Issue 89 – November 2009

S M A R T
(Stop Mind control And Ritual abuse Today)
P. O Box 1295, Easthampton, MA 01027-1295 USA E-mail: SMARTNEWS@aol.com
Home page: http://ritualabuse.us/

Issue 89 – November 2009

The purpose of this newsletter is to help stop secretive organizations and groups from abusing others and to help those who allege they have been abused by such organizations and groups. This newsletter is not a substitute for other ways of recovering from ritual abuse. Readers should use caution while reading this newsletter. If necessary, make sure other support systems are available during and after reading this newsletter.

Important: The resources mentioned in this newsletter are for educational value only. Reading the books cited may or may not help your recovery process, so use caution when reading any book or contacting any resource mentioned in this newsletter. Some may have a religious or other agenda that may be separate from your own recovery process. Others may have valuable information on the Masons and other organizations, but have triggers or be somewhat sympathetic to those organizations. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the views expressed in this newsletter constitute expressions of opinion, and readers are cautioned to form their own opinions and draw their own conclusions by consulting a variety of sources, including this newsletter. Resources listed, quoted and individual articles, etc. and their writers do not necessarily support all or any of the views mentioned in this newsletter. Also, the views, facts and opinions mentioned in this newsletter are solely the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily the opinions of this newsletter or its editor.

Copyright 2009 – All rights reserved. No reproduction of any material without written permission from the editor and individual authors.

SMART wants to thank all those that have contributed resource information to the newsletter.

The 2010 Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference will be held on August 6 – 8, 2010 at the DoubleTree Hotel near Bradley International Airport (between Hartford, CT and Springfield, MA). For information write S.M.A.R.T., P. O Box 1295, Easthampton, MA 01027-1295 USA E-mail: smartnews@aol.com, conference information is at: http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/

The 2009 Twelfth Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference – August 14-16, 2009 CD information is at http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2009-conference/ or available by writing the above address.

Resources and Information

Please note: Listing of these resources does not necessarily constitute our endorsement of them. They are for educational value only and some may be heavy for survivors to read. Some of the conferences listed may not necessarily be safe for all survivors. S.M.A.R.T. recommends always bringing a support person to all conferences. If you are a survivor of mind control and/or ritual abuse, S.M.A.R.T. recommends that you try to bring a support person that is familiar with mind control techniques. Some of the information in this newsletter came from ACHES-MC (Advocacy Committee for Human Experimentation Survivors – Mind Control) for unconsentually federally funded mind control as children or adults Canada contact Lynne Moss-Sharman, 230 Miles St. E. #3, Thunder Bay, Ont. P7C 1J6, lsharman@shaw.ca

Legal Information

Six Charged in Largest Domestic Human Sex Trafficking Case in Houston Crime Blotter August 29, 2009 Houston – Five men and one woman have been charged in a 16-count indictment with conspiracy and sex trafficking of children and forcing and coercing adults to engage in commercial sex acts, United States Attorney Tim Johnson, Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division Lannie A. Breuer, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, Special Agent-in-Charge Richard C. Powers of the FBI’s Houston Field Office, and Houston Chief of Police Harold Hurtt announced today….According to the unsealed indictment, the defendants operated commercialized sex businesses often disguised as modeling studios, health spas, massage parlors, and bikini bars in Houston, and employed sexually oriented publications and websites to advertise their illicit business. The criminal enterprise transported women and minors to and from the Houston area and had ties to Kansas, Nevada, Arizona, and Florida. Women and minors as young as 16 were enticed and coerced into prostitution and were routinely beaten and threatened. The defendants allegedly collected any proceeds the women and minors received as a result of “dates” rendering them dependent upon the defendants for basic necessities. “The defendants are charged with transporting and threatening young women with violence in order to force them into prostitution,” Abbott said. “A concerted, cooperative effort by state and federal law enforcement is cracking down on the horrific crime of human trafficking-and those who profit from it.” http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/116623

The Crusade Against Sex Trafficking By Noy Thrupkaew This article appeared in the October 5, 2009 edition of The Nation. September 16, 2009 ….The president of the International Justice Mission, an evangelical Christian organization devoted to combating human rights abuses in the developing world, Haugen….Sharon Cohn Wu, IJM’s senior vice president of justice operations, concurs. “While there are millions of girls and women victimized every day, our work will always be about the one,” she said in a public address. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091005/thrupkaew

Australia’s apology to transported children – Thousands sent from UK to Australia for better life were abused and enslaved By Kathy Marks in Sydney 8/31/09

Between the 1920s and the 1960s, Britain sent an estimated 10,000 children to Australia to help populate its former colony with “good white stock”. The children were promised new lives in an exotic land of plenty; instead, they suffered hunger, privation and abuse in government and religious institutions.

For decades, the former child migrants have been seeking official recognition of what they endured, and asking for restitution. Yesterday the Australian government took a first step, announcing that the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, would formally apologise to them, in a gesture similar to his acknowledgement last year of the wrongs inflicted on the Aboriginal “Stolen Generations”.

