceruleus/norepinephrine system, which affects the activities of the cerebral cortex, hypothalamus, hippocampus and amygdala, the dopamine system, which causes and increase in activity in the prefrontal cortex, the SNS, which causes physical arousal. (Knopp & Benson, 1996)
Amnesia involves losses in explicit memory. It is shown by one’s inability to remember personal memories or discuss them verbally, or it may be shown by one’s inability to fully retain in conscious awareness temporarily retrieved memories. Amnesia is often considered to be a dissociative condition, such as dissociative amnesia. An individual may only remember parts of the event, or certain categories about the event (like feelings). Amnesia caused by deficits while encoding information may not be reversible, because the information was not encoded. Gaps in autobiographical memory are normal to PTSD sufferers, as are problems with nonstressful short-term memory tasks. The successful coding of memories entails alert focused awareness when the input is presented. Memory consolidation is most successful when the experience can be elaborated on in conscious thought. A lack of conscious awareness may hurt these processes. Extreme elevations of norepinephrine released in trauma situations are related to the strong implicit hypermnesia memories and to the explicit deficits of memory of amnesia. Medium to high levels of norepinephrine cause the amygdala to promote LTP in the hippocampus, which may result in vivid memories. Very high levels of norepineephrine and heavy stimulation of the amygdala connected to extreme, prolonged or repeated stress appear to interfere with hippocampal functioning. This interference may hurt cognitive assessment and the encoding of the input. (Knopp & Benson, 1996)
van der Kolk writes about the neural connections between the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. They are the main pathways of communication between subcortical and cortical areas. These connections can be assumed to represent a link between unconscious and conscious brain areas. Changes in the hippocampus’ functioning during uncontrollable stress may hurt and limit the consolidation of the input into the explicit memory system. Some mental representations of the input may remain in cortical emotional memory, which may cause phobias and free-floating anxiety. This explains how trauma sufferers may have amnesia for specific events, but not the emotions connected to them. Excessive levels of opioids released in the brain during trauma and the numbing response connected to them may also be a major factor for the impairment of memory. According to van der Kolk, in animal studies, memory is damaged when a situation can no longer be helped by the animal’s activity. Panic and freeze responses may be seen as defensive ways to allow an organism to not consciously experience overwhelming stress or to not remember an occurrence of overwhelming stress. High opioid levels may influence the encoding of input in two ways. The first is by changing the initial experience of one’s perceptions by decreasing the perception of pain and changing other senses. The second is by changing one’s interpretation of the entire event, creating an unreal context for the event, like physical or emotional detachment. These events are characteristic of dissociative responses. These influences may cause memories that are unrelated to or dissociated from the normal methods of explicit memory retrieval. (Knopp & Benson, 1996)
Bremner’s work states that changes in the neurotransmitter GABA in response to uncontrolled stress have been connected to losses in memory and learning. This may be due to GABA’s interrelationship with neuroepinephrine and opioids. Chronic dopamine dysregulation may be a consequence of trauma. Dopamine’s relationship to working memory in the prefrontal cortex may also show its connection to problems of encoding and short term memory. High levels of cortisol (as mentioned previously by Kalat) may cause memory deficits because of its neurotoxic effects on the hippocampus. In animal studies, high levels of cortisol have been shown to cause hippocampal damage. In humans, MRI studies have shown reduced hippocampal volumes in combat veterans with PTSD, adults with posttraumatic symptoms and survivors of repeated childhood sexual or physical abuse. Hippocampal damage may cause short-term memory retention deficits. van der Kolk writes that PTSD’s essence is memory disturbances. Janet wrote that certain occurrences may leave intense memories in a person. With dissociative trauma survivors, trauma may also interfere with implicit memory, where periods of avoidance may be interrupted by intrusive emotional occurrences with no story to guide them. (Knopp & Benson, 1996)
Bremner cites several studies showing a connection between hippocampal volume and stress related disorders. The hippocampus is sensitive to stress and plays an important role in memory and learning. The hippocampus also has a role in recording the emotions of a stressful event. Researchers have measured hippocampal volume with MRIs. In one study, hippocampal volume was found to be reduced by 8% on the right side in Vietnam combat veterans with PTSD. Later a 12% reduction was found on the left side. After this, Bremner measured left hippocampal volume in patients with PTSD related to early childhood sexual and physical abuse and also found a 12% reduction. Other studies have replicated these findings. Abuse and PTSD are related to a broad range of memory disturbances, and PTSD sufferers may be more susceptible to memory problems than normals. A difficult issue for Bremner is whether those presumably abused accurately recall their information. ( Bremner, 2002)
Changes in memory function by cortisol and norepinephrine may show us a mechanism for the delayed recall of child abuse. Cortisol over hours acts to weaken the laying down of memory traces and neuroepinephrine may strengthen these traces. Exaggerated cortisol release in a stressful situation in PTSD may cause the inhibition of the retrieval of memories. The exaggerated release of norepinephrine in animal studies could be connected to humans. This would show how memory recall can be facilitated. This may also explain how traumatic memories of childhood abuse could suddenly break into consciousness and would back up the claims of PTSD patients. Frontal lobe abnormalities causing dysfunction may also underlie the delayed recall of abuse memories. Studies show an increased propensity for memory distortions in women with self-reported abuse and PTSD. Prefrontal cortical dysfunction in PTSD caused by abuse could be a reason for these phenomena. This could explain an increase in the capacity for source amnesia effects. Failure of activation or decreased blood flow in the medial prefrontal cortex may cause increased fearfulness inappropriate for the situation. This inability to regulate emotions could cause PTSD sufferers to avoid reminders to protect themselves. This could lead to amnesia. It has been shown that PTSD symptoms increase after the delayed recall of childhood abuse. ( Bremner, 2002)
In conclusion, there is a great deal of strong scientific data to show a neurological basis for the theory of recovered memory. Van der Kolk shows how memories may be dissociated into different parts, how traumatic memories may be remembered differently and how neurochemicals may affect the amygdala and the hippocampus, causing memory problems. His research on neuroimaging appears back up his theory that traumatic memories are made up of emotional and sensory states with minimal verbal representation. This would support the theory that traumatic memories may be remembered in fragments. van der Kolk’s research also shows us the possibility of stress causing damaging to the memory systems that help categorize memories. Kalat’s book also backs up the theory that neurochemicals may enhance or damage memory processing. Kolb and Whishaw’s book discusses different theories of memory. van der Kolk’s work appears to consider more than one theory of memory, because his theory discusses both how the memory consolidation process is disrupted and access to the memory trace is lost, and that there is a difference between traumatic and nontraumatic memory storage and retrieval. Knopp and Benson’s book appears to back up van der Kolk’s work. It discusses how traumatic events may be unavailable to recall or may be recalled only in pieces. Knopp and Benson’s book also states some of the neurochemical processes that may cause impairment of the memory process. Their book discusses the theory that memory consolidation is most successful when the experience can be elaborated on in conscious thought. Bremner’s work shows us how certain neurochemical levels may cause memory impairment. He also shows a connection between reduced hippocampal volume and certain kinds of trauma. Bremner also theorizes about the connections between brain neurochemical levels and the delayed recall of child abuse.
Hopefully, future scientific breakthroughs will continue to help researchers collect data on the neurological basis for the theory of recovered memory, so that sufferers of severe trauma will be able to fully receive the treatment and support they need and the lingering scientific question about the existence of recovered memories will finally be put to rest.
References
Bremner, J. D. (2002). Does stress damage the brain? New York: W.W. Norton and Company
Kalat, J.W. (2001). Biological psychology (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing.
Knopp, F. H. & Benson, A. R. (1996) A primer on the complexities of traumatic memory childhood sexual abuse; a psychobiological approach. Brandon, VT : Safer Society Press
Kolb, B., & Whishaw, I. (1995). Fundamentals of human neuropsychology (4th ed.). New York: W.H. Freeman.
Schacter, D. L. & Scarry, E. Eds. (2000) Memory, brain and belief. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
van der Kolk, B. A. (1994). The body keeps the score: Memory and the evolving psychobiology of post traumatic stress. http://www.trauma-pages.com/a/vanderk4.php
van der Kolk, B. A. & Fisler, R. (1995) Dissociation and the fragmentary nature of traumatic memories: Overview and exploratory study. http://www.trauma-pages.com/a/vanderk2.php
by Neil Brick
This paper will present research showing the biological basis for the theory of recovered memory. I will define recovered memory as the phenomenon of partially or fully losing part or a specific aspect of a memory, and then later recovering part or all of the memory into conscious awareness. This paper will include data from the works of van der Kolk and Fisler, Knopp and Benson and Bremner. Supporting data will include PTSD studies on Vietnam veterans and survivors of childhood trauma, subjective reports of memory, measurements of stress-responsive neurohormones, animal research on neurohormones, neuroimaging and MRI brain studies. Different theories of memory and amnesia will also be presented.
van der Kolk and Fisler’s research shows that traumatic memories are retrieved, at least at first, in the form of mental imprints that are dissociated. These imprints are of the affective and sensory elements of the traumatic experience. Clients have reported the slow emergence of a personal narrative that can be considered explicit (conscious) memory. The level of emotional significance of a memory correlates directly with the memory’s veracity. Studies of subjective reports of memory show that memories of highly significant events are unusually accurate and stable over time. There are a variety of memory systems which usually operate outside of conscious awareness. These systems operate with some independence from the other memory systems. While people appear to easily assimilate expected and known experiences, aspects of traumatic experiences appear to get stuck in the mind, unaltered by time passing or experiences that may follow. The imprints of traumatic experiences appear to be qualitatively different from those of nontraumatic events. Explicit memories of personal facts or events are affected by lesions of the front lobe and hippocampus. These parts of the brain are also involved in PTSD neurobiology. Traumatic memories may be coded differently than ordinary event memories, possibly because of alterations in attentional focusing or the fact that extreme emotional arousal interferes with the memory functions of the hippocampus. (van der Kolk & Fisler 1995)
Traumas can interfere with several memory functions. van der Kolk divided these functional disturbances into four sets, traumatic amnesia, global memory impairment, dissociative processes and traumatic memories’ sensorimotor organization. Traumatic amnesia involves the loss of remembering traumatic experiences. The younger the subject and the longer the traumatic event is, the greater the chance of significant amnesia. Global memory impairment makes it difficult for these subjects to construct an accurate account of their present and past history. Dissociation refers to memories being stored as fragments and not as unitary wholes. Not being able to integrate traumatic memories seems to be the main element which leads to PTSD. In the sensorimotor organization of traumatic memories, sensations are fragmented into different sensory components. (van der Kolk & Fisler, 1995)
van der Kolk and Fisler’s study of 46 adults supports Piaget’s notion that when memories can’t be integrated linguistically or semantically, they are organized in a more primitive manner as somatic sensations or visual images. In a collaborative neuroimaging study with the authors, it was found that when subjects had flashbacks in the laboratory, there was increased activity in the right hemisphere in areas connected to the processing of emotional experiences and in the right visual association cortex. Broca’s areas in the left hemisphere showed significantly decreased activity. This helps back up the theory that traumatic memories are made up of emotional and sensory states with minimal verbal representation. van der Kolk and Fisler’s hypothesis is that under extreme stress, the memory categorization system based in the hippocampus fails, allowing for these memories to be kept as emotional and sensory states. Excessive arousal at the moment of trauma interferes with the clear memory processing of the event, leaving unaltered memory traces. When these memory traces are remembered and put into a personal narrative, they are subject to being condensed, contaminated and embellished upon. When memory traces are recalled, increased activity in the amygdala might cause the personal assignment of accuracy and individual significance. (van der Kolk & Fisler, 1995)
In van der Kolk’s work on the psychobiology of PTSD, he states that trauma responses are bimodal. The response to trauma is hypermnesia, over reaction to stimuli and reexperiencing the trauma, which exists with numbing, avoidance and amnesia. When compensating for chronic hyperarousal, behaviorally subjects with PTSD may shut down and avoid stimuli similar to the trauma. Psychobiologically, they may emotionally numb both to trauma and everyday experience. PTSD subjects may go directly from stimuli to response without an adequate appraisal of the situation, due to their overgeneralization of incoming stimuli, creating flight or fight reactions. (van der Kolk, 1994)
Abnormal physiological responses in PTSD have been shown in two ways. One is due to reminders of the trauma. The second is due to intense, neutral stimuli, such as loud sounds. Individuals with PTSD show several autonomic responses to these stimuli, like blood pressure, skin conductance and heart rate. These highly elevated responses show the timelessness and intensity of how traumatic memories may affect one’s present experience. Lang proposed that emotional memories are stored as associative networks, where these networks are activated when a person gets confronted by a sufficient number of elements that make up these networks. Kolb proposed that excessive stimulation of the CNS during trauma could cause permanent neuronal changes. These changes would have a detrimental effect on stimulus discrimination, habituation and learning. (van der Kolk, 1994)
Abnormal acoustic startle response (ASR) has been a main feature in trauma response for more than 50 years. ASR in PTSD subjects response is mediated by such excitatory amino acids as glutamate and aspartate. ASR is modulated by several neurotransmitters and second messengers at supraspinal and spinal levels. Abnormalities in habituation are found in ASR with PTSD subjects. This failure of habituation for PTSD to loud sounds suggests problems with evaluating sensory input. The fact that PTSD subjects are unable to properly integrate trauma memories is shown physiologically by their misinterpretation of nonthreatening stimuli. (van der Kolk, 1994)
PTSD develops following intense stressors. Intense stress causes the release of stress-responsive neurohormones, like cortisol, norepinephrine, epinephrine, etc. Constant exposure to stress changes an organism’s adaptiveness and how it deals with its daily environment. Studies have shown neuroendocrine abnormalities in PTSD subjects. These studies have shown chronically increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system activity in PTSD. The neurochemicals measured in these studies include catecholamines, corticosteriods, serotonin and endogenous opioids. Through self-reports of emotional responses, it is suggested that endogenous opioids are responsible for the numbing of emotions in response to trauma. Putnam’s work shows large neuroendocrine changes in sexually abused girls when they are compared to normals. (van der Kolk, 1994)
Trauma victims do not respond to stress the way normals do. Pressure situations may cause a feeling of retraumatization. High states of arousal may promote the retrieval of trauma memories and associated phenomena such as sensory information or behaviors connected to prior trauma. Therefore, traumatic memories may be considered state dependent. Under stress, people secrete endogenous stress hormones that affect memory consolidation strength. Through studies on animal models, it is assumed that the large secretion of neurohormones during a traumatic event in part causes long-term potentiation (LTP) and the over-consolidation of traumatic memories. This LTP may cause an organism to remember a trauma whenever aroused. Neuroepinepehrine may be the major hormone causing LTP. Endorphins and oxytocin may actually cause inhibition of the consolidation of memories. Reliving the traumatic event may cause stress hormones to strength the memory trace causing a positive feedback loop. (van der Kolk, 1994)
The limbic system is believed to be critically involved in memory storage and retrieval as well as giving emotional significance to sensory inputs. Research in brain imaging studies suggests that trauma patients may have limbic system abnormalities. One part of the limbic system, the amygdala, may assign free-floating feelings to input which are then elaborated upon by the neocortex and imbued with personal meaning. It may also integrate internal representations of the external world in memory image form associating emotional experiences with these memories. The septo-hippocampal system is thought to record memory in temporal and spatial dimensions, and plays an important role in storing and categorizing incoming stimuli in memory. Hippocampal damage is connected to over responsiveness to external stimuli. When stress interferes with the hippocampus’ mediation of memory, it is possible that some of the memory is kept by a system that records emotional experience, but there is no symbolic placement of it in time or space. In animals, high stimulation of the amygdala interferes with hippocampal processing. Strong affect may disallow proper evaluating and categorizing of an experience. (van der Kolk, 1994)
Hebb distinguished between short-term and long-term memory. He postulated that any memory that stayed in short-term storage for a long enough time would be consolidated into a long-term memory. Later research showed this to be false. Research has shown that direct injections of cortisol or epinephrine help the storage of recent experiences. This is also true for stimulation of the amygdala. This proves that excitement enhances memory by the stimulation of hormones that affect the amygdala. Excessive or prolonged stress (with prolonged cortisol) may hurt memory storage. Patients with amygdalar damage are no more likely to remember emotionally charged words than nonemotionally charged ones. Baddely and Hitch developed the term working memory to show that temporary storage is more than a station on the way to long-term memory, it is the way we store memory when memory is worked with or examined. The hippocampus is important for explicit memory. The hippocampus is also important for memory consolidation. The hippocampus receives input from different parts of the cortex and sends it’s output out to different parts of the brain also. The input comes from secondary and terciary sensory areas that have processed the information a lot already. Hippocampal damage may also cause memory loss and problems with memory storage. (Kalat, 2001) This data backs up the idea that the hormones caused by excitement may enhance memory. An example of this is being able to remember sexually charged words. However, excessive stress and hippocampal damage may damage memory processing. This is somewhat similar to what van der Kolk described.
