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Private Eye
promotes training for abuse and dissociation therapy
The 12th May 2006 issue of Private
Eye contains some unusual publicity for the work of the clinic, see below. In
the subsequent issue they have helped to correct key inaccuracies in the article
by publishing the letters from myself and part of the letter from Joan Coleman
that are also included below.
The article started from a
fundamental misunderstanding created in 1994 by the then Minister for Health,
Virginia Bottomley, who claimed that a government study showed that the myth of
Satanic abuse had been exploded.
Unfortunately Jean La Fontaine, who
carried out the study, had found zero Satanic abuse by the unusual research
technique of defining Satanic abuse cases to be those which had not been
substantiated, Page 11, “Speak of the Devil” J. S. La Fontaine, 1998. She did
find a small amount of ritual abuse. This "mything" of Satanic abuse has
subsequently made it very difficult to investigate any type of ritual abuse in
white communities in the UK - a contrast with the relative freedom that police
have to investigate witchcraft cases in African communities, such as the “Torso
in the Thames”.
We thank Private Eye for permission to reproduce their article.
Original
Article
Letters
from Joan Coleman and Valerie Sinason, 26th may 2006
Article with corrections and
comments included with the text
SATANIC PANIC, Private
Eye, 12th May 2006
The mything link
A SMALL network of doctors and therapists who believe in the existence of ritual
abuse, formerly known as Satanic ritual abuse (see Eyes passim), has latched on
to a relatively new theory in psychiatry and psychotherapy known as
"dissociation" which is spreading fast across the UK.
They seem determined to revive the "Satanic panic" - the hunt for
devil-worshipping paedophiles who go round sacrificing animals and sexually
abusing children - which caused such mayhem in Nottingham, Rochdale, the Orkneys
and most recently on the Scottish island of Lewis.
Ardent proponents of the ritual abuse myth help run the main organisation which
represents therapists in the field of dissociation and have secured key slots to
speak at a forthcoming series of conferences, seminars and training courses on
the subject.
No doubt sincere in their convictions, the danger is they will influence
delegates including professionals dealing with vulnerable children considered at
risk of abuse and adults suffering from various forms of mental illness from
anorexia and depression to self harm and drug or alcohol addiction.
Dissociation is said to be a psychological mechanism to block out memories and
reduce the overwhelming distress caused by trauma. In extreme cases patients
develop numerous personalities or "alters" so they can "switch" between them and
escape the memories.
The term Dissociative Identity Disorder, (DID), was formerly known as Multiple
Personality Disorder. It is linked to the theory of "attachment", in which
trauma can apparently "disrupt our attachment bonds".
Only a minority of therapists who work in this field are believers in ritual
abuse. But the Eye has discovered that some practitioners do share a belief in
ritual abuse, despite the fact that numerous police investigations across the US
and the UK have found no forensic evidence and a government inquiry in 1994
concluded it does not exist.
Three of the 13 committee members of the United Kingdom Society for the Study of
Dissociation (UKSSD) are active promoters of the existence of ritual abuse.
A founder member and UK training co-ordinator is Sue Richardson, an early
"recovered memory" therapist who now describes herself as an "attachment-based"
psychotherapist, based in Middlesbrough.
Richardson was a key social worker involved in the Cleveland child abuse
controversy in 1987 when more than 120 children were taken into care after they
were wrongly diagnosed as having been sexually abused. She later joined forces
with social workers from Nottingham - involved in the first Satanic panic - in a
group called the European Network for Backlash Research to counter a growing
public backlash against false allegations of child abuse. Richardson became a
vocal believer in ritual abuse and is a regular conference speaker.
Other committee members listed on the UKSSD website include a psychotherapist
from Bedford, described as a representative from the Trauma and Abuse Group
(TAG), which is running training courses on "Ritual Abuse Awareness" and DID in
September and October, and a paediatrician from Nottingham, representing Ritual
Abuse Information Network and Support (RAINS), an organisation set up to support
people who work with survivors of ritual abuse (see Satanic Panic, Eye 1153).