For victims such as John Hennessy, who was plucked out of a Bristol orphanage and shipped to Australia in 1947, the apology has been a long time coming. Aged 10, Mr Hennessy was sent to an institution run by the Catholic Christian Brothers at Bundoon, north of Perth. He and the other boys were used as slave labour on a building project. They received scant education and little to eat….

Many of the children exported to the other side of the world believed they were orphans or unwanted by their families. Mostly this was not true: they had been taken from their mothers as illegitimate babies, or placed in orphanages by single parents or families too poor to bring them up. Often they were put on ships to Australia without their parents being informed.

The apology, which will also be extended to Australian-born victims of institutional abuse, follows a series of parliamentary inquiries in Britain and Australia over the past decade. A report by the Australian Senate in 2004 detailed “a litany of emotional, physical and sexual abuse”. It also found that children had been routinely deprived of food, education and healthcare.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/australias-apology-to-transported-children-1779652.html

Vow to brother fulfilled – Abuse settlement completes a promise made after finding sibling’s suicide note By Michael Tutton – the Canadian Press 9/11/09 Seven Years after his brother’s suicide, Ronald Martin described a lawsuit that resulted in a $15-million settlement for victims of alleged abuse by Roman Catholic priests as “the fulfilment” of a promise he made to his sibling. Martin sat quietly Thursday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court as Justice David MacAdam heard lawyers explain why a settlement should be certified for the alleged decades-old abuse. The CBC reported late in the day that MacAdam approved a $15-million settlement that includes $12 million in damages, about $400,000 for counselling fees and the remainder for legal and administrative costs. Up to 70 people may receive a share of the money from the diocese of Antigonish for abuse that allegedly occurred since Jan. 1, 1950. Claimants would go before retired justice Walter Goodfellow for adjudication of their claims….The suicide note named Hugh Vincent MacDonald, a priest, as the abuser, a revelation that Ronald said “nearly destroyed” him as it brought painful memories flooding back. MacDonald was charged with multiple sex-related offences in 2003 but died a year later before the court process concluded….The class-action lawsuit also involves allegations of abuse by four other priests, three of whom have been convicted of multiple counts of sexual assault against children in the care of the diocese. Allegations made in the class action have not been proven in court. (Lawyer) McKiggan said so far his firm has been retained by 39 claimants and has been contacted by about 50 other people looking for information about the lawsuit….Bishop Raymond Lahey of the Antigonish diocese told a news conference last month that the agreement is the first step in recognizing the alleged abuse of children. At the time, he apologized to “every victim and to their families for the sexual abuse that was inflicted upon those who were instead entitled to the trust and protection of priests.” http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1141895.html

FBI nabs ‘Boy Lovers’ child-porn ring 9/21/09 The FBI today announced child-pornography charges against four men from Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, accusing them of operating a ring that distributed pornographic images and videos and referred to themselves by the name “Boy Lovers.”

….According to the complaints, the FBI began investigating the men in June after arresting one in their group. That man admitted to “possession, receipt, distribution and manufacture of child pornography,” the complaint said. The man “also stated he had contacts with many other child pornography enthusiasts, some of whom were molesting children.”

….Officials say he gave a USB drive to the witness on Aug. 29 that contained over 3,500 images and 60 videos of child pornography. http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/09/fbi-child-pornography-charges-garcia-maschke-stinefast-mcgill-west-chicago-schererville-indiana-cres.html

Ritual Abuse and Mind Control Information

The FRANKLIN SCANDAL – A Story of Powerbrokers, Child Abuse & Betrayal By Nick Bryant Allegations of crimes, conspiracies, and cover-ups in the heartland and the capital – A chilling exposé of corporate corruption and government cover-ups, this account of a nationwide child-trafficking and pedophilia ring in the United States tells a sordid tale of corruption in high places. The scandal originally surfaced during an investigation into Omaha, Nebraska’s failed Franklin Federal Credit Union and took the author beyond the Midwest and ultimately to Washington, DC. Implicating businessmen, senators, major media corporations, the CIA, and even the venerable Boys Town organization, this extensively researched report includes firsthand interviews with key witnesses and explores a controversy that has received scant media attention.

The Franklin Scandal is the story of a nationwide pedophile ring that pandered children to a cabal of the rich and powerful. The ring’s pimps were a pair of Republican powerbrokers who used Boys Town as a pedophiliac reservoir, had access to the highest levels of our government, and connections to the CIA. ISBN: 0977795322
http://trineday.com/paypal_store/product_pages/Franklin.html
TrineDay P O Box 577 Walterville, OR 97489 1-800-556-2012
http://franklinscandal.com/

article describes abuse
Behavioural Harms: Enforced and Survival Tactics in Ritual Abuse-Torture Victimization – Best practice: Connecting the dots – A walk through a violent like-minded `co-culture’ 2009 – Jeanne Sarson, MEd, BScN, RN & Linda MacDonald MEd, BN, RN