Kolb and Whishaw describe two groups of theories about amnesia. The defects in sequential processing theory states that to get a memory to become permanent, there needs to be a structural change in the brain. Amnesia is assumed to occur when the consolidation process is disrupted and either the memory trace doesn’t produce a structural change and gets lost or there is a structural change and access to the memory trace is lost. The multiple memory systems theories state that amnesia occurs due to a problem in one of the memory systems. These theories assume that the impairment of a psychological system may cause deficits in some kinds of memories but not others. Kolb and Whishaw claim that none of these models can explain all of the aspects of amnesia. (Kolb & Whishaw, 1995) van der Kolk’s theory of traumatic amnesia appears to be a combination of both of the above theories. In the defects in sequential processing theory, amnesia occurs when the consolidation process is disrupted, and access to the memory trace is lost. Amygdalar disruption of hippocampal processing may cause this consolidation disruption in terms of the proper categorization of a memory. The multiple memory systems theories state that impairment may be caused in one system but not another. van der Kolk’s work theorizes and attempts to prove that there is a difference between traumatic and nontraumatic memory storage and retrieval.
The body’s need to respond in danger situations can be strong. There is a tremendous physiological and neurochemical cost to this type of response, due to the depletion of hormones and neurotransmitters. With adequate recovery time, the body can return to its own homeostasis. When there is inadequate recovery time between stressful situations, alterations may occur to the neurophysiological parts of one’s stress-response system. Some of these alterations may be irreversible. One’s body’s memory and learning systems may be altered affecting implicit and explicit memory. This may cause maladaptive or pathological responses. This damage may cause memory loss, learning deficits and other maladaptive symptoms. Children’s neurological and physiological systems are very vulnerable to the negative impact of trauma. Highly resilient people may have a better chance of experiencing a trauma without developing PTSD. But if a trauma is strong enough, no person is immune to the consequences of developing PTSD. Uncontrollable stress may have a similar impact biologically. It may be possible to look at an individual’s pre and post trauma neurochemistry and tell if they have experienced trauma, but it would not be possible to say what kind of trauma. Animal studies show us that learned helplessness can develop from repeated exposure to inescapable trauma. In humans, physical paralysis has been shown to be a main feature connected to a traumatic event. This paralysis has been shown to be connected to hypermnesia, amnesia and dissociation. Traumatic events may be unavailable to recall or may be recalled only in pieces. (Knopp & Benson, 1996)
Cathecholamine activity may be altered due to trauma. The intrusive symptoms of PTSD are thought to be connected to the dysregulation of the cathecholamine system. Several systems are regulated during the cathecholamine systems reaction to stress. These include, the locus ceruleus/norepinephrine system, which affects the activities of the cerebral cortex, hypothalamus, hippocampus and amygdala, the dopamine system, which causes and increase in activity in the prefrontal cortex, the SNS, which causes physical arousal. (Knopp & Benson, 1996)
Amnesia involves losses in explicit memory. It is shown by one’s inability to remember personal memories or discuss them verbally, or it may be shown by one’s inability to fully retain in conscious awareness temporarily retrieved memories. Amnesia is often considered to be a dissociative condition, such as dissociative amnesia. An individual may only remember parts of the event, or certain categories about the event (like feelings). Amnesia caused by deficits while encoding information may not be reversible, because the information was not encoded. Gaps in autobiographical memory are normal to PTSD sufferers, as are problems with nonstressful short-term memory tasks. The successful coding of memories entails alert focused awareness when the input is presented. Memory consolidation is most successful when the experience can be elaborated on in conscious thought. A lack of conscious awareness may hurt these processes. Extreme elevations of norepinephrine released in trauma situations are related to the strong implicit hypermnesia memories and to the explicit deficits of memory of amnesia. Medium to high levels of norepinephrine cause the amygdala to promote LTP in the hippocampus, which may result in vivid memories. Very high levels of norepineephrine and heavy stimulation of the amygdala connected to extreme, prolonged or repeated stress appear to interfere with hippocampal functioning. This interference may hurt cognitive assessment and the encoding of the input. (Knopp & Benson, 1996)
van der Kolk writes about the neural connections between the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. They are the main pathways of communication between subcortical and cortical areas. These connections can be assumed to represent a link between unconscious and conscious brain areas. Changes in the hippocampus’ functioning during uncontrollable stress may hurt and limit the consolidation of the input into the explicit memory system. Some mental representations of the input may remain in cortical emotional memory, which may cause phobias and free-floating anxiety. This explains how trauma sufferers may have amnesia for specific events, but not the emotions connected to them. Excessive levels of opioids released in the brain during trauma and the numbing response connected to them may also be a major factor for the impairment of memory. According to van der Kolk, in animal studies, memory is damaged when a situation can no longer be helped by the animal’s activity. Panic and freeze responses may be seen as defensive ways to allow an organism to not consciously experience overwhelming stress or to not remember an occurrence of overwhelming stress. High opioid levels may influence the encoding of input in two ways. The first is by changing the initial experience of one’s perceptions by decreasing the perception of pain and changing other senses. The second is by changing one’s interpretation of the entire event, creating an unreal context for the event, like physical or emotional detachment. These events are characteristic of dissociative responses. These influences may cause memories that are unrelated to or dissociated from the normal methods of explicit memory retrieval. (Knopp & Benson, 1996)
Bremner’s work states that changes in the neurotransmitter GABA in response to uncontrolled stress have been connected to losses in memory and learning. This may be due to GABA’s interrelationship with neuroepinephrine and opioids. Chronic dopamine dysregulation may be a consequence of trauma. Dopamine’s relationship to working memory in the prefrontal cortex may also show its connection to problems of encoding and short term memory. High levels of cortisol (as mentioned previously by Kalat) may cause memory deficits because of its neurotoxic effects on the hippocampus. In animal studies, high levels of cortisol have been shown to cause hippocampal damage. In humans, MRI studies have shown reduced hippocampal volumes in combat veterans with PTSD, adults with posttraumatic symptoms and survivors of repeated childhood sexual or physical abuse. Hippocampal damage may cause short-term memory retention deficits. van der Kolk writes that PTSD’s essence is memory disturbances. Janet wrote that certain occurrences may leave intense memories in a person. With dissociative trauma survivors, trauma may also interfere with implicit memory, where periods of avoidance may be interrupted by intrusive emotional occurrences with no story to guide them. (Knopp & Benson, 1996)
Bremner cites several studies showing a connection between hippocampal volume and stress related disorders. The hippocampus is sensitive to stress and plays an important role in memory and learning. The hippocampus also has a role in recording the emotions of a stressful event. Researchers have measured hippocampal volume with MRIs. In one study, hippocampal volume was found to be reduced by 8% on the right side in Vietnam combat veterans with PTSD. Later a 12% reduction was found on the left side. After this, Bremner measured left hippocampal volume in patients with PTSD related to early childhood sexual and physical abuse and also found a 12% reduction. Other studies have replicated these findings. Abuse and PTSD are related to a broad range of memory disturbances, and PTSD sufferers may be more susceptible to memory problems than normals. A difficult issue for Bremner is whether those presumably abused accurately recall their information. ( Bremner, 2002)
Changes in memory function by cortisol and norepinephrine may show us a mechanism for the delayed recall of child abuse. Cortisol over hours acts to weaken the laying down of memory traces and neuroepinephrine may strengthen these traces. Exaggerated cortisol release in a stressful situation in PTSD may cause the inhibition of the retrieval of memories. The exaggerated release of norepinephrine in animal studies could be connected to humans. This would show how memory recall can be facilitated. This may also explain how traumatic memories of childhood abuse could suddenly break into consciousness and would back up the claims of PTSD patients. Frontal lobe abnormalities causing dysfunction may also underlie the delayed recall of abuse memories. Studies show an increased propensity for memory distortions in women with self-reported abuse and PTSD. Prefrontal cortical dysfunction in PTSD caused by abuse could be a reason for these phenomena. This could explain an increase in the capacity for source amnesia effects. Failure of activation or decreased blood flow in the medial prefrontal cortex may cause increased fearfulness inappropriate for the situation. This inability to regulate emotions could cause PTSD sufferers to avoid reminders to protect themselves. This could lead to amnesia. It has been shown that PTSD symptoms increase after the delayed recall of childhood abuse. ( Bremner, 2002)
In conclusion, there is a great deal of strong scientific data to show a neurological basis for the theory of recovered memory. Van der Kolk shows how memories may be dissociated into different parts, how traumatic memories may be remembered differently and how neurochemicals may affect the amygdala and the hippocampus, causing memory problems. His research on neuroimaging appears back up his theory that traumatic memories are made up of emotional and sensory states with minimal verbal representation. This would support the theory that traumatic memories may be remembered in fragments. van der Kolk’s research also shows us the possibility of stress causing damaging to the memory systems that help categorize memories. Kalat’s book also backs up the theory that neurochemicals may enhance or damage memory processing. Kolb and Whishaw’s book discusses different theories of memory. van der Kolk’s work appears to consider more than one theory of memory, because his theory discusses both how the memory consolidation process is disrupted and access to the memory trace is lost, and that there is a difference between traumatic and nontraumatic memory storage and retrieval. Knopp and Benson’s book appears to back up van der Kolk’s work. It discusses how traumatic events may be unavailable to recall or may be recalled only in pieces. Knopp and Benson’s book also states some of the neurochemical processes that may cause impairment of the memory process. Their book discusses the theory that memory consolidation is most successful when the experience can be elaborated on in conscious thought. Bremner’s work shows us how certain neurochemical levels may cause memory impairment. He also shows a connection between reduced hippocampal volume and certain kinds of trauma. Bremner also theorizes about the connections between brain neurochemical levels and the delayed recall of child abuse.
Hopefully, future scientific breakthroughs will continue to help researchers collect data on the neurological basis for the theory of recovered memory, so that sufferers of severe trauma will be able to fully receive the treatment and support they need and the lingering scientific question about the existence of recovered memories will finally be put to rest.
References
Bremner, J. D. (2002). Does stress damage the brain? New York: W.W. Norton and Company
Kalat, J.W. (2001). Biological psychology (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing.
Knopp, F. H. & Benson, A. R. (1996) A primer on the complexities of traumatic memory childhood sexual abuse; a psychobiological approach. Brandon, VT : Safer Society Press
Kolb, B., & Whishaw, I. (1995). Fundamentals of human neuropsychology (4th ed.). New York: W.H. Freeman.
Schacter, D. L. & Scarry, E. Eds. (2000) Memory, brain and belief. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
van der Kolk, B. A. (1994). The body keeps the score: Memory and the evolving psychobiology of post traumatic stress. http://www.trauma-pages.com/a/vanderk4.php
van der Kolk, B. A. & Fisler, R. (1995) Dissociation and the fragmentary nature of traumatic memories: Overview and exploratory study. http://www.trauma-pages.com/a/vanderk2.php
Rebuttals to Critics
There have been more attacks on Neil Brick and SMART repeating some of the previous misstatements made by others.
A misstatement by those attacking ritual abuse, child abuse and MPD (now called DID) survivors is that these survivors are mostly female white middle class and middle aged survivors. Those that make these statements do not back them up with evidence. Many survivors of severe child abuse are on disability or live in poverty. Those working with these survivors know this. DID and ritual abuse cases have been been found around the world. This has been documented by mainstream media sources and scientific research.
The same websites that use insults, name calling and attack survivors of ritual abuse also claim there is no evidence for ritual abuse crimes. They appear to ignore all evidence and research showing that ritual abuse does exist. Some of this evidence is documented at http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/
Another misstatement made by “skeptics” is that SMART publishes information from “any source” in regard to data backing the existence of ritual abuse. This is unproven and not true. SMART works very hard to verify all sources and when possible uses peer reviewed scientific journals and mainstream media articles for its sources. A good example of this is our over 100 newsletters listed at http://ritualabuse.us/newsletter/
Readers should always consider the reputability of the source they are reading. Does the source lower itself to name calling and insults in an attempt to falsely sway the reader to believe its arguments and disparage its ideological opponents? Does the source make inaccurate statements and then expand these statements further? If this is the case, is the true intent of the website to inform others about factual information or to promote an incorrect idea about child abuse crimes?