Dr Joan Coleman, a psychiatrist and coordinator of RAINS, claims to have talked
to more than 600 professionals who have worked with survivors of "sadistic
ritual abuse" and spoken with more than 200 victims (see Letters, Eye 1155).
Several of the forthcoming national conferences and training courses on
dissociation and attachment theory feature sessions on ritual abuse. One of the
speakers is Valerie Sinason, a psychoanalyst, child psychotherapist and director
of the Clinic for Dissociative Studies in Harley Street, London. She is a member
of the Centre for Attachment-based Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (CAPP) with
which she is co-organising a series of continuing professional development
courses entitled Working with Dissociation in Clinical Practice Using an
Attachment Perspective from April to July at a cost of £450 or £350 for members.
As part of this series, in June Sinason is running a course on "Ritual Abuse and
Secondary Traumatisation".
Sinason was also a key speaker at a seminar in London in February 2006 run by
the International Attachment Network on the subject Cults, Attachment and
Religion. Her topic was "Spiritual abuse, attachment and the family".
Sinason, author of a book Treating Survivors of Satanist Abuse, previously
conducted research on "sadistic ritual abuse", funded by the Department of
Health, in which she claimed to have interviewed 76 children and adults who made
allegations involving sexual abuse and murder. In 2000 the Metropolitan police
investigated her allegations but found no evidence.
In published interviews one of her usual themes is the difficulties faced by
therapists having to deal with the general climate of disbelief in the existence
of ritual abuse and the need to persuade practitioners and the public to accept
its reality.
Richardson, Coleman and Sinason regularly collaborate. Coleman contributed a
chapter on "Satanic cult practices" in Sinason's book, and they were the main
participants in a research study on sexual and ritual abuse featured prominently
on TAG's website.
In July next year Sinason and Richardson will be the main speakers at the
national conference of TAG, a charity, whose steering group was set up by the
Association of Christian Counsellors to provide training courses for counsellors
working with survivors of ritual or extreme childhood abuse.
The initial Satanic panic, it should be noted, was spread by Evangelical
Christians and therapists on the international conference circuit.
Letters
Page,
Private Eye , no 1159 26 May-8 June 2006
Sir,
What is it with Private Eye
(Satanic Panic-The Mything Link, Eye 1158). The only one panicking is the
(still) anonymous author of these articles. Those of us who recognise the
reality of Satanist Abuse have long since ceased to panic, despite our
continuing horror regarding the practices entailed.
(The following two paragraphs of
Joan Coleman’s letter were omitted from Private Eye)
Why Private Eye? perhaps
the missing, not mything, link is the former editor who subsequently edited "The
Oldie". The first ever edition of this on 21st February 1992 contained a article
entitled "A Modern Witch Hunt". This described a confidential RAINS meeting held
a fortnight earlier which had been attended by Professor Jean La Fontaine, the
researcher who conducted the government inquiry mentioned in your articles.
Somewhat surprisingly there was no mention in the Oldie article of this person
having attended the meeting. However it did relay part of a private
conversation about dissociation which took place between her and me. It also
wrote of other matters knowledge of which she alone was privy to.
Incidentally, dissociation
is hardly a “relatively new theory” within psychotherapy. It was described by
Pierre Janet in the early 1900s and later, of course, by Freud.
However, all this is
history. We know that the government researcher did an effective demolition job
in 1994, so why the current panic?
Yours,
Dr Joan Coleman MRCPsych
RAINS co-ordinator,
Guildford
Sir,
Please may I post your
piece (Satanic Panic-The Mything Link, Eye 1158) on my web page so that I can
correct the factual errors made. (I am sure your readers do not need help in
untangling innuendos or smears).