Paper Presented at Substance Abuse Librarians & Information Specialists “Setting Sail: Best Practices for the Next Decade” 31st SALIS Conference May 8, 2009, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Ritual abuse-torture (RAT) is committed by pedophilic parents, intergenerational family members, guardians and like-minded adults who abuse, torture and traffic their children using organizing group ritualism (Sarson & MacDonald, 2008a). Ritual abuse-torture is an emerging form of non-state actor-torture (NSAT) meaning that it is torture that occurs in the private or so-called `domestic’ sphere such as in homes, cabins, cottages, private buildings, rented spaces, warehouses, barns, or outdoor spaces on farms, for example….women report that RAT perpetrators organize violent family/group gatherings coded in the language of “rituals and ceremonies”. “Strategy sessions” were used to plan these violent family/group gathering. Although descriptions of these violent gatherings vary, they did consistently retain the thematic issues as previously identified in the Model of Ritual Abuse-Torture. Contact Information: 361 Prince Street, Truro, NS, Canada, B2N 1E4 Email: flight@ns.sympatico.ca or twin2@eastlink.ca
http://www.ritualabusetorture.org/behaviouralharmspaper.pdf

Research on discrimination and stigmatization of persons who have survived non-state actor torture, including ritual abuse-torture, spousal and child torture

Jeanne Sarson and Linda MacDonald are asking persons who have endured, or are enduring, non-state actor torture such as ritual abuse-torture, or spousal and child torture to participate in their research questionnaire linked below:
http://pub25.bravenet.com/vote/vote.php?usernum=2120596064&cpv=2

Non-state actor torture is defined as torture committed, for instance, by parents, spouses, other kin, guardians, neighbours, trusted adults, or strangers in the private sphere, for example, in homes, warehouses, cabins, rented buildings, in fields, or in various public and private places.
Discrimination is described as being treated unjustly and stigmatized is being treated as unworthy or labeled after telling a non-offender about the torture endured.
Contact: flight@ns.sympatico.ca www.ritualabusetorture.org
for more information on Ritual Abuse-Torture see: http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Ritual_Abuse_Torture

Stop my daughter having babies By Marnie O’Neill – The Sunday Telegraph – 8/30/09 She’s had six, possibly seven children, all to different fathers. Four were sent to live with their grandmother and at least one, police believe, has been murdered….The last independent sighting of the toddler was in Scone in December, 2001, when she was 18 months old. Incredibly, police had no idea she was missing until January, 2004 when they were investigating another “unrelated matter”. This was because authorities were under the impression that Leonie was in the safe custody of Mrs Hutchinson. She remembers: “They rang me up one day and said, `You’ve got Leonie, haven’t you?’ and I said, `No, I haven’t’ and they said, `Oh …’.” Hunter Valley detective Inspector Tim Seymour has been searching for the little girl ever since. “Kate has told us several versions of the same story, which is that she gave Leonie to a wealthy family,” he said. “Tragically, we have found absolutely no evidence that suggests this is true, and no evidence the girl is still alive. “What we need now is for Kate to tell us where her body is, but she is unwilling to do that.” According to Mrs Hutchinson, Kate developed an obsession with the occult, which prompted her to join a group involved in satanic worship. As unbelievable as it sounds, one of the police lines of inquiry is the possibility that Leonie was killed as part of some dark, satanic ritual. “There is a subculture of devil worshipping in this country,” Insp Seymour said. “We can’t discount that it has something to do with what happened to Leonie.” http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sunday-telegraph/stop-my-daughter-having-babies/story-e6frewt0-1225767344587

describes crimes Last Door (book) This is the true story of a father reunited with his young son. He discovers, over time, that the boy’s mind is fractured into more than 400 multiple personalities that protect his secrets. The family’s lives are threatened when they discover he is also possessed by demons that seek to destroy them. The boy’s mother offered her son up to a satanic cult and to abuses so horrific that they seem more like fiction than reality. How does this happen to a God-fearing family, and how do they deal with what is revealed to them? A young boy’s secrets could destroy this family, or, at the very least, bring it to its knees. When the O’Neal family is threatened by mysterious forces, cultic rituals, and a labyrinth of obstacles, they find out how far they will go and how hard they will fight to save one of their own and themselves in the ultimate, real life battle of good verses evil. http://stores.lulu.com/lastdoor K. Raven Rozier 1099 E. Champlain Dr., A-226 Fresno, California 93720 United States E-mail: oracle@oracleds.com

Leaders must focus on preventing child sacrifice 9/22/09 By Peter Nkhonjera – The most despicable brand of crime threatening a child’s right to life in Uganda is child sacrifice. In 2008, the media was awash with horrifying stories of children murdered for ritual purposes. According to the Police Annual Crime Report of 2008, the murder of children for ritual purposes rose by over 80% from three cases reported in 2007. In the first quarter of 2009, 18 cases of this crime were reported to the Police. http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/459/695432