Our website works hard to educate others about ritual abuse and child abuse crimes. We provide reputable sources to back up our claims. A long list of some of our sources can be found at:
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/studies/satanic-ritual-abuse-evidence-with-information-on-the-mcmartin-preschool-case/
We recommend you read these pages before reading this page:
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-4/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-3/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-2/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/harassment-by-false-memory-proponents/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/rebuttal-to-the-report-from-the-smart-2009-conference/
These pages will give readers the full background on this subject as well as a rebuttal to Mesner’s comments about ritual abuse and our conference. These pages list many of the comments posted by Douglas Mesner as well as other aliases. These pages will show connections between Mesner and websites like process, radiofreesatan.com and the book “Might is Right.”
Douglas Mesner has continued using insults and attacks against survivors of ritual abuse and the professionals that work with them. He has harassed and followed survivors and survivor advocates around the Internet for the last several years. Aliases have been used adding additional insults and name calling against survivors.
He has continued his attacks on SMART and Neil Brick, including taking facts out of context and using them to belittle and insult others. He continues to repeat the same couple of facts at our 2009 conference which he attended under false pretenses. He did not let the conference coordinator know that he was attending as a journalist and was going to write an article about our conference. The media is not allowed at the conference for the safety of the conference participants, who are survivors of child abuse and their supporters. He cancelled his conference check immediately after attending the conference.
Mesner keeps repeating the fact that one display table out of many at the conference had a hat (as well as many other items) used to protect the wearer from electromagnetism. He takes this one thing totally out of proportion to insult the conference. He repeats the fact that one woman at the conference talked about supernatural occurrences in her abuse story. He uses these two occurrences at our conference to viciously attack and insult our conference and our work, ignoring the strong research base backing the reality of ritual abuse and the many presentations at our conference verifying the reality of ritual abuse. He insults Neil Brick, the conference coordinator, with insults about his height and his abuse story.
By misrepresenting the work of SMART and Neil Brick and by using name calling and insults, Mesner works to discredit the reality of ritual abuse and ritual abuse survivors to falsely influence others to ignore the facts that prove ritual abuse is a reality.
We advise readers to see through these tactics and read the data proving the veracity of the existence of ritual abuse. Some of this is below.
Evidence ritual abuse exists:
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/studies/satanic-ritual-abuse-evidence-with-information-on-the-mcmartin-preschool-case/
Update 4
from http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-4/
We recommend you read these pages before reading this page:
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-3/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-2/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/harassment-by-false-memory-proponents/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/rebuttal-to-the-report-from-the-smart-2009-conference/
These pages will give readers the full background on this subject as well as a rebuttal to Mesner’s comments about ritual abuse and our conference. These pages list many of the comments posted by Douglas Mesner as well as other aliases. These pages will show connections between Mesner and websites like process, radiofreesatan.com and the book “Might is Right.”
Douglas Mesner has continued using insults and attacks against survivors of ritual abuse and the professionals that work with them.
S.M.A.R.T. presents a large amount of information on its website, mainly from mainstream newspapers, journal articles and scientific websites. S.M.A.R.T. may not necessarily agree with all of the views presented at our conferences, on our webpage and in our newsletters. S.M.A.R.T. does however try to give voice to survivors of ritual abuse and child abuse crimes whenever possible. In his vicious attacks on S.M.A.R.T. , Mesner repeats a few points that represent less than one tenth of one percent of our work, describing them in a subjective manner meant to discredit S.M.A.R.T.’s work.
An alias at one of his articles calls people at S.M.A.R.T. “frauds and con-artists.” The reality is that S.M.A.R.T. works very hard to present honest and accurate information about child abuse and ritual abuse crimes.
Mesner continues to incorrectly states that “bill schnoebelen” spoke at our conferences, in a false attempt to connect our conference presenters to research on “evil extraterrestrial invaders.” He never spoke at any of our conferences. Our conferences work with child abuse and ritual abuse victims and their helpers and have no connection to research on “extraterrestrial(s).” He claims that a member of S.M.A.R.T. posts information on a list that discusses information about ritual abuse, mind control and alien abduction issues. Yet S.M.A.R.T. only posts about child abuse issues on this list. Stating that this connects S.M.A.R.T. to alien issues is like stating someone who posts a comment in a blog or publication agrees with the publication and other commentators. The connection made by Mesner is illogical and untrue. He writes that he questions the reliability of Neil Brick’s work. Yet, with the misstatements made by Mesner, perhaps it is the reliability of his work that should be questioned.
Mesner misrepresents the arguments made by those stating ritual abuse is real. The veracity of recovered memories is only one part of the evidence showing that ritual abuse survivors memories are real. The evidence includes criminal convictions, scars, other family members verifications of these crimes, similar stories by people who do not know each other and the common symptomology shared by ritual abuse survivors. At times, there are even perpetrator confessions of these ritual abuse crimes. All of this is apparently ignored by Mesner.
Another argument Mesner misrepresents is in essence that those who attack the veracity of ritual abuse survivor’s stories are attacking child abuse stories in general and he disagrees with this. Yet S.M.A.R.T. believes this is true. The attacks on the resources available to ritual abuse survivors and the attacks on the believability of ritual abuse survivors’ stories hurt all trauma victims. By attacking and attempting to discredit ritual abuse survivors and their stories, the attacks move to those suffering from dissociative disorders like DID, cult abuse victims and eventually all child abuse survivors. This creates an environment where child abuse survivors are less likely to be believed. This may be why the attacks often begin against ritual abuse survivors first.
Mesner misrepresents and takes out of context ritual abuse survivors stories and does not present information that backs the veracity of their stories. The question is, if Mesner thinks he is right, why is there a need to call names, insult and harass others? Why is there a need to make incorrect factual statements? Shouldn’t a logical argument based on factual data suffice? This shows that there is more than simple debate is going on here. Is he trying to sway others’ opinions of ritual abuse survivors by unfairly attacking ritual abuse survivors with insults and name calling? Is he trying to discourage ritual abuse survivors from telling their stories or discussing these topics publicly?
Mesner presents a recording he made of an interview with a past president of a dissociation and trauma organization. He claims that this shows that the person interviewed is making statements that separate S.M.A.R.T.’s work from others in the field. It is S.M.A.R.T’s belief that this organization has not been supportive of ritual abuse research in the field in recent years and its own clinicians at times, due to the external pressure from false memory proponents and organizations. This only weakens the field of dissociation and trauma as a whole due to its being divided and may be exactly what these false memory organizations want to happen. This also hurts the dissociation and trauma organization itself, because some of those that have attacked ritual abuse survivors’ stories have also attacked their organization. Hopefully, this organization will realize that this is a mistake and will support the research and stories of all clinicians and survivors in the field.
S.M.A.R.T. has had many published professionals speak at its conferences. S.M.A.R.T. has produced hundreds of pages of research articles backing its viewpoints.
When deciding upon the veracity of S.M.A.R.T.’s research and work, we recommend that readers check out the credentials of those attacking S.M.A.R.T., their experience in the field of child abuse and the tactics they use vs the research we provide that conclusively proves that ritual abuse exists.
Evidence ritual abuse exists:
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/studies/satanic-ritual-abuse-evidence-with-information-on-the-mcmartin-preschool-case/
Update 3
from: http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-3/
We recommend you read these pages before reading this page:
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-2/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/harassment-by-false-memory-proponents/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/rebuttal-to-the-report-from-the-smart-2009-conference/
These pages will give readers the full background on this subject as well as a rebuttal to Mesner’s comments about ritual abuse and our conference. These pages list many of the comments posted by Douglas Mesner as well as other aliases. These pages will show connections between Mesner and websites like process, radiofreesatan.com and the book “Might is Right.”
Douglas Mesner has continued using personal insults and attacks against survivors of ritual abuse and the professionals that work with them.
In his more recent attacks on SMART, he continues to take extreme cases of ritual abuse and cult crimes out of context, ignoring evidence showing that these crimes may have or actually did occur. He uses this technique to attempt to discredit the large volume of work and research others and S.M.A.R.T. have presented.
S.M.A.R.T. presents a large amount of information on its website, mainly from mainstream newspapers, journal articles and scientific websites. S.M.A.R.T. may not necessarily agree with all of the views presented at our conferences, on our webpage and in our newsletters. S.M.A.R.T. does however try to give voice to survivors of ritual abuse and child abuse crimes whenever possible.
Mesner incorrectly states that “bill schnoebelen” spoke at our conferences, in a false attempt to connect our conference presenters to research on “evil extraterrestrial invaders.” Our conferences work with child abuse and ritual abuse victims and their helpers and have no connection to research on “extraterrestrial(s).”
He continues to call S.M.A.R.T. “cult-like,” yet the reality is that S.M.A.R.T works hard to educate people about cults, expose their techniques whenever possible and teach people ways to avoid joining cults.
S.M.A.R.T. has had many published professionals speak at its conferences. S.M.A.R.T. has produced hundreds of pages of research articles backing its viewpoints.
When deciding upon the veracity of S.M.A.R.T.’s research and work, we recommend that readers check out the credentials of those attacking S.M.A.R.T., their experience in the field of child abuse and the tactics they use vs the research we provide that conclusively proves that ritual abuse exists.
Evidence ritual abuse exists:
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/studies/satanic-ritual-abuse-evidence-with-information-on-the-mcmartin-preschool-case/
Update 2
from: http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-2/
We recommend you read these pages before reading this page:
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update/ http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner/ http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/harassment-by-false-memory-proponents/ http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/rebuttal-to-the-report-from-the-smart-2009-conference/
These pages will give readers the full background on this subject as well as a rebuttal to Mesner’s comments about ritual abuse and our conference. These pages list many of the comments posted by Douglas Mesner as well as other aliases. These pages will show connections between Mesner and websites like process, radiofreesatan.com and the book “Might is Right.”
Douglas Mesner has continued using personal insults and attacks against survivors of ritual abuse and the professionals that work with them.
In the technique of false analogy, two things are compared that may or may not really be similar are presented as being similar. In most false analogies, there isn’t enough evidence available to support the comparison.
Mesner compares ritual abuse survivors to alien abductees. In this false comparison, he lists what he considers certain parallels between the two. Yet, this does not prove that either are the same. One can take any item or concept and then list hundreds of qualities and then take another item and do the same thing. Then one could make a short list of the similar qualities on these lists. This does not make either item similar, nor does it prove that ritual abuse memories are not real. Ritual abuse occurrences have been well documented, with scientific studies, corroboration and legal cases.
See http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Ritual_Abuse for information on ritual abuse.
He also lists a couple of physiological similarities between alien abductees and trauma survivors. Of course, anyone under stress may report greater psychophysiological reactivity and this would not in any way prove a lack of veracity of the accounts of trauma survivors or ritual abuse survivors. All it shows it that people under stress show greater psychophysiological reactivity.
In the technique of name calling, one attaches a negative label to a person or concept. The use of this technique creates fear and arouses prejudice in the reader by using negative words or bad names to create an unfavorable opinion or hatred against a group, beliefs or ideas that the user would want the reader to disbelieve. The use of this method encourages the reader to make a conclusion without examining the actual evidence. Name calling can also used as a substitute for arguing the actual merits of an idea, belief or proposal.
Mesner uses this techniques often, calling those he disagrees with in certain topic areas “delusional” or “paranoid.” He calls theories he disagrees with “conspiracies theories” and organizations that expose ritual abuse and cult crimes a “danger” to people. The exposing of ritual abuse and child abuse crimes helps build the social awareness of these crimes, which can help with the prevention of future crimes against children.
See http://ritualabuse.us/research/did/ for more information on DID-MPD.
Mesner calls the idea of recovered memory validity “debunked.” Yet, there is ample evidence that many studies that show fairly high corroboration rates for recovered memories with many corroborated cases of recovered memory.
See http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/recovered-memory-data/ for more information on recovered memory veracity.
He takes extreme cases of ritual abuse and cult crimes out of context, ignoring evidence showing that these crimes may have or actually did occur. He uses this technique to attempt to discredit the large volume of work and research others and S.M.A.R.T. have presented. S.M.A.R.T. presents a large amount of information on its website, mainly from mainstream newspapers, journal articles and scientific websites. S.M.A.R.T. may not necessarily agree with all of the views presented at our conferences, on our webpage and in our newsletters. S.M.A.R.T. does however try to give voice to survivors of ritual abuse and child abuse crimes whenever possible.
Update 1
from: http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update/
We recommend you read these pages before reading this page:
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/harassment-by-false-memory-proponents/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/rebuttal-to-the-report-from-the-smart-2009-conference/
These pages will give readers the full background on this subject as well as a rebuttal to Mesner’s comments about ritual abuse and our conference. These pages list many of the comments posted by Douglas Mesner as well as other aliases. These pages will show connections between Mesner and websites like process, radiofreesatan.com and the book “Might is Right.”
Douglas Mesner and another alias have continued using the same and similar personal insults and attacks against survivors of ritual abuse and the professionals that work with them. One alias attacks SMART stating it is a “for-profit” business. SMART is a type of not for profit business, with no salaries whatsoever. Any surplus is used to help SMART continue its work to educate the public about child abuse and ritual abuse issues.
An alias states in essence that Neil Brick promotes the idea that the abuse of a child could be the cause of anything other than dysfunctional traits (when discussing how survivors may be tortured to do other roles) and that this is equal to saying that child abuse is beneficial for its victims. Neither SMART nor Neil Brick have ever stated child abuse is beneficial in anyway. SMART and Neil Brick’s strong stance is that child abuse is always traumatic to its victims.
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/harassment-by-false-memory-proponents/
Mesner criticizes the excellent study on extreme abuse survivors, found at http://extreme-abuse-survey.net/ with more than 2000 respondents with a large questionnaire developed by several experienced researchers in the field. This excellent preliminary study gives extreme abuse survivors a voice and shows how large this problem is.
One of the aliases even makes a bizarre connection between the Arizona shooter and child abuse and ritual abuse survivors and their advocates, stating that those fighting to expose and stop ritual abuse crimes postings could be potentially dangerous and incite people with psychological problems.
Mesner continues to make the false claim comparing alien abductions to ritual abuse cases. The fact is that there have been criminal convictions for crimes with ritual abuse elements and ritual abuse survivors suffer from the severe trauma symptoms survivors of extreme abuse do.