Thank you for publicising
the new course on Attachment and Dissociation. As a result of the new
neurobiological research and international standardised research on attachment
patterns, there is far greater awareness of the impact of trauma on mental
distress. My talk on Spiritual Abuse was about ritual abuse within mainstream
religions (such as paedophile priests and altar boys), which can destroy some
people’s sense of their religion as a refuge. I was also concerned with the way
people’s family attachment patterns either enhance or damage their belief
systems- something even more crucial when we consider suicide bombers. But
perhaps your reviewer is only interested in destructive acts which come from a
Satanist background
Dr Valerie Sinason
SATANIC PANIC, Private Eye, 12th May 2006
The mything link
A SMALL network of doctors and therapists who believe in the existence of ritual
abuse, formerly known as Satanic ritual abuse (see Eyes passim), has latched on
to a relatively new theory in psychiatry and psychotherapy known as
"dissociation" which is spreading fast across the UK.
1, Ritual abuse was not formerly known as Satanic ritual abuse. Ritual
abuse is a distortion of any belief system by those with sadistic needs. It
includes ritual abuse from Satanist and other cults as well as from those with
mainstream religions backgrounds.
2, Dissociation is not a new theory. Within the West it was formally
described by Pierre Janet from the 1890’s onwards and is fundamental to
psychological and psychiatric understanding
3, Ritual abuse is real but appears to be a small fraction of all child
physical and sexual abuse. Most clinicians who have worked with such referrals
have been extremely concerned by the complex traumatic symptoms. Colleagues
working in similar areas pool their understanding in the hope of moving a
subject further-such as the clinicians in the False Memory Society, Cancer
researchers and any other group.
4. The use of the word “believe” deserves psycholinguistic research when
applied to just one category of NHS patients who are suffering and come for
help. Clinicians are not described as “believing” someone wets the bed at
night or has problems sleeping. The clinical encounter includes a weighing up
of what is and is not clinically presented and coming to a working hypothesis.
The fact of abuse within a belief system is frightening to a secular country
filled with multiple different beliefs and doubts.
They seem determined to revive the
"Satanic panic" - the hunt for devil-worshipping paedophiles who go round
sacrificing animals and sexually abusing children - which caused such mayhem in
Nottingham, Rochdale, the Orkneys and most recently on the Scottish island of
Lewis.
5, Unlike the police and law, therapists are focused on helping rather than
punishing. The current understanding sees the adult abuser as a victim as well
as the child. Having met hundreds of perpetrators and victims it is clear is
that almost all perpetrators were victimised in their own childhood. They have
effectively learnt a culture of abuse and are as loyal to it as is any child
to its family culture and religion.
Ardent proponents of the ritual abuse
myth help run the main organisation which represents therapists in the field of
dissociation and have secured key slots to speak at a forthcoming series of
conferences, seminars and training courses on the
subject.
No doubt sincere in their convictions,
the danger is they will influence
delegates including professionals dealing with vulnerable children considered at
risk of abuse, and adults suffering from various forms of mental illness from
anorexia and depression to self harm and drug or alcohol addiction.
6. We are glad to see that there is an understanding that various forms of
mental illness are linked to trauma - something the Department of Health and
Home Office are now very aware of. The numbers of ritual abuse victims is
almost certainly more than the several hundred survivors who have reported
ritual abuse practices, but probably considerably less than the multiple
victims of the 110,000 convicted child sex offenders in the UK. Not only are
the numbers substantial compared with, say, victims of serial killers but the
social and emotional costs to the families and the financial costs to the
community can be enormous.
Dissociation is said to be a
psychological mechanism to block out memories and reduce the overwhelming
distress caused by trauma. In extreme cases patients develop numerous
personalities or "alters" so they can "switch" between them and escape the
memories.
The term Dissociative Identity
Disorder, (DID), was formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder. It is
linked to the theory of "attachment", in which trauma can apparently "disrupt
our attachment bonds".
7, Attachment theory, based on the work of leading psychologist and
psychoanalyst Sir John Bowlby, is fundamental to modern psychological
understanding. It is internationally validated and accepted.
Only a minority of therapists who work
in this field are believers in ritual abuse. But the Eye has discovered that
some practitioners do share a belief in ritual abuse, despite the fact that
numerous police investigations across the US and the UK have found no forensic
evidence and a government inquiry in 1994 concluded it does not exist.