Fall Guide: Sarah Anne Johnson Conjures a Mind-Control Center By Robert Shuster 9/8/09 …In 1956, Johnson’s maternal grandmother, Velma Orlikow, sought help for her severe postpartum depression at Montreal’s Allan Memorial Institute, a hospital housed inside a Gothic mansion formerly called (the name is pure grade-B Hollywood) Ravenscrag. In fact, real horror did await: Orlikow and other patients had no idea that they’d been lured into the world of MK-ULTRA-a secret program, funded by the CIA, to develop brutal methods for mind control. At the hands of a doctor (and brainwashing specialist) named Ewen Cameron, Orlikow endured years of torture, involving, Johnson says, “shock treatment way past the recommended levels” and “crazy cocktails of drugs, including LSD mixed with speed.” She didn’t escape, Johnson explains, because “back then, you didn’t doubt your doctor,” then adds, dolefully, “I think she fell in love with him.” Another glance into that dollhouse reveals two clay figures inside a snow cave: the stout Orlikow, naked with a bag on her head, dancing with Cameron. “I always knew I was going to make work about this,” says Johnson, whose family didn’t discover the truth until 1977, a year after Johnson’s birth, when Orlikow’s husband read an exposé in The New York Times. More facts emerged as Orlikow spearheaded a class-action suit against the CIA (settled out of court, after her death, in 1988), but as a young artist, Johnson initially found the story too complex to take on.
http://www.villagevoice.com/content/printVersion/1348641

Exclusive: Satanists recruit new members in small ads 9/20/09 Lauren Crooks – Satanists are recruiting members in Scotland through an online classifieds site. The devil worshippers, who preach from Anton LaVey’s Satanic Bible, hold regular meetings involving ritualistic sacrifice. Their advert on Gumtree, which is accompanied by a picture of a goat with the devil’s head, reads: “We are leaderless and nondenominational. We get together for discussion, food, drink, and ritual.”….Laurie Matthew, who set up the Ritual Abuse Network Scotland, insisted police should be keeping a close eye on the group to prevent anything illegal happening. She said: “We have counselled a lot of people – many more than you’d think – who have been affected by Satanic ritual.” Scotland has had problems with Satanists in the past. They were blamed for a spate of horse slayings at the time of the summer solstice last year.
http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2009/09/20/exclusive-satanists-recruit-new-members-in-small-ads-78057-21687232/

Journal articles and child abuse and trauma information

Trauma And Dissociation in a Cross-cultural Perspective: Not Just a North American Phenomenon (Hardcover) by Jr. George F. Rhoades (Editor), Vedat Sar (Editor) Routledge (2006) ISBN-13: 978-0789034076

An international look at the similarities and differences of long-lasting trauma – Trauma and Dissociation in a Cross-Cultural Perspective examines the psychological, sociological, political, economic, and cultural aspects of trauma and its consequences on people around the world. Dispelling the myth that trauma-related dissociative disorders are a North American phenomenon, this unique book travels through more than a dozen countries to analyze the effects of long-lasting traumatization-both natural and man-made-on adults and children. Working from theoretical and clinical perspectives, the field’s leading experts address trauma in situations that range from the psychological effects of “the Troubles” in Northern Ireland to the emergence of “Hikikomori,” the phenomenon of social withdrawal in Japanese youth.

Models of Madness: Psychological, Social and Biological Approaches to Schizophrenia Book by John Read, Loren R. Mosher, Richard P. Bentall; Brunner-Routledge, 2004. 373 pgs.

p. 223 “Chapter 16 – Childhood trauma, loss and stress –
John Read, Lisa Goodman, Anthony P. Morrison, Colin A. Ross and Volkmar Aderhold – Child abuse has been shown to have a causal role in depression, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual dysfunction, personality disorders and dissociative disorders (Boney-McCoy and Finkelhor 1996; Kendler et al. 2000). The more severe the abuse, the greater is the probability of these problems in adulthood (Mullen et al. 1993). Yet it is often assumed that child abuse is less related to the more severe psychiatric disorders, such as psychosis in general and schizophrenia in particular. We will demonstrate, however, that the relationship between childhood trauma and the symptoms of schizophrenia is as strong, or stronger, than the relationships between childhood trauma and less severe disorders.”

p242 ” The ‘traumagenic neurodevelopmental’ model –
22 What does it mean that the heightened sensitivity to stressors found in ‘schizophrenia’ consists, for many patients, of long-lasting neuro-developmental changes to the brain caused by trauma in the early years of life? The evidence for this is that all the structural and functional differences between the brains of ‘schizophrenics’and ‘normal’ adults are the same differences found between young children who have been traumatized and those who have not. These include: overactivity of the hypothalamic-adrenal-pituitary axis; dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine abnormalities; and structural differences such as hippocampal damage, cerebral atrophy, ventricular enlargements and reversed cerebral asymmetry. The same differences are found between children with and without childhood-onset schizophrenia (Read et al. 2001b).
23 Can the traumagenic neurodevelopmental model also explain some of the cognitive impairments associated with schizophrenia, which are also found in abused children (Lysaker et al. 200Ib; Read et al. 200Ib), such as deficits in verbal functioning (Heinrichs and Zakzanis 1998) and intellectual decline during childhood (Kremen et al. 1998)?
24 What does it mean that many of the effects of trauma on the developing brain, which are so similar to the dysfunctions found in the brains of adult and childhood ‘schizophrenics’, are also found in other trauma-based symptom clusters including post-traumatic stress disorder and dissociative disorders (Ito et al. 1993; Sapolsky 2000)?”
http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=108472778