Mesner criticizes survivors of child abuse and ritual abuse for leaving comments at message boards, which they do to defend themselves and even for voting on comments. He criticizes the fact that survivor websites (that are working to expose child abuse and ritual crimes) do not allow comments. The reason for this is the repeated name calling, personal insults and harassment of child abuse and ritual abuse survivors.
An alias discusses the The Utah Ritual Abuse Task Force report at http://www.saferchildren.net/print/utahrataskforce.pdf
The alias does not mention that report states the following points of evidence from local and national sources:
“Independent identification, by victims unknown to each other, of the same perpetrators.”
“Successful prosecution of cases of child abuse which contain indisputable elements of ritual abuse.”
The alias criticizes the Conviction List: Ritual Child Abuse at
http://www.ra-info.org/resources/ra_cases.shtml
ignoring that fact that several of these cases had documented ritual elements.
The alias criticizes a chapter from Cult and Ritual Abuse called “Empirical Evidence of Ritual Abuse” at
http://books.google.com/books?id=zJkTTpfyJ-8C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=&f=false
The alias disregards almost all of the solid research in the chapter focusing on one quote that the alias claims was taken out of context.
Original Article
from: http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner/
Mesner in reply posted an article on the Internet. This article has several factual inaccuracies.
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/harassment-by-false-memory-proponents/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/rebuttal-to-the-report-from-the-smart-2009-conference/
These pages will give readers the full background on this subject as well as a rebuttal to Mesner’s comments about ritual abuse and our conference. These pages list many of the comments posted by Douglas Mesner as well as other aliases. These pages will show connections between Mesner and websites like process, radiofreesatan.com and the book “Might is Right.”
Douglas Misicko stopped payment on the check he used to pay for the conference after the conference. Our conference brochure, which all that register are required to read, states “Members of secret organizations, acting out perpetrators, and/or members of unsympathetic organizations are excluded from the conference. This is for the protection and safety of those in attendance.” Also, it is clearly announced at the beginning of the conference, “Please note that media people are not allowed in the conference at any time without the written permission of SMART.” This is also for the protection and safety of those in attendance.
Neil Brick stated at the conference:
“The important thing is to make sure that the victims’ sides of the story are heard. To get their versions of the story out to as many people as possible, so that those responsible for these crimes will continue to be held accountable and so that when children are raped…they will be believed….We need to be our own advocates. If enough of us speak up, we will be heard.”
Mesner continues to make misstatements about Neil Brick and SMART in his recent post. He misrepresents SMART’s position in this article.
He continues to attack a 68 year old speaker named Julaine at the conference, as he did at his original article. Here is her reply to him in regard to his original article:
“As a speaker at the conference as well as “named” throughout this commentary, I am amazed and appalled at the inclusion of a seriously flawed “report” from a man who faked his identity to attend, canceled his check that was to pay for his attendance, misrepresented who he was, and then failed to check his “facts” about not only myself but others in attendance as well. His errors include such small details as my age and health, reason for sitting at a table (too many papers to juggle standing up), and larger ones such as misquoting and putting words in my mouth. My presentation is on tape, and it would have been easy for him to verify any of his shaky “facts”, but he chose to make fun of our pain, as well.”
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/
Basic Information on Dissociative Identity Disorder
http://ritualabuse.us/research/did/
Recovered Memory Data
http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/recovered-memory-data/
Original Rebuttal Article from 2009
from: http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/rebuttal-to-the-report-from-the-smart-2009-conference/
Rebuttal to an attack on our recent conference in August 2009.
Our ritual abuse conference went really well this year. Many excellent researchers from several countries presented data backing the existence of ritual abuse crimes in a variety of settings.
Unfortunately a “journalist” snuck into the conference under false pretenses pseudonymously. This person on a website for radiofreesatan, where he is a DJ and was described as “an unscrupulous journalist.”
This journalist paid to enter the conference with a check. He stopped payment on the check after the conference.
Our conference brochure, which all that register are required to read, states “Members of secret organizations, acting out perpetrators, and/or members of unsympathetic organizations are excluded from the conference. This is for the protection and safety of those in attendance.” Also, it is clearly announced at the beginning of the conference, “Please note that media people are not allowed in the conference at any time without the written permission of SMART.”
Less than one week after the conference, he placed a vicious article on a major Internet newspaper personally attacking some of the conference attendees, the field of DID and memory. Attacks included disparaging remarks about one’s appearance and voice as well as claiming child abuse survivor accounts at the conference were fictional. Fortunately, with the hard work of many people, this article was removed from this major Internet newspaper after four days.
The author repeats the rebutted attacks on the field of DID and ritual abuse made over twenty years ago. The scientific research on DID shows it to be a solid and robust phenomenon that had been misdiagnosed as schizophrenia for over half a century. The research he cites “offer(s) no evidence that either stable alter personalities or the range of clinical features typically associated with MPD can be created in the laboratory.” Accurate information on DID and rebuttals to skeptics can be found at http://ritualabuse.us/research/did/
He also attacks the phenomenon of recovered memory. Yet recovered memory has been found to be a proven and verifiable phenomenon in many cases with fairly high accuracy rates. For more information on this, see http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Recovered_Memories
He repeats the same misstatements made about “panic” made twenty years ago. Yet, ritual abuse crimes and their incident rates have been shown to be very real. For more information on this, see http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Ritual_Abuse and http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/
This author’s first article concludes with several misstatements about what he claims was stated at the conference about the FMSF. However, this was not stated. This is another misstatement made by the author.
In essence, his article contained insults, personal attacks, misstatements, misrepresented and slanted data as well as blatant lies.
A rebuttal to his second article is at the end of this page.
The following are some comments posted on the website below the article attacking our conference before the article was permanently removed from the Internet. Some of these comments were removed from the page by the author, yet comments calling myself a “pedophile” more than once were allowed to stay up.
(Note: Many additional comments were made defending myself, the conference and ritual abuse survivors, we have not received permission yet to post these.)
Neil Brick 8/22/09
This article contains many untruths and insults….
We clearly state in our conference registration form “members of unsympathetic organizations are excluded from the conference. This is for the protection and safety of those in attendance.”
We also clearly state that members of the media are not permitted to attend the conference without written permission, to protect the attendees anonymity….
The article itself personally insults both myself and the conference attendees, with statements like….Yet several attendees and speaker have solid evidence including confessions of the perpetrators and scientific books and publications. These were left out of his article.
Neil Brick
The article also misrepresents the data around many important issues.
There are hundreds of scientific books and journals documenting the reality of ritual abuse crimes. Information on these can be found at http://ritualabuse.us
There was no MPD craze. It is well documented that most MPD (now called DID) cases were misdiagnosed as schizophrenia for over 60 years. There is no evidence of therapist “coercion” in the scientific literature. Spanos has been critiqued as seriously overgeneralized his data and his data “data offer no evidence that either stable alter personalities or the range of clinical features typically associated with MPD can be created in the laboratory.”
There was no “panic.” There were victims of horrible crimes coming forward to expose their perpetrators….
Neil Brick
Readers should draw their own conclusions around this issue, with thorough research about the topics of ritual abuse and DID.
However, one sided articles like the one above that contain personal insults about people serve no constructive purpose whatsoever. They only continue to polarize the debate around these issues and lower the level of civil and intellectual discourse.
August 23, 2009
Neil Brick
There is no such thing as “repressed memory therapy.” This is a construct of those that attack the field of therapy and those that attack those that help trauma survivors.
You make excuses for your personal attacks of others, yet you are responsible for your own behavior. You insult my voice and appearance in your article as well as the other conference attendees because of your supposed “disgust.” This goes beyond an ad hominem attack on your part, degenerating into name calling and personal insults.
At my website, there are hundreds of books and article documenting ritual abuse crimes. Go to ritualabuse.us and click on the ritual abuse tab.
August 23, 2009
Neil Brick
You state (in the article author’s comment on the page): “yes, I did attend pseudononymously.” In other words, you must have used a fake ID to attend the conference, as all participants need to present an ID to gain admittance to protect the safety of all conference members.
So you lied to attend the conference. You misrepresented the reason you were attending and you even lied about who you were. So why should we believe you now?
You knew media personnel were not allowed at the conference without permission, yet you attended anyway, simply to attack myself and the conference.
You made up statements about what you claim I stated about the FMSF and you state we often cite Ms. Freyd, another fabrication. You even got my height wrong.
Your article does not fairly represent the research on the topics it presents.
You state “I see my description of Brick as accurate, even charitable.” Really, personally insulting someone’s appearance and voice is “charitable.”
Neil Brick
The author mentions Loftus to back his theory of memory.
Loftus is very biased in her interpretation of traumatic memory. There is NO evidence that traumatic memories can be created through manipulation. Loftus’ work has also been heavily critiqued. See the work of Hopper, Hoult, Crook, Pezdek and Pope. Loftus even published a study that shows recovered memory exists (Psychology of Women Quarterly, 18 (1994) 67-84.)
The reality is that recovered memory has been proven in numerous studies to exist and that it has fairly high corroboration rates. (go to ritualabuse.us and click on the related research tab)
Or use a search engine for “101 corroborated cases of recovered memory”
Neil Brick
8/23/09
Since you ignored my question the first time, here it is again:
You state: “yes, I did attend pseudononymously.” In other words, you must have used a fake ID to attend the conference, as all participants need to present an ID to gain admittance to protect the safety of all conference members.
So you lied to attend the conference. You misrepresented the reason you were attending and you even lied about who you were. So why should we believe you now?
What kind of a “researcher” uses a fake ID to attend a conference and then repeatedly uses name calling and insults to “prove” their points?
Note:
The author of the article attacking our conference made a comment on 8/23/09 about the daughter of Pamela Freyd, stating her daughter (Jennifer) recovered her memories during therapy sessions and then retracted the claim and reconciled.
It was pointed out to the author in a comment on the page that Jennifer did not recover her memories in therapy, nor did she retract, nor did she ever reconcile with her mother. This entire section was deleted by the article author the next day.
Neil Brick
8/23/09
You keep mentioning “hats.” One conference table (of many, note how the author only describes one) run by one person did have information on how to protect oneself from certain electromagnetic frequencies. There is scientific evidence that certain electromagnetic frequencies can cause problems for certain people. However, most conference participants were not involved with this topic. And whether one believes this topic is accurate or not certainly has nothing to do with the fact that ritual abuse exists around the world.
A dishonest debater would of course conflate the two terms to discredit both.
Neil Brick
8/24/09
It is interesting that several comments I have made defending myself,
even today, as well as others’ comments defending me have been deleted, yet libelous comments calling me a “pedophile” have been kept.
The author’s creation of a straw man argument, that there is an organized conspiracy, is of course a dishonest debate tactic. The point is that ritual abuse exists around the world and that this is well documented.
My organization helps trauma survivors, by providing resources and
accurate information to them. His article hurts them, by
personally attacking myself and them, in a one sided and inaccurate
manner. He has not corrected his several misstatements as promised, but he has continued to present his disinformation. He has no experience in the field of trauma, and repeats the same misstatements by others about the field of trauma.
sondra
This reporter failed to mention the professionals who spoke at this conference, or Anne A Johnson, author of Hell Minus One, who obtained written confessions from her parent. Another sources for facts: Colin Ross’ book, Bluebird: Deliberate Creation of Multiple Personality by Psychiatrists, based on 15,000 pages of documents obtained from the CIA. The FMSF was formed by Pamela and Peter Freyd, Hollida Wakefield and Ralph Underwager. Pamela and Peter Freyd are parents of Jennifer Freyd, who, despite statements to the contrary, always had memories of her abuse, and never recanted. You can find Jennifer’s story (and her refusal to recant) in her book, Betrayal Trauma: the Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse. This reporter entered the conference under false pretenses, creating false images. I am disappointed in this newspaper for allowing this, and expect better things from it in the future. Meanwhile, please do your own research on this topic rather than buying into this version. sondra
Cecilie says:
I am very grateful to Neil Brick for the work he continues to do on behalf of RA and government mind control victims. Articles like yours contribute to survivors fears of coming forward and reinforce the public’s head in the sand position, thus prolonging the exposure of this kind of activity.
I am a survivor of ritual abuse in the Catholic Church….If you are a sincere person and not just trying to add to the misinformation out there, I suggest you do some reading on the current research out there on trauma and DID. You are are sadly misinformed.
August 24
August 22, 2009.
Pamela Perskin Noblitt
I responded to the article with the following comment:
....Your disrespectful, biased, and poorly researched story is….Journalism requires an open mind, an investigative spirit, and a passion for truth and justice….Perhaps you should take the time to actually do some research. And by research, I mean studying alternative perspectives from your own with discretion, respect, and scientifically based inquisitiveness. Remember the first rule of science is parsimony. The simplest answer is often the truest. Which is more likely? That people dreadfully abused in childhood carry lifelong scars? Or that well-reared, well cared for children grow to adulthood and suddenly turn on their good parents? I wish you well in your next career.
Pamela Perskin Noblitt
I have been researching the area of religious cults for the past 33 years and ritual abuse for the past 20 years. In my chapter on History of Satanic Religions in Out of Darkness (I document that satanic (in the original meaning of the term satanic as simply adversarial to social norms) has a long history. This dovetails with University of Alberta Sociology Professor Stephen Kent’s articles in Religion in 1993 in which he analyzed the content of abuse survivors statements and found differences between Masonic satanic abuse, Christian satanic abuse and Mormon satanic abuse….
all the best
Martin H. Katchen
Kay says:
My memories were clear all the way. I was seduced at 14, which is rape by law. He told me to keep quiet, because he was a man of [God] and because of brainwashing by the Institutional Corporate Roman Catholic Church. It took me more than 45 years but, because of survivor support groups like SNAP and SMART, I can now post my full name without fear….I believe Mr. Brick is a victim/survivor of ritual abuse, further; I admire and respect Mr. Brick and SMART for reaching out to other survivors. You chose, with the stroke of your pen, to degrade not only Mr. Brick, but every other human being who does not fit in a [box]. Like…, your attitude comes across as arrogant and threatening. People have feelings.
August 23, 3:43 PM
Kay says:
ATTENTION! NEWSFLASH! Freedom of Speech exists, is alive, and flourishing. Freedom of the Press exists, is alive, and flourishing. Mr. Brick convened a group of people who are survivors of ritual abuse. The author attended that conference. Instead of reporting on the conference, he chose to use…to vent against victim/survivors of any form of abuse, including abuse by brainwashing. The author has certainly achieved his goal….The author has chosen to use his talent as a writer to demean others. I am NOT a survivor of ritual abuse. I am NOT a professional with credentials. I AM, however, a survivor of child rape by a Roman Catholic priest via brainwashing that led me to believe that a priest is “God” on earth.