8, This is incorrect. Presumably the writer is unable to explore the
internet to find the many new proven ritual abuse cases since those detailed
in "Treating Survivors of Satanist Abuse" which was published in 1994. Even
the report by Jean La Fontaine found evidence of ritual abuse in 3 out of the
84 cases examined, “Speak of the Devil” page 68. She could not possibly find
substantiated cases of satanic abuse because she had defined satanic abuse to
be abuse that was unsubstantiated.
Three of the 13 committee members of
the United Kingdom Society for the Study of Dissociation (UKSSD) are active
promoters of the existence of ritual abuse.
9, We consider and hope that far more than 3 of the 13 members have been
providing therapeutic support for survivors of ritual abuse. There is no
secret concerning the areas clinicians work in. Often the abusers do
everything to sabotage this desperately needed therapy. However a significant
fraction of abusers recognise that they need help as well. In the current
climate an increasing number of perpetrators are receiving therapy and are
able escape from what is often a multigenerational history of abuse in which
everyone suffers, including the abusers.
A founder member and UK training
co-ordinator is Sue Richardson, an early "recovered memory" therapist who now
describes herself as an "attachment-based" psychotherapist, based in
Middlesbrough.
Richardson was a key social worker
involved in the Cleveland child abuse controversy in 1987 when more than 120
children were taken into care after they were wrongly diagnosed as having been
sexually abused.
10, This is incorrect. A high level of abuse was found and child protection
procedures were followed to remove many children. Some children that had been
returned after the immediate protests from parents had to be removed
subsequently when new evidence emerged
It is always a tragedy when an innocent parent is wrongly accused. In the UK
at the moment, however, there is far more concern at the tiny number of abuse
cases that get to court and the even smaller number that achieve successful
convictions. Indeed, there is great Government concern at the lack of justice
for child and adult victims of abuse and the extent of child abuse - something
Justice Butler-Sloss drew attention to in her Cleveland Report.
The campaign by Cleveland parents against false accusations of abuse and the
public humiliation of the doctors has led to a renewed denial that children
are being abused and that many are being harmed. "Whenever we come to consider
this issue the children seem to get lost in the system," says Professor La
Fontaine. "In the public inquiry, and before it, we heard a lot about parents'
rights. Perhaps it's one of the tragedies of Cleveland that the children's
voices have not been heard."
She later joined forces with social
workers from Nottingham - involved in the first Satanic panic - in a group
called the European Network for Backlash Research to counter a growing public
backlash against false allegations of child abuse. Richardson became a vocal
believer in ritual abuse and is a regular conference
speaker.
Other committee members listed on
the UKSSD website include a psychotherapist from Bedford, described as a
representative from the Trauma and Abuse Group (TAG), which is running training
courses on "Ritual Abuse Awareness" and DID in September and October, and a
paediatrician from Nottingham, representing Ritual Abuse Information Network and
Support (RAINS), an organisation set up to support people who work with
survivors of ritual abuse (see Satanic Panic, Eye 1153).
Dr Joan Coleman, a psychiatrist and
coordinator of RAINS, claims to have talked to more than 600 professionals who
have worked with survivors of "sadistic ritual abuse" and spoken with more than
200 victims (see Letters, Eye 1155).
11. Thank Heavens for Joan. Dr Joan Coleman is a courageous committed woman
who offers unstinting support to survivors and those who work with survivors
of all forms of ritual abuse, including Satanist abuse.
Several of the forthcoming national
conferences and training courses on dissociation and attachment theory feature
sessions on ritual abuse. One of the speakers is Valerie Sinason, a
psychoanalyst, child psychotherapist and director of the Clinic for Dissociative
Studies in Harley Street, London. She is a member of the Centre for
Attachment-based Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (CAPP) with which she is
co-organising a series of continuing professional development courses entitled
Working with Dissociation in Clinical Practice Using an Attachment Perspective
from April to July at a cost of £450 or £350 for members. As part of this
series, in June Sinason is running a course on "Ritual Abuse and Secondary
Traumatisation".