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy After Child Abuse: The Treatment of Adults and Children Who Have Experienced Sexual Abuse, Violence, and Neglect in Childhood – Karnac Books (2008) Edited by Daniel McQueen, Catherine Itzin, Roger Kennedy, Valerie Sinason and Fay Maxted. A coherent and readable narrative review of the current state of knowledge of the effects and role of psychoanalytic psychotherapy in the treatment of children and adults who have experienced childhood abuse and neglect. This book is intended for practitioners of psychiatric, psychological, and psychoanalytic therapies and providers of mental health services to children and adults. It should inform Primary Care Trusts, Children’s Services commissioners, and health service providers about theoretical approaches and therapeutic practice involved in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. ISBN 13 : 9781855756397
http://www.karnacbooks.com/Product.asp?PID=27557
http://books.google.com/books?id=ubGuZGGU77cC&dq

`Repressed memory’ at issue in defrocked priest’s appeal – By Jonathan Saltzman Globe Staff 9/10/09 Defrocked priest Paul R. Shanley, one of the key figures in Boston’s clergy sex abuse scandal, plans to challenge his rape and indecent assault convictions before the state’s highest court today….The prosecutors say “dissociative amnesia” is recognized as a legitimate disorder by many in the mental health field, including the American Psychiatric Association. Merely because specialists “may not be unanimous about dissociative amnesia does not rule out its validity,” prosecutors wrote in their brief….But under cross-examination, she agreed that people can forget traumatic events and remember them later. Loftus is among those who signed the brief supporting Shanley’s appeal. Shanley’s lawyer said in his brief that no appellate court in Massachusetts has considered whether repressed memory is a valid, scientifically accepted phenomenon. If so, the high court’s ruling in the case could have significant repercussions. (Middlesex District Attorney) Leone said recently that the concept of recovered memory “by victims of abuse has been accepted by both the scientific and legal communities, as well as the jury that convicted Mr. Shanley of child rape after hearing the full evidence in this case.” He said the verdict was just and expressed confidence that it will be upheld.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/10/repressed_memory_is_at_issue_in_defrocked_priests_appeal/

describes crimes
Defrocked priest Shanley to challenge use of repressed memories in sexual abuse trial By Denise Lavoie/Associated Press – Daily News Tribune Boston 9/10/09 Defrocked priest Paul Shanley, one of the central figures in the clergy sex abuse scandal, was convicted after a 27-year-old man tearfully described how the popular priest used to pull him out of catechism classes and rape him, beginning when he was just 6 years old….

Now Shanley is challenging his conviction based on an ongoing debate in the psychiatric community over the validity and reliability of repressed memories. The highest court in Massachusetts will hear Shanley’s appeal today, at 9 a.m., at John Adams Courthouse, One Pemberton Square, Boston….The clergy sex abuse crisis erupted in Boston in 2002 after church records were made public showing that church officials had reports of priests molesting children, but kept the complaints secret, shuffling some priests from parish to parish rather than removing them. Shanley, now 78, was known in the 1960s and 1970s as a “street priest” who reached out to Boston’s troubled youth. Internal records showed that church officials were aware of sexual abuse complaints against him as early as 1967….A wave of lawsuits led to massive settlements, including a record $660 million settlement in 2007 with more than 500 alleged victims in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and an $85 million settlement in 2003 with more than 550 victims in the Archdiocese of Boston. All told, the U.S. Roman Catholic Church has paid more than $2.6 billion in settlements and related expenses since 1950, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The victim in the Shanley case received a $500,000 settlement from the Boston archdiocese about a year before Shanley went on trial in the criminal case. Prosecutors originally charged Shanley with sexually abusing four men when they were children in Newton during the 1980s. They later dropped three of the men from the case. All four men said they recovered memories of the abuse years later. During Shanley’s 2005 trial, the remaining victim broke down and cried as he testified in graphic detail that Shanley raped and groped him in the church bathroom, the rectory, the confessional and the pews from age 6 to 12.

“It felt awful,” he testified. “He told me nobody would ever believe me if I told anybody.” Shanley was convicted of child rape and indecent assault and battery. He is now serving a 12- to 15-year prison sentence. A judge last year rejected Shanley’s request for a new trial, finding that the theory of repressed-recovered memories, though controversial, is “generally accepted by the relevant scientific community of mental health professionals.”….others believe repressed memories are well-documented among victims of traumatic events. “Holocaust victims, people who have been to war – the list goes on and on in showing the coping mechanisms to protect the mind from overwhelming fear and tragedy,” said Wendy Murphy, a Boston attorney who is a director of The Leadership Council, a nonprofit organization of scientists, attorneys and educators. Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone, whose office prosecuted Shanley, said in a statement that he believes the theory will stand up to Shanley’s legal challenge. “The concept of recovered memory by victims of abuse has been accepted by both the scientific and legal communities, as well as the jury who convicted Mr. Shanley of child rape after hearing the full evidence in this case,” Leone said http://www.dailynewstribune.com/homepage/x302143055/Defrocked-priest-Shanley-to-challenge-use-of-repressed-memories-in-sexual-abuse-trial