August 23, 1:33 PM
This was sent to the online newspaper after the article was taken down.
Thank you for taking down the article about the SMART conference, dealing with Ritual Abuse Torture and Mind Control. As a survivor, this conference had been a life line for me. When the problem of Child Sexual abuse within the family was first brought up, people didn’t want to believe that it was happening. Not even professionals. I don’t think that any of us would deny it today. Ritual Abuse Torture is going through the same process.
Hopefully the writer doesn’t have a personal interest in discarding survivor’s reports, as do the actual criminals. I would like to think that he just has a hard time believing such things can happen to children. They do. They happened to me and to clients I worked with as a therapist.
No matter what the writer’s motivation is, survivors need support and not attack. The person who organizes these conferences put many hours of hard work into them and does not deserve such treatment. Neil especially takes a special care to make this conference a safe place for survivors. Just a small example: I must have been coming to the conference for the last five years and Neil knows me quite well by now. Never the less you can rest assure that he will still be asking for my ID when I first walk in.
Trying to discredit and silence us does not help the children who still suffer today. Again, thank you for removing the article…from your website. It was...insulting, and inaccurate.
Rebuttal to the attacking author’s second article report from the SMART 2009 conference
The author continues his attack on child abuse survivors and his name calling and insults on the conference attendees in Part 2.
He insults one of our older conference presenters, stating she is “infirm.”
He attacks the book “Michelle Remembers” with an article now posted on the “Temple of Set” website.
What he fails to mention is that the book’s accuracy was verified by the publisher, see http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/day-care-and-child-abuse-cases/
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER: “The source material was scrutinized. The many thousands of pages of transcript of the tape recordings that Dr. Pazder and Michelle Smith made of their psychiatric sessions were read and digested; they became the basis of this book. The tapes themselves were listened to in good measure, and the videotapes made of some of his sessions were viewed. Both the audio and video are powerfully convincing. It is nearly unthinkable that the protracted agony they record could have been fabricated.”
He also attacks the book “Sybil.” Yet, Sybil’s psychiatrist, Cornelia Wilbur, went to great lengths to validate the accounts of abuse…. The case firmly linked multiple personality disorder with child abuse. And Dr. Leah Dickstein of the University of Louisville in Kentucky, who said she was in touch with Sybil for several years after Wilbur’s death, recalls Sybil telling her, “tell people every word in the book is true.”‘ Dickstein, who knew Wilbur, said Wilbur “had no need to make this up.”
The author of the attack on our conference attacks Bennett Braun in the Burgus case.
Here’s a summary of the research on Burgus v. Braun et al that was presented by a researcher at the 2002 International Society for the Study of Dissociation conference in Baltimore….In 1993 the Burgus family filed a malpractice lawsuit against Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, Dr. Elva Poznanski, the boys” psychiatrist, and Dr. Bennett Braun, Pat’s psychiatrist…Before her hospitalization at Rush in 1983, Pat spent most days in bed in with the curtains drawn, unable to care for herself. She threatened to kill herself and others. Her husband came home for lunch to make sure the boys were fed. She became convinced that the doctor who did her tubal ligation had implanted a fetus during the surgery. She approached mothers of infant daughters, asking them if they would trade their daughter for her infant son, Mikey. Pat entered Rush diagnosed with multiple personality disorder and borderline personality disorder.
Upon admission Pat was agitated and incoherent. During her first month on the unit and before she was placed on meds, Pat told staff “I’m switching [personalities] out of control today. I’m doing so much switching today I can’t believe it.” Pat testified that the rapid switching decreased over time as her medications were increased….Other patients said they recognized her from her participation in cult-related criminal activities. At the time of her release from Rush in 1987 Pat was more stable and integrated. Did Pat’s psychiatrist implant false memories as Pat has claimed? On January 17, 1997, a defense attorney asked Pat about the source of her memories. Pat repeatedly conceded that she had originated all the memories herself. Her psychiatrist did not implant any memories. He had simply passed on to her what the other patients had reported.”
Candidate accused by former patient by Thomas R. O’Donnell – Des Moines Register – 10/28/98 – “A former Iowan who won a $10.6 million settlement from a Chicago hospital and two psychiatrists said the diagnosis of multiple personalities and repressed memories of satanic cults that led to her lawsuit originated with a West Des Moines clinical social worker. But the social worker, Ann-Marie Baughman, now a Polk County legislative candidate, said that when she started counseling Patricia Burgus in 1982, Burgus was a troubled woman who was threatening to kill herself and others. Burgus…also was displaying behavior that Baughman could not understand. “It was the physical changes more than just the verbal expressions of what she was telling me” that led Baughman to conclude she was seeing multiple personalities. The “muscles in her face would all relax . . . and she would just look different. It was just the eeriest thing….But suggestions that Braun somehow planted the horrific memories in Burgus’ head are wrong, Baughman said, because they started surfacing during her sessions with Burgus in Des Moines….In the settlement, reached last fall after six years of litigation, neither the hospital nor the psychiatrists, Braun and Elva Poznanski, admitted fault. Braun has said his insurance company settled over his objections.”
It appears that Burgus’ symptoms appeared before her work with Braun, something the attacking author appears to ignore.
The attacking author states he only found one mention of the Amirault case on our website http://ritualabuse.us
He obviously did not look very hard.
“All nine children testified in a broadly consistent way…The children testified to numerous instances of sexual abuse. Some of the children testified that they were photographed during this abuse, describing a big camera with wires, a red button, and pictures which came out of the camera. The children testified that the defendant threatened them and told them that their families would be harmed if they told anyone about the abuse….The Commonwealth also presented a pediatric gynecologist and pediatrician who examined five of the girls who testified…She made findings consistent with abuse in four of the girls.”
Additional information on the Amirault case is at our website at http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/day-care-and-child-abuse-cases/
“in Amirault, the majority of the female children who testified had some relevant physical findings, as did several female children involved in the investigation who did not participate in the trial. The findings included labial adhesions and hymenal scarring of the sort present in avery small percentage of non-sexually abused children.”
“Victims in the Fells Acres child abuse case broke down Thursday as they described their pain publicly for the first time in hopes of keeping the last person convicted in the case behind bars. Victims urged her to keep Amirault in prison.”
“This family raped me, molested me and totally ruined my life,’’said Jennifer Bennett, who was 3 1/2 years old when she started at Fells Acres. “We weren’t coaxed. We weren’t lying. We’re telling the truth and we always will.”
The attacking author states “sexually repressed housewives may place themselves in the midst of deviant orgies in which they had no choice but to participate.” This incredible statement shows the authors thinking clearly.
The attacking author even criticizes the story of one speaker that has signed confessions of Satanic Ritual Abuse from her mother and stepfather.
The attacking author states the conference is “full of bullshit.” He even criticizes the well established diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder, citing Paul McHugh.
Information on Paul McHugh is at http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/paul-mchugh/
quotes from cited articles at our website include:
“The problem with McHugh’s publications on MPD/DID, like those of Mersky, is that they are mere speculation. From deposition testimony in several cases, McHugh has made it clear that other than an occasional consultation, he has very little actual clinical experience with the ongoing treatment of MPD/DID patients and is generally unfamiliar with both the clinical features of MPD/DID and with what usually occurs in their treatment. This McHugh’s opinion is informed neither by actual in-depth clinical experience with contemporary MPD/DID patients nor by any scientific research on MPD.”
“At least eight men have been convicted of sexually abusing Maryland children while under treatment at the “sex disorders” clinic McHugh runs at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine – abuse the doctors did not report, citing client confidentiality.”
The attacking author writes “As Brick wrote in an angry comment upon my first half of this article, “who are you to decide what people remember?” Yet, Brick did not say any such thing. This is more inaccurate writing from the attacking author.
The attacking author in the original version of his article writes “Disassociative Disorders” and “Disassociative Identity Disorder” yet they are actually called “Dissociative Disorders” and “Dissociative Identity Disorder.”
But if the author had any experience in the field, he would know this. The attacking author’s continued one-sided attack on our conference is inaccurate, insulting and simply untrue.
The following comments were made later on defending the conference, following further comments that included name calling and insults that were written about myself and the conference attendees.
9/4/09
As a speaker at the conference as well as “named” throughout this commentary, I am amazed and appalled at the inclusion of a seriously flawed “report” from a man who faked his identity to attend, canceled his check that was to pay for his attendance, misrepresented who he was, and then failed to check his “facts” about not only myself but others in attendance as well. His errors include such small details as my age and health, reason for sitting at a table (too many papers to juggle standing up), and larger ones such as misquoting and putting words in my mouth. My presentation is on tape, and it would have been easy for him to verify any of his shaky “facts”, but he chose to make fun of our pain, as well. We did not ask him to attend, he did not interview any of us in his “official” capacity as a reporter, and after reading part one in which he made sophomoric sport of his descriptions of attendees, I really did not expect anyone to legitimize his “work”. Googling him has given a clearer picture of a man who is full of contradictions. As a member of an atheist group, he then has a blog with artwork depicting a gleeful satan, another in which he grins as he holds up a jar containing a dead fetus, as well as proclaiming himself as playing the role of a prankster in his reporting. He may throw all the stones he wants. Truth is not dependent on any one man’s visions or delusions. True research, on both sides of the arguments presented, would give a much more balanced picture, but that requires actual intelligent examination of the material.
I do not know what the goal here is in accepting and publishing this satirical piece of commentary, but am disappointed that anyone can make any statements they choose about a topic like this and have it printed as if it is gospel. If Mr. “Undercover reporter” wishes to engage me directly, all he had to do was ask. Perhaps someone acquainted with him might be able to put some context into his purpose for sneaking into a conference where reporters may interview subjects outside of the conference room, with permission of those he interviews, but are purposely excluded from the speeches themselves.
This site seems dedicated to exposing abuse, yet it publishes this article that, on the contrary, denies the abuse of people he has virtually no prior knowledge about.
I expect more attacks–that is the classic M.O. of a debunker….I expected better of your publication.
Julaine Cooper
9/4/09
To Julaine,
I applaud you for standing up to this self-described journalist who apparently thought...he could influence others not to accept the reality of the crimes that you suffered. Your truth speaks much louder than his insults and debunks.
To the sponsors of the SMART conference,
I applaud you for continuing year after year, in spite of the personal insults you have been hit with because of your efforts to make the world safer for children.
To the owners of this website. I don’t understand how you can allow the article misrepresenting the SMART conference and giving distorted views of the history and literature on the topics of ritual abuse stay online and associated with your organization. It is my understanding that another online journal took this self-described journalist’s first article down apparently because of its libelous statements.
It is also my understanding that many victims report that they were victims of satanic ritual abuse by Catholic clergy. I ask that you do as the other online journal did and remove this self-described journalist’s reports from your website.
Jeanette Bartha has written two articles about Neil Brick or his work helping to educate others about extreme abuse issues.
This article will detail the inaccurate statements made by Ms. Bartha as well as other problems with her page.
Her page is called “Multiple Personalities Don’t Exist.” However, the majority of psychiatric organizations around the world recognize the existence of dissociative identity disorder (previously called Multiple Personality Disorder).
Her second article was written about “Debating the non-believers: getting equal time for survivors views” http://neilbrick.com/debating-the-non-believers-getting-equal-time-for-survivors-views/
She states that Neil Brick is a believer of “several conspiracy theories.” A conspiracy is defined as “a combination of persons for a secret, unlawful, or evil purpose.” This happens often in the world. The theories Neil Brick writes about are backed by evidence. This evidence is at http://ritualabuse.us
She writes that “(he) insinuates that people who take a position against coercive and suggestive techniques used by many psychotherapists who believe in multiple personalities and dissociative identity disorder are tantamount to child abusers…”
Nowhere does the article state that “skeptics” or false memory proponents are “tantamount” to child abusers. Of course, there is no evidence that many psychotherapists use “coercive and suggestive techniques.”
Below the article, there is a comment containing an insult about Neil Brick, because the writer disagrees with him.
–
In her first article, she attempts to attack the credibility of one of the conferences SMART sponsors. She critiques the term “Lifespan Integration” simply because a speaker’s biography mentions it as “new.” She does not actually discuss the research behind the concept or the results it has produced.
She mentions the conference has “so much pseudoscience being tossed around” yet does not mention anything specific about any of the theories presented at the actual conference.
She critiques the conference webpage because one speaker’s biography doesn’t mention that she has a “Christian focus.” Ms. Bartha writes that “the organizer of the conference chooses not to disclose” this. Yet, the biographies of conference speakers are normally not written by conference organizers, but by the speakers themselves, as was true in this case. This counselor is a licensed therapist with many years of experience.
In conclusion, Ms. Bartha makes several statements without backing in her critiques of Neil Brick and his work. She allows others to comment at her blog insulting those she does not agree with. She herself calls theories she doesn’t believe in “crap.”
The above critiques cast doubt on the accuracy of Ms. Bartha’s articles about Neil Brick and the techniques she uses to discuss these concepts.
This article is also at:
http://neilbrick.com/rebuttal-to-jeanette-barthas-articles-on-neil-brick/
A misstatement by those attacking ritual abuse, child abuse and MPD (now called DID) survivors is that these survivors are mostly female white middle class and middle aged survivors. Those that make these statements do not back them up with evidence. Many survivors of severe child abuse are on disability or live in poverty. Those working with these survivors know this. DID and ritual abuse cases have been been found around the world. This has been documented by mainstream media sources and scientific research.
The same websites that use insults, name calling and attack survivors of ritual abuse also claim there is no evidence for ritual abuse crimes. They appear to ignore all evidence and research showing that ritual abuse does exist. Some of this evidence is documented at http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/
Another misstatement made by “skeptics” is that SMART publishes information from “any source” in regard to data backing the existence of ritual abuse. This is unproven and not true. SMART works very hard to verify all sources and when possible uses peer reviewed scientific journals and mainstream media articles for its sources. A good example of this is our over 100 newsletters listed at http://ritualabuse.us/newsletter/
Readers should always consider the reputability of the source they are reading. Does the source lower itself to name calling and insults in an attempt to falsely sway the reader to believe its arguments and disparage its ideological opponents? Does the source make inaccurate statements and then expand these statements further? If this is the case, is the true intent of the website to inform others about factual information or to promote an incorrect idea about child abuse crimes?