12, Alas I am not giving a series on Ritual Abuse and Secondary
Traumatisation, it is a single lecture. However it is clear from the
misunderstandings in this Private Eye article that far more educational
provision is required.
Sinason was also a key speaker at a
seminar in London in February 2006 run by the International Attachment Network
on the subject Cults, Attachment and Religion. Her topic was "Spiritual abuse,
attachment and the family".
13, This is correct. I was speaking about abuse within a range of religious
settings. A more detailed version of the talk I gave can be found in the
current issue of Easteach, the Irish Journal of Counselling. As is well-known,
abuse within mainstream religious groups is a serious issue in Ireland and for
some of those who come to the UK. Thank you for publicising a substantial step
forward in Christians attempts to remove abuse from Christianity.
It was only 40 years ago that a 69-page Latin document bearing the seal of
the progressive and liberal Pope John XXIII (but prepared by the office of the
present Pope), defined a policy of 'strictest' secrecy in dealing with
allegations of sexual abuse and threatened those who speak out, including
abused children, with excommunication. This policy was changed in 2001 but,
given the secrecy surrounding the topic, it is not clear how many children are
still too afraid to speak out.
Sinason, author of a book Treating
Survivors of Satanist Abuse, previously conducted research on "sadistic ritual
abuse", funded by the Department of Health, in which she claimed to have
interviewed 76 children and adults who made allegations involving sexual abuse
and murder. In 2000 the Metropolitan police investigated her allegations but
found no evidence.
14, This is incorrect. 51 children and adults were part of the original
study funded by the DOH. 76 children and adults formed part of later clinical
material, and now it is sadly over 200. Due to the difficulties found in
investigating these cases the Clinic was privileged to be given a Scotland
Yard link.
In published interviews one of her
usual themes is the difficulties faced by therapists having to deal with the
general climate of disbelief in the existence of ritual abuse and the need to
persuade practitioners and the public to accept its reality.
Richardson, Coleman and Sinason
regularly collaborate. Coleman contributed a chapter on "Satanic cult practices"
in Sinason's book, and they were the main participants in a research study on
sexual and ritual abuse featured prominently on TAG's website.
15, This is the first I have heard of this study! The TAG web site is a
mine of useful information including a good summary of
Attachment, Trauma,
Dissociation and Dependency .
In July next year Sinason and
Richardson will be the main speakers at the national conference of TAG, a
charity, whose steering group was set up by the Association of Christian
Counsellors to provide training courses for counsellors working with survivors
of ritual or extreme childhood abuse.
The initial Satanic panic, it should be
noted, was spread by Evangelical Christians and therapists on the international
conference circuit.
Linguistic Notes
This subject is a linguistic minefield, filled with casually embedded
assumptions and distortions. This merits psycholinguistic attention as the
repetitive use of certain key words can help to create a climate of unthinking.
1. The use of the word “believe” is almost totally applied to one main
category of NHS patients who are suffering and come for help. Clinicians are
not described as “believing” someone wets the bed at night or has problems
sleeping.
2, I have personally not used the term Satanic abuse, which assumes the
existence of an actual Satan and have specifically used the term “Satanist” to
indicate that, whatever the young child might believe, the abuser is only a
person. Abuse by a Priest is not called God Abuse. The use of the term
“Satanic” is often to evoke the supernatural in order to scoff at it-something
that is unhelpful for mainstream Christians who do have such a belief, as well
as others.
3, Emotive B Film Horror language such as “hunt for devil-worshipping
paedophiles who go round sacrificing animals” allows the torture of animals to
be ignored. By saying “devil-worshipping” instead of “Satanists”, there is an
attempt to create melodrama. We do not speak of paedophile priests as
God-worshippers. The idea that aiding victims, who wish to seek justice and go
to the police is a “hunt” creates a climate in which the victim is seen as the
perpetrator.
I wish to make clear, as I have in every talk and book, that I am in no
way imputing abusive behaviour to Satanists as a group. What I am referring to
is the extra level of fear clinicians have noted in victims of abusive and
usually secret Satanists.
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