Good TV video on Shanley case http://multimedia.wbz.com/m/video/26260680/shanley-challenges-repressed-memories.htm?seek=142.199

more information on the Shanley case
http://web.archive.org/web/20020602180710/http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/shan04092002.htm
http://www.projecttruth2.com/Paul%20Richard%20Shanley.htm

National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges- A Judicial Guide to Child Safety in Custody Cases – 2008 – University of Nevada • P.O. Box 8970 • Reno, NV 89507 1041 North Virginia Street • Third Floor • Reno, NV 89503 (775) 784-6012 • FAX (775) 784-6628
C. [§3.3] A Word of Caution about Parental Alienation34

Under relevant evidentiary standards, the court should not accept testimony regarding parental alienation syndrome, or “PAS.” The theory positing the existence of PAS has been discredited by the scientific community.35 In Kumho Tire v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137 (1999), the Supreme Court ruled that even expert testimony based in the “soft sciences” must meet the standard set in the Daubert case.36 Daubert, in which the court re-examined the standard it had earlier articulated in the Frye37 case, requires application of a multi-factor test, including peer review, publication, testability, rate of error, and general acceptance. PAS does not pass this test. Any testimony that a party to a custody case suffers from the syndrome or “parental alienation” should therefore be ruled inadmissible and stricken from the evaluation report under both the standard established in Daubert and the earlier Frye standard.38 The discredited “diagnosis” of PAS (or an allegation of “parental alienation”), quite apart
from its scientific invalidity, inappropriately asks the court to assume that the child’s behaviors and attitudes toward the parent who claims to be “alienated” have no grounding in reality. It also diverts attention away from the behaviors of the abusive parent, who may have directly influenced the child’s responses by acting in violent, disrespectful, intimidating, humiliating, or discrediting ways toward the child or the other parent. The task for the court is to distinguish between situations in which the child is critical of one parent because they have been inappropriately manipulated by the other (taking care not to rely solely on subtle indications), and situations in which the child has his or her own legitimate grounds for criticism or fear of a parent, which will likely be the case when that parent has perpetrated domestic violence. Those grounds do not become less legitimate because the abused parent shares them, and seeks to advocate for the child by voicing his or her concerns.

34. This section, including the footnoted material was excerpted from NAVIGATING GUIDE at 24-25.
35. According to the American Psychological Association, “ … there are no data to support the phenomenon called parental alienation syndrome …” AM. PSYCHOL.
ASS’N, VIOLENCE AND THE FAMILY: REPORT OF THE AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION PRESIDENTIAL TASK FORCE ON VIOLENCE AND THE FAMILY 40, 100 (1994) (stating that
custody and visitation disputes appear to occur more often in cases in which there is a history of domestic violence).
36. Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579 (1993).
37. Frye V. U.S., 293 F. 1013 (D.C. Cir. 1923).
38. These are federal standards, but many states adhere to them at least generally and should still exclude any proffered evidence of PAS.

Forgotten Memories Are Still in Your Brain By Brandon Keim September 9, 2009 …Though the memory is hidden from your conscious mind, it might not be gone. In a study of college students, brain imaging detected patterns of activation that corresponded to memories the students thought they’d lost. “Even though your brain still holds this information, you might not always have access to it,” said neurobiologist Jeffrey Johnson of the University of California, Irvine. His remarks appeared in the study he co-authored, published Wednesday in Neuron. That recalling a memory triggers the neurological patterns encoded when the memory was formed is a tenet of cognitive science. Less understood, however, is what becomes of those patterns at moments of incomplete recall….”It wasn’t quite clear what happens to them,” said Johnson of lost details. “But even when people claim that there are no details attached to their memories, we could still pick some of those details out.”….Johnson’s team put eleven female and five male college students inside an fMRI machine, which measures real-time patterns of blood flow in the brain.

Each student was shown a list of words, then asked to say each word backwards, think of how it could be used, and imagine how an artist would draw it. Twenty minutes later, the researchers showed them the list again, and asked the students to remember what they could of each word. Recollection triggered the original learning patterns, a process known technically as reinstatement; the stronger the memory, the stronger the signal. “What I think is cool about the study is that the degree of cortical reinstatement is related to the strength of our subjective experience of memory,” said Anthony Wagner, a Stanford University memory researcher who wasn’t involved in the experiment. But at the weak end of the gradient, where the students’ conscious recall had faded to zero, the signal was still there. It’s possible that the students lied about what they remembered. But if not, then memory may truly persist. The question then is how long memories could last – weeks, months, even years. “We can only speculate that this is the case,” said Johnson, who plans to run brain-imaging studies of memory degradation over days and weeks. As for whether those memories could be intentionally guided to the surface, Johnson says that “at this stage, we’re just happy to be able to find evidence of reinstatement at a weak level. That would be something down the line.”
Citation: “Recollection, Familiarity, and Cortical Reinstatement: A Multivoxel Pattern Analysis.” By Jeffrey D. Johnson, Susan G.R. McDuff, Michael D. Rugg, and Kenneth A. Norman. Neuron, Vol. 63 Issue 5, September 8, 2009.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/forgottenmemories/

Recollection, Familiarity, and Cortical Reinstatement: A Multivoxel Pattern Analysis
Jeffrey D. Johnson1, 4, Corresponding Author Contact Information, E-mail The Corresponding Author, Susan G.R. McDuff2, 4, Michael D. Rugg1 and Kenneth A. Norman2, 3
1Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory and Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
2Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
3Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
Published: September 9, 2009.