Our website works hard to educate others about ritual abuse and child abuse crimes. We provide reputable sources to back up our claims. A long list of some of our sources can be found at:
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/studies/satanic-ritual-abuse-evidence-with-information-on-the-mcmartin-preschool-case/
Douglas Misicko alias Douglas Mesner
This page will contain all of the articles from http://ritualabuse.us on this topic.
Update 5
from http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-5/
Update 5
from http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-5/
We recommend you read these pages before reading this page:
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-4/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-3/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-2/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/harassment-by-false-memory-proponents/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/rebuttal-to-the-report-from-the-smart-2009-conference/
These pages will give readers the full background on this subject as well as a rebuttal to Mesner’s comments about ritual abuse and our conference. These pages list many of the comments posted by Douglas Mesner as well as other aliases. These pages will show connections between Mesner and websites like process, radiofreesatan.com and the book “Might is Right.”
Douglas Mesner has continued using insults and attacks against survivors of ritual abuse and the professionals that work with them. He has harassed and followed survivors and survivor advocates around the Internet for the last several years. Aliases have been used adding additional insults and name calling against survivors.
He has continued his attacks on SMART and Neil Brick, including taking facts out of context and using them to belittle and insult others. He continues to repeat the same couple of facts at our 2009 conference which he attended under false pretenses. He did not let the conference coordinator know that he was attending as a journalist and was going to write an article about our conference. The media is not allowed at the conference for the safety of the conference participants, who are survivors of child abuse and their supporters. He cancelled his conference check immediately after attending the conference.
Mesner keeps repeating the fact that one display table out of many at the conference had a hat (as well as many other items) used to protect the wearer from electromagnetism. He takes this one thing totally out of proportion to insult the conference. He repeats the fact that one woman at the conference talked about supernatural occurrences in her abuse story. He uses these two occurrences at our conference to viciously attack and insult our conference and our work, ignoring the strong research base backing the reality of ritual abuse and the many presentations at our conference verifying the reality of ritual abuse. He insults Neil Brick, the conference coordinator, with insults about his height and his abuse story.
By misrepresenting the work of SMART and Neil Brick and by using name calling and insults, Mesner works to discredit the reality of ritual abuse and ritual abuse survivors to falsely influence others to ignore the facts that prove ritual abuse is a reality.
We advise readers to see through these tactics and read the data proving the veracity of the existence of ritual abuse. Some of this is below.
Evidence ritual abuse exists:
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/studies/satanic-ritual-abuse-evidence-with-information-on-the-mcmartin-preschool-case/
Update 4
from http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-4/
We recommend you read these pages before reading this page:
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-3/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-2/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/harassment-by-false-memory-proponents/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/rebuttal-to-the-report-from-the-smart-2009-conference/
These pages will give readers the full background on this subject as well as a rebuttal to Mesner’s comments about ritual abuse and our conference. These pages list many of the comments posted by Douglas Mesner as well as other aliases. These pages will show connections between Mesner and websites like process, radiofreesatan.com and the book “Might is Right.”
Douglas Mesner has continued using insults and attacks against survivors of ritual abuse and the professionals that work with them.
S.M.A.R.T. presents a large amount of information on its website, mainly from mainstream newspapers, journal articles and scientific websites. S.M.A.R.T. may not necessarily agree with all of the views presented at our conferences, on our webpage and in our newsletters. S.M.A.R.T. does however try to give voice to survivors of ritual abuse and child abuse crimes whenever possible. In his vicious attacks on S.M.A.R.T. , Mesner repeats a few points that represent less than one tenth of one percent of our work, describing them in a subjective manner meant to discredit S.M.A.R.T.’s work.
An alias at one of his articles calls people at S.M.A.R.T. “frauds and con-artists.” The reality is that S.M.A.R.T. works very hard to present honest and accurate information about child abuse and ritual abuse crimes.
Mesner continues to incorrectly states that “bill schnoebelen” spoke at our conferences, in a false attempt to connect our conference presenters to research on “evil extraterrestrial invaders.” He never spoke at any of our conferences. Our conferences work with child abuse and ritual abuse victims and their helpers and have no connection to research on “extraterrestrial(s).” He claims that a member of S.M.A.R.T. posts information on a list that discusses information about ritual abuse, mind control and alien abduction issues. Yet S.M.A.R.T. only posts about child abuse issues on this list. Stating that this connects S.M.A.R.T. to alien issues is like stating someone who posts a comment in a blog or publication agrees with the publication and other commentators. The connection made by Mesner is illogical and untrue. He writes that he questions the reliability of Neil Brick’s work. Yet, with the misstatements made by Mesner, perhaps it is the reliability of his work that should be questioned.
Mesner misrepresents the arguments made by those stating ritual abuse is real. The veracity of recovered memories is only one part of the evidence showing that ritual abuse survivors memories are real. The evidence includes criminal convictions, scars, other family members verifications of these crimes, similar stories by people who do not know each other and the common symptomology shared by ritual abuse survivors. At times, there are even perpetrator confessions of these ritual abuse crimes. All of this is apparently ignored by Mesner.
Another argument Mesner misrepresents is in essence that those who attack the veracity of ritual abuse survivor’s stories are attacking child abuse stories in general and he disagrees with this. Yet S.M.A.R.T. believes this is true. The attacks on the resources available to ritual abuse survivors and the attacks on the believability of ritual abuse survivors’ stories hurt all trauma victims. By attacking and attempting to discredit ritual abuse survivors and their stories, the attacks move to those suffering from dissociative disorders like DID, cult abuse victims and eventually all child abuse survivors. This creates an environment where child abuse survivors are less likely to be believed. This may be why the attacks often begin against ritual abuse survivors first.
Mesner misrepresents and takes out of context ritual abuse survivors stories and does not present information that backs the veracity of their stories. The question is, if Mesner thinks he is right, why is there a need to call names, insult and harass others? Why is there a need to make incorrect factual statements? Shouldn’t a logical argument based on factual data suffice? This shows that there is more than simple debate is going on here. Is he trying to sway others’ opinions of ritual abuse survivors by unfairly attacking ritual abuse survivors with insults and name calling? Is he trying to discourage ritual abuse survivors from telling their stories or discussing these topics publicly?
Mesner presents a recording he made of an interview with a past president of a dissociation and trauma organization. He claims that this shows that the person interviewed is making statements that separate S.M.A.R.T.’s work from others in the field. It is S.M.A.R.T’s belief that this organization has not been supportive of ritual abuse research in the field in recent years and its own clinicians at times, due to the external pressure from false memory proponents and organizations. This only weakens the field of dissociation and trauma as a whole due to its being divided and may be exactly what these false memory organizations want to happen. This also hurts the dissociation and trauma organization itself, because some of those that have attacked ritual abuse survivors’ stories have also attacked their organization. Hopefully, this organization will realize that this is a mistake and will support the research and stories of all clinicians and survivors in the field.
S.M.A.R.T. has had many published professionals speak at its conferences. S.M.A.R.T. has produced hundreds of pages of research articles backing its viewpoints.
When deciding upon the veracity of S.M.A.R.T.’s research and work, we recommend that readers check out the credentials of those attacking S.M.A.R.T., their experience in the field of child abuse and the tactics they use vs the research we provide that conclusively proves that ritual abuse exists.
Evidence ritual abuse exists:
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/studies/satanic-ritual-abuse-evidence-with-information-on-the-mcmartin-preschool-case/
Update 3
from: http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-3/
We recommend you read these pages before reading this page:
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-2/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/harassment-by-false-memory-proponents/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/rebuttal-to-the-report-from-the-smart-2009-conference/
These pages will give readers the full background on this subject as well as a rebuttal to Mesner’s comments about ritual abuse and our conference. These pages list many of the comments posted by Douglas Mesner as well as other aliases. These pages will show connections between Mesner and websites like process, radiofreesatan.com and the book “Might is Right.”
Douglas Mesner has continued using personal insults and attacks against survivors of ritual abuse and the professionals that work with them.
In his more recent attacks on SMART, he continues to take extreme cases of ritual abuse and cult crimes out of context, ignoring evidence showing that these crimes may have or actually did occur. He uses this technique to attempt to discredit the large volume of work and research others and S.M.A.R.T. have presented.
S.M.A.R.T. presents a large amount of information on its website, mainly from mainstream newspapers, journal articles and scientific websites. S.M.A.R.T. may not necessarily agree with all of the views presented at our conferences, on our webpage and in our newsletters. S.M.A.R.T. does however try to give voice to survivors of ritual abuse and child abuse crimes whenever possible.
Mesner incorrectly states that “bill schnoebelen” spoke at our conferences, in a false attempt to connect our conference presenters to research on “evil extraterrestrial invaders.” Our conferences work with child abuse and ritual abuse victims and their helpers and have no connection to research on “extraterrestrial(s).”
He continues to call S.M.A.R.T. “cult-like,” yet the reality is that S.M.A.R.T works hard to educate people about cults, expose their techniques whenever possible and teach people ways to avoid joining cults.
S.M.A.R.T. has had many published professionals speak at its conferences. S.M.A.R.T. has produced hundreds of pages of research articles backing its viewpoints.
When deciding upon the veracity of S.M.A.R.T.’s research and work, we recommend that readers check out the credentials of those attacking S.M.A.R.T., their experience in the field of child abuse and the tactics they use vs the research we provide that conclusively proves that ritual abuse exists.
Evidence ritual abuse exists:
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/studies/satanic-ritual-abuse-evidence-with-information-on-the-mcmartin-preschool-case/
Update 2
from: http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-2/
We recommend you read these pages before reading this page:
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update/ http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner/ http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/harassment-by-false-memory-proponents/ http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/rebuttal-to-the-report-from-the-smart-2009-conference/
These pages will give readers the full background on this subject as well as a rebuttal to Mesner’s comments about ritual abuse and our conference. These pages list many of the comments posted by Douglas Mesner as well as other aliases. These pages will show connections between Mesner and websites like process, radiofreesatan.com and the book “Might is Right.”
Douglas Mesner has continued using personal insults and attacks against survivors of ritual abuse and the professionals that work with them.
Propaganda Techniques
In his attack on child abuse and ritual abuse survivors, he uses the propaganda techniques of false analogies and name calling.In the technique of false analogy, two things are compared that may or may not really be similar are presented as being similar. In most false analogies, there isn’t enough evidence available to support the comparison.
Mesner compares ritual abuse survivors to alien abductees. In this false comparison, he lists what he considers certain parallels between the two. Yet, this does not prove that either are the same. One can take any item or concept and then list hundreds of qualities and then take another item and do the same thing. Then one could make a short list of the similar qualities on these lists. This does not make either item similar, nor does it prove that ritual abuse memories are not real. Ritual abuse occurrences have been well documented, with scientific studies, corroboration and legal cases.
See http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Ritual_Abuse for information on ritual abuse.
He also lists a couple of physiological similarities between alien abductees and trauma survivors. Of course, anyone under stress may report greater psychophysiological reactivity and this would not in any way prove a lack of veracity of the accounts of trauma survivors or ritual abuse survivors. All it shows it that people under stress show greater psychophysiological reactivity.
In the technique of name calling, one attaches a negative label to a person or concept. The use of this technique creates fear and arouses prejudice in the reader by using negative words or bad names to create an unfavorable opinion or hatred against a group, beliefs or ideas that the user would want the reader to disbelieve. The use of this method encourages the reader to make a conclusion without examining the actual evidence. Name calling can also used as a substitute for arguing the actual merits of an idea, belief or proposal.
Mesner uses this techniques often, calling those he disagrees with in certain topic areas “delusional” or “paranoid.” He calls theories he disagrees with “conspiracies theories” and organizations that expose ritual abuse and cult crimes a “danger” to people. The exposing of ritual abuse and child abuse crimes helps build the social awareness of these crimes, which can help with the prevention of future crimes against children.
MPD and Recovered Memory
Mesner continues to attack the reality of MPD – multiple personality disorder (now called DID – dissociative identity disorder) calling it mythical. The concept of DID/MPD has been well proven in the scientific literature and it is even in the DSM-IV-TR.See http://ritualabuse.us/research/did/ for more information on DID-MPD.
Mesner calls the idea of recovered memory validity “debunked.” Yet, there is ample evidence that many studies that show fairly high corroboration rates for recovered memories with many corroborated cases of recovered memory.
See http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/recovered-memory-data/ for more information on recovered memory veracity.
Attacks on S.M.A.R.T.
Mesner continues his attacks on S.M.A.R.T. He apparently concludes that there is an “overlap” between S.M.A.R.T. and the “UFO community” just because S.M.A.R.T. had two press releases in our newsletter over ten years ago, one about a group and another about a person working on several issues (only one of which was alien abduction issues). He also critiques S.M.A.R.T. for having listed one person in our newsletter that S.M.A.R.T. listed for information on secret societies. This person in other places has also talked about aliens. This would be similar to stating that a mainstream newspaper has an overlap with the UFO community, because they had articles about UFOs.He takes extreme cases of ritual abuse and cult crimes out of context, ignoring evidence showing that these crimes may have or actually did occur. He uses this technique to attempt to discredit the large volume of work and research others and S.M.A.R.T. have presented. S.M.A.R.T. presents a large amount of information on its website, mainly from mainstream newspapers, journal articles and scientific websites. S.M.A.R.T. may not necessarily agree with all of the views presented at our conferences, on our webpage and in our newsletters. S.M.A.R.T. does however try to give voice to survivors of ritual abuse and child abuse crimes whenever possible.
Update 1
from: http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update/
We recommend you read these pages before reading this page:
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/harassment-by-false-memory-proponents/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/rebuttal-to-the-report-from-the-smart-2009-conference/
These pages will give readers the full background on this subject as well as a rebuttal to Mesner’s comments about ritual abuse and our conference. These pages list many of the comments posted by Douglas Mesner as well as other aliases. These pages will show connections between Mesner and websites like process, radiofreesatan.com and the book “Might is Right.”
Douglas Mesner and another alias have continued using the same and similar personal insults and attacks against survivors of ritual abuse and the professionals that work with them. One alias attacks SMART stating it is a “for-profit” business. SMART is a type of not for profit business, with no salaries whatsoever. Any surplus is used to help SMART continue its work to educate the public about child abuse and ritual abuse issues.
An alias states in essence that Neil Brick promotes the idea that the abuse of a child could be the cause of anything other than dysfunctional traits (when discussing how survivors may be tortured to do other roles) and that this is equal to saying that child abuse is beneficial for its victims. Neither SMART nor Neil Brick have ever stated child abuse is beneficial in anyway. SMART and Neil Brick’s strong stance is that child abuse is always traumatic to its victims.