Summary – Episodic memory retrieval is thought to involve reinstatement of the neurocognitive processes engaged when an episode was encoded. Prior fMRI studies and computational models have suggested that reinstatement is limited to instances in which specific episodic details are recollected. We used multivoxel pattern-classification analyses of fMRI data to investigate how reinstatement is associated with different memory judgments, particularly those accompanied by recollection versus a feeling of familiarity (when recollection is absent). Classifiers were trained to distinguish between brain activity patterns associated with different encoding tasks and were subsequently applied to recognition-related fMRI data to determine the degree to which patterns were reinstated. Reinstatement was evident during both recollection- and familiarity-based judgments, providing clear evidence that reinstatement is not sufficient for eliciting a recollective experience. The findings are interpreted as support for a continuous, recollection-related neural signal that has been central to recent debate over the nature of recognition memory processes.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WSS-4X6GR82-H&_user=10&_coverDate=09%2F10%2F2009&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=ec41eaf57212c754a5f6a93f4d889eba

Call for Papers: “Sociology of Memory: New and Old Conceptualizations of Memory, Personal or Commodity, Public or Private?” Papers pertaining to: collective memory; personal memory; narrative; new and old sociological theories and conceptualizations of memory; sociological, psychological, historical or legal conceptualizations pertaining to personal, trauma, repressed, body memory; socio-political issues pertaining to “commodity memory” (such as electronic dataveillance, video surveillance; seed, sperm, egg or DNA banking); drug technology to improve or repress memory; and closely related topics are invited to present their research at the 2010 Pacific Sociological Association’s 81st Annual meeting, to be held at the Marriott Oakland City Center in downtown Oakland, California on April 8 – 11 (Thursday – Saturday), 2010. Past papers from this session are featured in the book, Sociology of Memory: Papers from the Spectrum (2009), forthcoming from Cambridge Scholars Publishing. For more information see: http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Sociology-of-Memory–Papers-from-the-Spectrum1-4438-0199-2.htm

Please send initial inquirers, abstracts and contact information to: Noel Packard at packardn@prodigy.net Visit the Pacific Sociological Association website at www.pacificsoc.org for conference information and paper submission procedures. Follow links to Session Category Theory, Sociological Imagination, Knowledge, Science and Technology and within that category find the Sociology of Memory link. Deadline: November 15, 2009.

Characteristics of Sexual Abuse in Childhood and Adolescence Influence Sexual Risk Behavior in Archives of Sexual Behavior – Springer Netherlands ISSN 0004-0002 (Print) 1573-2800 (Online) Issue Volume 36, Number 5 / October, 2007 DOI 10.1007/s10508-006-9109-4 Pages 637-645

Abstract – Childhood and adolescent sexual abuse has been associated with subsequent (adult) sexual risk behavior, but the effects of force and type of sexual abuse on sexual behavior outcomes have been less well-studied. The present study investigated the associations between sexual abuse characteristics and later sexual risk behavior, and explored whether gender of the child/adolescent moderated these relations….Those who reported sexual abuse involving penetration and/or force reported more adult sexual risk behavior, including the number of lifetime partners and number of previous STD diagnoses, than those who were not sexually abused and those who were abused without force or penetration. There were no significant differences in sexual risk behavior between nonabused participants and those who reported sexual abuse without force and without penetration. Gender of the child/adolescent moderated the association between sexual abuse characteristics and adult sexual risk behavior; for men, sexual abuse with force and penetration was associated with the greatest number of episodes of sex trading, whereas for women, those who were abused with penetration, regardless of whether the abuse involved force, reported the most episodes of sex trading. These findings indicate that more severe sexual abuse is associated with riskier adult sexual behavior. “Childhood and adolescent sexual abuse has been associated with a wide variety of adverse mental and physical health outcomes. Research also suggests that the greater the severity of the sexual abuse, the worse the health outcomes. Thus, more severe sexual abuse (e.g., sexual abuse involving force, more intimate sexual acts, a close relative, or repeated sexual abuse) has been associated with poorer social adjustment, less life satisfaction, and more severe psychological symptoms.” http://www.springerlink.com/content/e3641u927401r2h3/fulltext.html

The Times Poll – 22% in Survey Were Child Abuse Victims By Lois Timmick Times Staff Writer 8/25/85 At least 22% of Americans have been victims of child sexual abuse, although one-third of them told no one at the time and lived with their secret well into adulthood, a Los Angeles Times Poll has found. In what is believed to be the first nationwide study of the extent of child molestation, 2,627 adults, chosen randomly, talked about their views of the problem and their own childhood experiences, and in the process they shattered some myths about victims, perpetrators and public attitudes. Twenty-seven percent of the women who participated in the telephone survey and 16% of the men said they had been molested as children–suggesting that the problem is more widespread than earlier, smaller studies have suggested….Abusers include friends and acquaintances (42%), strangers (27%) and relatives (23%). About half the abusers could be classified as “someone in authority.”
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-08-25/news/mn-24801_1