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/harassment-by-false-memory-proponents/
Mesner criticizes the excellent study on extreme abuse survivors, found at http://extreme-abuse-survey.net/ with more than 2000 respondents with a large questionnaire developed by several experienced researchers in the field. This excellent preliminary study gives extreme abuse survivors a voice and shows how large this problem is.
One of the aliases even makes a bizarre connection between the Arizona shooter and child abuse and ritual abuse survivors and their advocates, stating that those fighting to expose and stop ritual abuse crimes postings could be potentially dangerous and incite people with psychological problems.
Mesner continues to make the false claim comparing alien abductions to ritual abuse cases. The fact is that there have been criminal convictions for crimes with ritual abuse elements and ritual abuse survivors suffer from the severe trauma symptoms survivors of extreme abuse do.
Mesner criticizes survivors of child abuse and ritual abuse for leaving comments at message boards, which they do to defend themselves and even for voting on comments. He criticizes the fact that survivor websites (that are working to expose child abuse and ritual crimes) do not allow comments. The reason for this is the repeated name calling, personal insults and harassment of child abuse and ritual abuse survivors.
An alias discusses the The Utah Ritual Abuse Task Force report at http://www.saferchildren.net/print/utahrataskforce.pdf
The alias does not mention that report states the following points of evidence from local and national sources:
“Independent identification, by victims unknown to each other, of the same perpetrators.”
“Successful prosecution of cases of child abuse which contain indisputable elements of ritual abuse.”
The alias criticizes the Conviction List: Ritual Child Abuse at
http://www.ra-info.org/resources/ra_cases.shtml
ignoring that fact that several of these cases had documented ritual elements.
The alias criticizes a chapter from Cult and Ritual Abuse called “Empirical Evidence of Ritual Abuse” at
http://books.google.com/books?id=zJkTTpfyJ-8C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=&f=false
The alias disregards almost all of the solid research in the chapter focusing on one quote that the alias claims was taken out of context.
Original Article
from: http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner/
Mesner in reply posted an article on the Internet. This article has several factual inaccuracies.
Background
We recommend you read these pages before reading this page:http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/harassment-by-false-memory-proponents/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/rebuttal-to-the-report-from-the-smart-2009-conference/
These pages will give readers the full background on this subject as well as a rebuttal to Mesner’s comments about ritual abuse and our conference. These pages list many of the comments posted by Douglas Mesner as well as other aliases. These pages will show connections between Mesner and websites like process, radiofreesatan.com and the book “Might is Right.”
Douglas Misicko stopped payment on the check he used to pay for the conference after the conference. Our conference brochure, which all that register are required to read, states “Members of secret organizations, acting out perpetrators, and/or members of unsympathetic organizations are excluded from the conference. This is for the protection and safety of those in attendance.” Also, it is clearly announced at the beginning of the conference, “Please note that media people are not allowed in the conference at any time without the written permission of SMART.” This is also for the protection and safety of those in attendance.
Reply to Recent Posted Article
SMART, Neil Brick and others did debate Douglas Mesner on the Internet after the conference and rebutted his arguments.Neil Brick stated at the conference:
“The important thing is to make sure that the victims’ sides of the story are heard. To get their versions of the story out to as many people as possible, so that those responsible for these crimes will continue to be held accountable and so that when children are raped…they will be believed….We need to be our own advocates. If enough of us speak up, we will be heard.”
Mesner continues to make misstatements about Neil Brick and SMART in his recent post. He misrepresents SMART’s position in this article.
He continues to attack a 68 year old speaker named Julaine at the conference, as he did at his original article. Here is her reply to him in regard to his original article:
“As a speaker at the conference as well as “named” throughout this commentary, I am amazed and appalled at the inclusion of a seriously flawed “report” from a man who faked his identity to attend, canceled his check that was to pay for his attendance, misrepresented who he was, and then failed to check his “facts” about not only myself but others in attendance as well. His errors include such small details as my age and health, reason for sitting at a table (too many papers to juggle standing up), and larger ones such as misquoting and putting words in my mouth. My presentation is on tape, and it would have been easy for him to verify any of his shaky “facts”, but he chose to make fun of our pain, as well.”
Here are links rebutting his opinions on various topics mentioned in his recent post.
Proof That Ritual Abuse Existshttp://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/
Basic Information on Dissociative Identity Disorder
http://ritualabuse.us/research/did/
Recovered Memory Data
http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/recovered-memory-data/
Original Rebuttal Article from 2009
from: http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/rebuttal-to-the-report-from-the-smart-2009-conference/
Rebuttal to an attack on our recent conference in August 2009.
Our ritual abuse conference went really well this year. Many excellent researchers from several countries presented data backing the existence of ritual abuse crimes in a variety of settings.
Unfortunately a “journalist” snuck into the conference under false pretenses pseudonymously. This person on a website for radiofreesatan, where he is a DJ and was described as “an unscrupulous journalist.”
This journalist paid to enter the conference with a check. He stopped payment on the check after the conference.
Our conference brochure, which all that register are required to read, states “Members of secret organizations, acting out perpetrators, and/or members of unsympathetic organizations are excluded from the conference. This is for the protection and safety of those in attendance.” Also, it is clearly announced at the beginning of the conference, “Please note that media people are not allowed in the conference at any time without the written permission of SMART.”
Less than one week after the conference, he placed a vicious article on a major Internet newspaper personally attacking some of the conference attendees, the field of DID and memory. Attacks included disparaging remarks about one’s appearance and voice as well as claiming child abuse survivor accounts at the conference were fictional. Fortunately, with the hard work of many people, this article was removed from this major Internet newspaper after four days.
The author repeats the rebutted attacks on the field of DID and ritual abuse made over twenty years ago. The scientific research on DID shows it to be a solid and robust phenomenon that had been misdiagnosed as schizophrenia for over half a century. The research he cites “offer(s) no evidence that either stable alter personalities or the range of clinical features typically associated with MPD can be created in the laboratory.” Accurate information on DID and rebuttals to skeptics can be found at http://ritualabuse.us/research/did/
He also attacks the phenomenon of recovered memory. Yet recovered memory has been found to be a proven and verifiable phenomenon in many cases with fairly high accuracy rates. For more information on this, see http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Recovered_Memories
He repeats the same misstatements made about “panic” made twenty years ago. Yet, ritual abuse crimes and their incident rates have been shown to be very real. For more information on this, see http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Ritual_Abuse and http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/
This author’s first article concludes with several misstatements about what he claims was stated at the conference about the FMSF. However, this was not stated. This is another misstatement made by the author.
In essence, his article contained insults, personal attacks, misstatements, misrepresented and slanted data as well as blatant lies.
A rebuttal to his second article is at the end of this page.
The following are some comments posted on the website below the article attacking our conference before the article was permanently removed from the Internet. Some of these comments were removed from the page by the author, yet comments calling myself a “pedophile” more than once were allowed to stay up.
(Note: Many additional comments were made defending myself, the conference and ritual abuse survivors, we have not received permission yet to post these.)
Neil Brick 8/22/09
This article contains many untruths and insults….
We clearly state in our conference registration form “members of unsympathetic organizations are excluded from the conference. This is for the protection and safety of those in attendance.”
We also clearly state that members of the media are not permitted to attend the conference without written permission, to protect the attendees anonymity….
The article itself personally insults both myself and the conference attendees, with statements like….Yet several attendees and speaker have solid evidence including confessions of the perpetrators and scientific books and publications. These were left out of his article.
Neil Brick
The article also misrepresents the data around many important issues.
There are hundreds of scientific books and journals documenting the reality of ritual abuse crimes. Information on these can be found at http://ritualabuse.us
There was no MPD craze. It is well documented that most MPD (now called DID) cases were misdiagnosed as schizophrenia for over 60 years. There is no evidence of therapist “coercion” in the scientific literature. Spanos has been critiqued as seriously overgeneralized his data and his data “data offer no evidence that either stable alter personalities or the range of clinical features typically associated with MPD can be created in the laboratory.”
There was no “panic.” There were victims of horrible crimes coming forward to expose their perpetrators….
Neil Brick
Readers should draw their own conclusions around this issue, with thorough research about the topics of ritual abuse and DID.
However, one sided articles like the one above that contain personal insults about people serve no constructive purpose whatsoever. They only continue to polarize the debate around these issues and lower the level of civil and intellectual discourse.
August 23, 2009
Neil Brick
There is no such thing as “repressed memory therapy.” This is a construct of those that attack the field of therapy and those that attack those that help trauma survivors.
You make excuses for your personal attacks of others, yet you are responsible for your own behavior. You insult my voice and appearance in your article as well as the other conference attendees because of your supposed “disgust.” This goes beyond an ad hominem attack on your part, degenerating into name calling and personal insults.
At my website, there are hundreds of books and article documenting ritual abuse crimes. Go to ritualabuse.us and click on the ritual abuse tab.
August 23, 2009
Neil Brick
You state (in the article author’s comment on the page): “yes, I did attend pseudononymously.” In other words, you must have used a fake ID to attend the conference, as all participants need to present an ID to gain admittance to protect the safety of all conference members.
So you lied to attend the conference. You misrepresented the reason you were attending and you even lied about who you were. So why should we believe you now?
You knew media personnel were not allowed at the conference without permission, yet you attended anyway, simply to attack myself and the conference.
You made up statements about what you claim I stated about the FMSF and you state we often cite Ms. Freyd, another fabrication. You even got my height wrong.
Your article does not fairly represent the research on the topics it presents.
You state “I see my description of Brick as accurate, even charitable.” Really, personally insulting someone’s appearance and voice is “charitable.”
Neil Brick
The author mentions Loftus to back his theory of memory.
Loftus is very biased in her interpretation of traumatic memory. There is NO evidence that traumatic memories can be created through manipulation. Loftus’ work has also been heavily critiqued. See the work of Hopper, Hoult, Crook, Pezdek and Pope. Loftus even published a study that shows recovered memory exists (Psychology of Women Quarterly, 18 (1994) 67-84.)
The reality is that recovered memory has been proven in numerous studies to exist and that it has fairly high corroboration rates. (go to ritualabuse.us and click on the related research tab)
Or use a search engine for “101 corroborated cases of recovered memory”
Neil Brick
8/23/09
Since you ignored my question the first time, here it is again:
You state: “yes, I did attend pseudononymously.” In other words, you must have used a fake ID to attend the conference, as all participants need to present an ID to gain admittance to protect the safety of all conference members.
So you lied to attend the conference. You misrepresented the reason you were attending and you even lied about who you were. So why should we believe you now?
What kind of a “researcher” uses a fake ID to attend a conference and then repeatedly uses name calling and insults to “prove” their points?
Note:
The author of the article attacking our conference made a comment on 8/23/09 about the daughter of Pamela Freyd, stating her daughter (Jennifer) recovered her memories during therapy sessions and then retracted the claim and reconciled.
It was pointed out to the author in a comment on the page that Jennifer did not recover her memories in therapy, nor did she retract, nor did she ever reconcile with her mother. This entire section was deleted by the article author the next day.
Neil Brick
8/23/09
You keep mentioning “hats.” One conference table (of many, note how the author only describes one) run by one person did have information on how to protect oneself from certain electromagnetic frequencies. There is scientific evidence that certain electromagnetic frequencies can cause problems for certain people. However, most conference participants were not involved with this topic. And whether one believes this topic is accurate or not certainly has nothing to do with the fact that ritual abuse exists around the world.
A dishonest debater would of course conflate the two terms to discredit both.
Neil Brick
8/24/09
It is interesting that several comments I have made defending myself,
even today, as well as others’ comments defending me have been deleted, yet libelous comments calling me a “pedophile” have been kept.
The author’s creation of a straw man argument, that there is an organized conspiracy, is of course a dishonest debate tactic. The point is that ritual abuse exists around the world and that this is well documented.
My organization helps trauma survivors, by providing resources and
accurate information to them. His article hurts them, by
personally attacking myself and them, in a one sided and inaccurate
manner. He has not corrected his several misstatements as promised, but he has continued to present his disinformation. He has no experience in the field of trauma, and repeats the same misstatements by others about the field of trauma.
sondra
This reporter failed to mention the professionals who spoke at this conference, or Anne A Johnson, author of Hell Minus One, who obtained written confessions from her parent. Another sources for facts: Colin Ross’ book, Bluebird: Deliberate Creation of Multiple Personality by Psychiatrists, based on 15,000 pages of documents obtained from the CIA. The FMSF was formed by Pamela and Peter Freyd, Hollida Wakefield and Ralph Underwager. Pamela and Peter Freyd are parents of Jennifer Freyd, who, despite statements to the contrary, always had memories of her abuse, and never recanted. You can find Jennifer’s story (and her refusal to recant) in her book, Betrayal Trauma: the Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse. This reporter entered the conference under false pretenses, creating false images. I am disappointed in this newspaper for allowing this, and expect better things from it in the future. Meanwhile, please do your own research on this topic rather than buying into this version. sondra
Cecilie says:
I am very grateful to Neil Brick for the work he continues to do on behalf of RA and government mind control victims. Articles like yours contribute to survivors fears of coming forward and reinforce the public’s head in the sand position, thus prolonging the exposure of this kind of activity.
I am a survivor of ritual abuse in the Catholic Church….If you are a sincere person and not just trying to add to the misinformation out there, I suggest you do some reading on the current research out there on trauma and DID. You are are sadly misinformed.
August 24
August 22, 2009.
Pamela Perskin Noblitt
I responded to the article with the following comment:
....Your disrespectful, biased, and poorly researched story is….Journalism requires an open mind, an investigative spirit, and a passion for truth and justice….Perhaps you should take the time to actually do some research. And by research, I mean studying alternative perspectives from your own with discretion, respect, and scientifically based inquisitiveness. Remember the first rule of science is parsimony. The simplest answer is often the truest. Which is more likely? That people dreadfully abused in childhood carry lifelong scars? Or that well-reared, well cared for children grow to adulthood and suddenly turn on their good parents? I wish you well in your next career.