Fewer than half the victims told someone–usually a parent, other relative or friend–about being molested within a year. Only 3% reported the incident to the police or other public agency.
One in three of the victims said they had never told anyone about the molestation until this survey, most often because they were afraid or ashamed, but in 10% of the cases because they did not consider the abuse serious. Seven of 10 who did tell said no effective action was taken.
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-08-25/news/mn-24801_1?pg=2

The public appears to have been well educated about some aspects of child sexual abuse. The respondents correctly perceived that molesters are more likely to be someone the victim knows than a stranger. Friends or acquaintances accounted for 44% of the molestations that involved sexual intercourse, the poll found, while 25% of the intercourse was perpetrated by relatives, usually an uncle but sometimes a parent or stepparent, and 19% by “strangers.”
More than half the victims–and 47% of the public–agree with the statement that “sexual assault within families is very common.”….As for the effects of sexual abuse on children, 95% of those polled say they believe that sexual abuse would have a “very great” or “some effect” on its young victims–mostly in emotional damage–and would permanently affect their lives. Victims agreed with that assessment.
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-08-25/news/mn-24801_1?pg=3

These Los Angeles Times Poll results are from responses from 2,627 adults nationwide questioned between July 20-25. 22% said they have been a victim of child sexual abuse, including 27% of all women asked and 16% of men asked.
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-08-25/news/mn-24801_1?pg=4

The Times Poll – Children’s Abuse Reports Reliable, Most Believe
By Los Timnick Times Staff Writer 8/26/85 Most Americans believe that children can reliably describe sexual abuse that occurred years before, and those who are aware of the McMartin Pre-School molestation case believe that at least some of the child witnesses are telling the truth, a nationwide Los Angeles Times poll has found. Seventy-nine percent of those polled said they are “certain” that children under 13 are capable of giving accurate accounts of much earlier events, and 86% of those who had themselves been victimized as children said those accounts should be believed….One in three of those familiar with the McMartin case said they believe that “most” of the children had been sexually abused, and half said they believe that at least “some” had been molested. Ninety percent of those who identified themselves as having been child victims of sexual intercourse said they believe at least some of the child witnesses’ testimony.
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-08-26/news/mn-26344_1_child-sexual-abuse
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-08-26/news/mn-26344_1_child-sexual-abuse?pg=2

VDAY – International Incest Statistics
http://www.vday.org/take-action/violence-against-women/incest

Mackenzie Phillips Highlights the Impact of Incest – By Deborah Huso 9/09…Thomas Nagy, Ph.D., Adjunct Assistant Clinical Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine says he believes most incidents of incest never come to light and, as a result, countless individuals go without treatment. He also states that it’s impossible to say that incest that continues into adulthood is necessarily conducted on a consensual level. “When the victim encounters that abuser again in adulthood, in that moment, they’ve dissociated into an adolescent mindset again,” he points out. That’s why it’s so important for victims of abuse to seek and stick with therapy for the long haul. “These victims have to grow boundaries and learn how to find a sense of self again.” “It’s always traumatic in the long run,” Nagy adds, whether the incest begins when a child is six or 17. “It’s child abuse, and there is no such thing as consensual sex with a child.”….If victims don’t seek treatment, whether children or adults, long-term impacts can be many and may include everything from depression and substance abuse to nightmares, withdrawal and promiscuity. “The effects vary depending on age and whether or not the relationship was long-term,” Borys adds (Debra Borys, Ph.D., a Los-Angeles-based therapist). The most common adult response to past incestuous sexual abuse, says Nagy, is the development of delayed onset post-traumatic stress disorder. “Adult victims will almost certainly have mood disorders as well as physical disorders like gastrointestinal problems or chronic pain,” he explains. http://www.aolhealth.com/condition-center/mental-health/mackenzie-phillips-incest?icid=main|main|dl2|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolhealth.com%2Fcondition-center%2Fmental-health%2Fmackenzie-phillips-incest#cmntbgn

Why, Mommy, Why? – Dissociative Identity Disorder by Jody Thomas ISBN: 978-0-578-03026-5 The book is for the general public and professionals in the psychology field. Jody Thomas’ autobiography is the story of a joyful recovery from severe childhood abuse. What sets this account apart is the author’s unique exploration of the extreme defenses we are capable of developing to survive severe trauma and how, later, these same defenses begin to work against us. It is about her difficult journey through frequent hospitalizations, suicide attempts, disability, cognitive therapy and harrowing childhood memories. Jody’s account gives readers a rare glimpse into the therapeutic process from the patient’s perspective. Cognitive Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Art Therapy and Psychodrama help Jody overcome decades of abuse and the even more powerful psychological messages that accompanied it. Publisher: Green Effect Media – the publishing arm of ttdesigns Also available as an e-book. It can be purchased directly from the publisher online at: http://www.WhyMommyDID.com or by calling (630) 201-3504

October 4, 2009 · Filed Under Newsletter 2009 - Issues 84 - 89