Pamela Perskin Noblitt
I have been researching the area of religious cults for the past 33 years and ritual abuse for the past 20 years. In my chapter on History of Satanic Religions in Out of Darkness (I document that satanic (in the original meaning of the term satanic as simply adversarial to social norms) has a long history. This dovetails with University of Alberta Sociology Professor Stephen Kent’s articles in Religion in 1993 in which he analyzed the content of abuse survivors statements and found differences between Masonic satanic abuse, Christian satanic abuse and Mormon satanic abuse….
all the best
Martin H. Katchen
Kay says:
My memories were clear all the way. I was seduced at 14, which is rape by law. He told me to keep quiet, because he was a man of [God] and because of brainwashing by the Institutional Corporate Roman Catholic Church. It took me more than 45 years but, because of survivor support groups like SNAP and SMART, I can now post my full name without fear….I believe Mr. Brick is a victim/survivor of ritual abuse, further; I admire and respect Mr. Brick and SMART for reaching out to other survivors. You chose, with the stroke of your pen, to degrade not only Mr. Brick, but every other human being who does not fit in a [box]. Like…, your attitude comes across as arrogant and threatening. People have feelings.
August 23, 3:43 PM
Kay says:
ATTENTION! NEWSFLASH! Freedom of Speech exists, is alive, and flourishing. Freedom of the Press exists, is alive, and flourishing. Mr. Brick convened a group of people who are survivors of ritual abuse. The author attended that conference. Instead of reporting on the conference, he chose to use…to vent against victim/survivors of any form of abuse, including abuse by brainwashing. The author has certainly achieved his goal….The author has chosen to use his talent as a writer to demean others. I am NOT a survivor of ritual abuse. I am NOT a professional with credentials. I AM, however, a survivor of child rape by a Roman Catholic priest via brainwashing that led me to believe that a priest is “God” on earth.
August 23, 1:33 PM
This was sent to the online newspaper after the article was taken down.
Thank you for taking down the article about the SMART conference, dealing with Ritual Abuse Torture and Mind Control. As a survivor, this conference had been a life line for me. When the problem of Child Sexual abuse within the family was first brought up, people didn’t want to believe that it was happening. Not even professionals. I don’t think that any of us would deny it today. Ritual Abuse Torture is going through the same process.
Hopefully the writer doesn’t have a personal interest in discarding survivor’s reports, as do the actual criminals. I would like to think that he just has a hard time believing such things can happen to children. They do. They happened to me and to clients I worked with as a therapist.
No matter what the writer’s motivation is, survivors need support and not attack. The person who organizes these conferences put many hours of hard work into them and does not deserve such treatment. Neil especially takes a special care to make this conference a safe place for survivors. Just a small example: I must have been coming to the conference for the last five years and Neil knows me quite well by now. Never the less you can rest assure that he will still be asking for my ID when I first walk in.
Trying to discredit and silence us does not help the children who still suffer today. Again, thank you for removing the article…from your website. It was...insulting, and inaccurate.
Rebuttal to the attacking author’s second article report from the SMART 2009 conference
The author continues his attack on child abuse survivors and his name calling and insults on the conference attendees in Part 2.
He insults one of our older conference presenters, stating she is “infirm.”
He attacks the book “Michelle Remembers” with an article now posted on the “Temple of Set” website.
What he fails to mention is that the book’s accuracy was verified by the publisher, see http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/day-care-and-child-abuse-cases/
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER: “The source material was scrutinized. The many thousands of pages of transcript of the tape recordings that Dr. Pazder and Michelle Smith made of their psychiatric sessions were read and digested; they became the basis of this book. The tapes themselves were listened to in good measure, and the videotapes made of some of his sessions were viewed. Both the audio and video are powerfully convincing. It is nearly unthinkable that the protracted agony they record could have been fabricated.”
He also attacks the book “Sybil.” Yet, Sybil’s psychiatrist, Cornelia Wilbur, went to great lengths to validate the accounts of abuse…. The case firmly linked multiple personality disorder with child abuse. And Dr. Leah Dickstein of the University of Louisville in Kentucky, who said she was in touch with Sybil for several years after Wilbur’s death, recalls Sybil telling her, “tell people every word in the book is true.”‘ Dickstein, who knew Wilbur, said Wilbur “had no need to make this up.”
The author of the attack on our conference attacks Bennett Braun in the Burgus case.
Here’s a summary of the research on Burgus v. Braun et al that was presented by a researcher at the 2002 International Society for the Study of Dissociation conference in Baltimore….In 1993 the Burgus family filed a malpractice lawsuit against Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, Dr. Elva Poznanski, the boys” psychiatrist, and Dr. Bennett Braun, Pat’s psychiatrist…Before her hospitalization at Rush in 1983, Pat spent most days in bed in with the curtains drawn, unable to care for herself. She threatened to kill herself and others. Her husband came home for lunch to make sure the boys were fed. She became convinced that the doctor who did her tubal ligation had implanted a fetus during the surgery. She approached mothers of infant daughters, asking them if they would trade their daughter for her infant son, Mikey. Pat entered Rush diagnosed with multiple personality disorder and borderline personality disorder.
Upon admission Pat was agitated and incoherent. During her first month on the unit and before she was placed on meds, Pat told staff “I’m switching [personalities] out of control today. I’m doing so much switching today I can’t believe it.” Pat testified that the rapid switching decreased over time as her medications were increased….Other patients said they recognized her from her participation in cult-related criminal activities. At the time of her release from Rush in 1987 Pat was more stable and integrated. Did Pat’s psychiatrist implant false memories as Pat has claimed? On January 17, 1997, a defense attorney asked Pat about the source of her memories. Pat repeatedly conceded that she had originated all the memories herself. Her psychiatrist did not implant any memories. He had simply passed on to her what the other patients had reported.”
Candidate accused by former patient by Thomas R. O’Donnell – Des Moines Register – 10/28/98 – “A former Iowan who won a $10.6 million settlement from a Chicago hospital and two psychiatrists said the diagnosis of multiple personalities and repressed memories of satanic cults that led to her lawsuit originated with a West Des Moines clinical social worker. But the social worker, Ann-Marie Baughman, now a Polk County legislative candidate, said that when she started counseling Patricia Burgus in 1982, Burgus was a troubled woman who was threatening to kill herself and others. Burgus…also was displaying behavior that Baughman could not understand. “It was the physical changes more than just the verbal expressions of what she was telling me” that led Baughman to conclude she was seeing multiple personalities. The “muscles in her face would all relax . . . and she would just look different. It was just the eeriest thing….But suggestions that Braun somehow planted the horrific memories in Burgus’ head are wrong, Baughman said, because they started surfacing during her sessions with Burgus in Des Moines….In the settlement, reached last fall after six years of litigation, neither the hospital nor the psychiatrists, Braun and Elva Poznanski, admitted fault. Braun has said his insurance company settled over his objections.”
It appears that Burgus’ symptoms appeared before her work with Braun, something the attacking author appears to ignore.
The attacking author states he only found one mention of the Amirault case on our website http://ritualabuse.us
He obviously did not look very hard.
“All nine children testified in a broadly consistent way…The children testified to numerous instances of sexual abuse. Some of the children testified that they were photographed during this abuse, describing a big camera with wires, a red button, and pictures which came out of the camera. The children testified that the defendant threatened them and told them that their families would be harmed if they told anyone about the abuse….The Commonwealth also presented a pediatric gynecologist and pediatrician who examined five of the girls who testified…She made findings consistent with abuse in four of the girls.”
Additional information on the Amirault case is at our website at http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/day-care-and-child-abuse-cases/
“in Amirault, the majority of the female children who testified had some relevant physical findings, as did several female children involved in the investigation who did not participate in the trial. The findings included labial adhesions and hymenal scarring of the sort present in avery small percentage of non-sexually abused children.”
“Victims in the Fells Acres child abuse case broke down Thursday as they described their pain publicly for the first time in hopes of keeping the last person convicted in the case behind bars. Victims urged her to keep Amirault in prison.”
“This family raped me, molested me and totally ruined my life,’’said Jennifer Bennett, who was 3 1/2 years old when she started at Fells Acres. “We weren’t coaxed. We weren’t lying. We’re telling the truth and we always will.”
The attacking author states “sexually repressed housewives may place themselves in the midst of deviant orgies in which they had no choice but to participate.” This incredible statement shows the authors thinking clearly.
The attacking author even criticizes the story of one speaker that has signed confessions of Satanic Ritual Abuse from her mother and stepfather.
The attacking author states the conference is “full of bullshit.” He even criticizes the well established diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder, citing Paul McHugh.
Information on Paul McHugh is at http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/paul-mchugh/
quotes from cited articles at our website include:
“The problem with McHugh’s publications on MPD/DID, like those of Mersky, is that they are mere speculation. From deposition testimony in several cases, McHugh has made it clear that other than an occasional consultation, he has very little actual clinical experience with the ongoing treatment of MPD/DID patients and is generally unfamiliar with both the clinical features of MPD/DID and with what usually occurs in their treatment. This McHugh’s opinion is informed neither by actual in-depth clinical experience with contemporary MPD/DID patients nor by any scientific research on MPD.”
“At least eight men have been convicted of sexually abusing Maryland children while under treatment at the “sex disorders” clinic McHugh runs at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine – abuse the doctors did not report, citing client confidentiality.”
The attacking author writes “As Brick wrote in an angry comment upon my first half of this article, “who are you to decide what people remember?” Yet, Brick did not say any such thing. This is more inaccurate writing from the attacking author.
The attacking author in the original version of his article writes “Disassociative Disorders” and “Disassociative Identity Disorder” yet they are actually called “Dissociative Disorders” and “Dissociative Identity Disorder.”
But if the author had any experience in the field, he would know this. The attacking author’s continued one-sided attack on our conference is inaccurate, insulting and simply untrue.
The following comments were made later on defending the conference, following further comments that included name calling and insults that were written about myself and the conference attendees.
9/4/09
As a speaker at the conference as well as “named” throughout this commentary, I am amazed and appalled at the inclusion of a seriously flawed “report” from a man who faked his identity to attend, canceled his check that was to pay for his attendance, misrepresented who he was, and then failed to check his “facts” about not only myself but others in attendance as well. His errors include such small details as my age and health, reason for sitting at a table (too many papers to juggle standing up), and larger ones such as misquoting and putting words in my mouth. My presentation is on tape, and it would have been easy for him to verify any of his shaky “facts”, but he chose to make fun of our pain, as well. We did not ask him to attend, he did not interview any of us in his “official” capacity as a reporter, and after reading part one in which he made sophomoric sport of his descriptions of attendees, I really did not expect anyone to legitimize his “work”. Googling him has given a clearer picture of a man who is full of contradictions. As a member of an atheist group, he then has a blog with artwork depicting a gleeful satan, another in which he grins as he holds up a jar containing a dead fetus, as well as proclaiming himself as playing the role of a prankster in his reporting. He may throw all the stones he wants. Truth is not dependent on any one man’s visions or delusions. True research, on both sides of the arguments presented, would give a much more balanced picture, but that requires actual intelligent examination of the material.
I do not know what the goal here is in accepting and publishing this satirical piece of commentary, but am disappointed that anyone can make any statements they choose about a topic like this and have it printed as if it is gospel. If Mr. “Undercover reporter” wishes to engage me directly, all he had to do was ask. Perhaps someone acquainted with him might be able to put some context into his purpose for sneaking into a conference where reporters may interview subjects outside of the conference room, with permission of those he interviews, but are purposely excluded from the speeches themselves.
This site seems dedicated to exposing abuse, yet it publishes this article that, on the contrary, denies the abuse of people he has virtually no prior knowledge about.
I expect more attacks–that is the classic M.O. of a debunker….I expected better of your publication.
Julaine Cooper
9/4/09
To Julaine,
I applaud you for standing up to this self-described journalist who apparently thought...he could influence others not to accept the reality of the crimes that you suffered. Your truth speaks much louder than his insults and debunks.
To the sponsors of the SMART conference,
I applaud you for continuing year after year, in spite of the personal insults you have been hit with because of your efforts to make the world safer for children.
To the owners of this website. I don’t understand how you can allow the article misrepresenting the SMART conference and giving distorted views of the history and literature on the topics of ritual abuse stay online and associated with your organization. It is my understanding that another online journal took this self-described journalist’s first article down apparently because of its libelous statements.
It is also my understanding that many victims report that they were victims of satanic ritual abuse by Catholic clergy. I ask that you do as the other online journal did and remove this self-described journalist’s reports from your website.
Jeanette Bartha has written two articles about Neil Brick or his work helping to educate others about extreme abuse issues.
This article will detail the inaccurate statements made by Ms. Bartha as well as other problems with her page.
Her page is called “Multiple Personalities Don’t Exist.” However, the majority of psychiatric organizations around the world recognize the existence of dissociative identity disorder (previously called Multiple Personality Disorder).
Her second article was written about “Debating the non-believers: getting equal time for survivors views” http://neilbrick.com/debating-the-non-believers-getting-equal-time-for-survivors-views/
She states that Neil Brick is a believer of “several conspiracy theories.” A conspiracy is defined as “a combination of persons for a secret, unlawful, or evil purpose.” This happens often in the world. The theories Neil Brick writes about are backed by evidence. This evidence is at http://ritualabuse.us
She writes that “(he) insinuates that people who take a position against coercive and suggestive techniques used by many psychotherapists who believe in multiple personalities and dissociative identity disorder are tantamount to child abusers…”
Nowhere does the article state that “skeptics” or false memory proponents are “tantamount” to child abusers. Of course, there is no evidence that many psychotherapists use “coercive and suggestive techniques.”
Below the article, there is a comment containing an insult about Neil Brick, because the writer disagrees with him.
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In her first article, she attempts to attack the credibility of one of the conferences SMART sponsors. She critiques the term “Lifespan Integration” simply because a speaker’s biography mentions it as “new.” She does not actually discuss the research behind the concept or the results it has produced.
She mentions the conference has “so much pseudoscience being tossed around” yet does not mention anything specific about any of the theories presented at the actual conference.
She critiques the conference webpage because one speaker’s biography doesn’t mention that she has a “Christian focus.” Ms. Bartha writes that “the organizer of the conference chooses not to disclose” this. Yet, the biographies of conference speakers are normally not written by conference organizers, but by the speakers themselves, as was true in this case. This counselor is a licensed therapist with many years of experience.
In conclusion, Ms. Bartha makes several statements without backing in her critiques of Neil Brick and his work. She allows others to comment at her blog insulting those she does not agree with. She herself calls theories she doesn’t believe in “crap.”
The above critiques cast doubt on the accuracy of Ms. Bartha’s articles about Neil Brick and the techniques she uses to discuss these concepts.
This article is also at:
http://neilbrick.com/rebuttal-to-jeanette-barthas-articles-on-neil-brick/
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