IS Forum
Forum Index Register Members List Events Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Help

Go Back   International Skeptics Forum » General Topics » General Skepticism and The Paranormal
 


Welcome to the International Skeptics Forum, where we discuss skepticism, critical thinking, the paranormal and science in a friendly but lively way. You are currently viewing the forum as a guest, which means you are missing out on discussing matters that are of interest to you. Please consider registering so you can gain full use of the forum features and interact with other Members. Registration is simple, fast and free! Click here to register today.
Tags D.I.D. , Dr. Phil , false memory syndrome , Judy Byington , mind control , mpd , multiple personalities , recovered memory therapy , satanic ritual abuse

Reply
Old 20th October 2012, 09:11 PM   #1
Orphia Nay
Penguilicious Spodmaster.
Tagger
 
Orphia Nay's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Ponylandistan Presidential Palace (above the Spods' stables).
Posts: 45,220
Dr Phil promotes "Satanic Ritual Abuse" conspiracy theory

From an open letter to Dr Phil by Douglas Mesner at Examiner:

http://www.examiner.com/article/jour...-health-menace

Quote:
Specifically, it has come to my attention that you will be airing an interview with Judy Byington, author of a book entitled Twenty-Two Faces which purports to be the true story of one Jenny Hill, an alleged victim of the bizarre and controversial psychiatric condition known as Dissociative Identity Disorder [DID] (formerly listed as Multiple Personality Disorder [MPD]).

However dubious the legitimacy of DID, this diagnosis is by far the least of the problems with Byington’s book. Twenty-Two Faces is openly rife with archaic demonologies, and paranoid conspiracy theories being presented as root causes to the disturbances in Ms. Hill’s troubled mind. That Jenny Hill -- a former drug addict and prostitute with a history of mental illness -- is troubled seems indisputable, but Byington’s book seeks to expose an alleged satanic government plot behind Hill’s mental malaise that is tantamount to speculation upon who, exactly, is beaming voices into the heads of schizophrenics. Such an ignorant approach to therapeutic practice is harmful to mental health consumers, and your endorsement of such can hardly be of any positive value to your viewers... titillating though suggestions of hidden satanic conspiracies may be to a Halloween audience.
Quote:
To be clear, when Judy Byington talks of multiplicity and dissociative trauma, she is talking about a debunked conspiracy theory of satanic mind-control plots. That you should give such hysterical claims air-time -- allowing a conspiracy theory to be presented as a diagnosis -- on your widely viewed show is beyond irresponsible. It makes you a menace to the public mental health.
Just this week, Dr Phil was promoting the use of psychics in missing persons cases. Now this?!

The man is a menace, alright. Disgusting.
Orphia Nay is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 20th October 2012, 10:06 PM   #2
Scott Sommers
Illuminator
 
Scott Sommers's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 3,866
Thank you for posting this. I've been wondering about the status of Ritual Satanic Abuse for some time now. Living where I do, I don't hear anything about this. I had assumed it had disappeared. Your post makes it seem like I am wrong about this. Is it really still around?
__________________
See my blog,
Wonders of the Invisible World

Last edited by Scott Sommers; 20th October 2012 at 11:34 PM.
Scott Sommers is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 21st October 2012, 06:00 AM   #3
Bikewer
Penultimate Amazing
 
Bikewer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: St. Louis, Mo.
Posts: 13,231
Back in the 80s, I was actually given a "training film" on "How to Spot Ritual Satanic Activity" that was produced by some ex-copper who had jumped on the Satanic bandwagon.....Quite amusing, actually...
Haven't heard anything since, unless I watch old X-files repeats....
Bikewer is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 21st October 2012, 10:55 AM   #4
Roma
Master Poster
 
Roma's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 2,073
Do you know who Judy Byington used to write the forward in her new book, huh ?
Okay let me tell you (hee hee):

Dr. Colin Ross (a.k.a. eye beams MDC loser and Pigasus award winner)
__________________
I only know what I want to know.

Last edited by Roma; 21st October 2012 at 10:57 AM.
Roma is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 21st October 2012, 12:02 PM   #5
Scopedog
Muse
 
Scopedog's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 836
I don't mean to derail but I know that recovered memory via hypnotherapy is common among purveyors of these sort of things. I've always suspected that if a hypnotherapist believes in satanic ritual abuse then their patient's recovered memories will always be of satanic ritual abuse. However, if the hypnotist believes in alien abduction then the patient's recovered memories will be of alien abduction. If the hypnotherapist believes in reincarnation then their patient will have past lives. If the hypnotherapist believes in multiple personalities then their patients will have multiple personalities. Is this true? Are there studies or articles about this?

Last edited by Scopedog; 21st October 2012 at 12:04 PM.
Scopedog is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 21st October 2012, 06:46 PM   #6
Jim_MDP
Philosopher
 
Jim_MDP's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: N.Cal/S.Or
Posts: 9,580
Probably, but I would flip the statement to read... If the diagnosis includes x, y or z, then it's likely the therapist is a believer in x, y or z.
__________________
----------------------
Anything goes in the Goblin hut... anything.

"Suggesting spurious explanations isn't relevant to my work." -- WTC Dust.
"Both cannot be simultaneously true, and so one may conclude neither is true, and if neither is true, then Apollo is fraudulent." -- Patrick1000.
Jim_MDP is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 21st October 2012, 07:03 PM   #7
marplots
Penultimate Amazing
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 29,167
I couldn't find when this episode is supposed to air, if at all?
marplots is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 21st October 2012, 07:50 PM   #8
Gord_in_Toronto
Penultimate Amazing
 
Gord_in_Toronto's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 24,921
Originally Posted by Scopedog View Post
I don't mean to derail but I know that recovered memory via hypnotherapy is common among purveyors of these sort of things. I've always suspected that if a hypnotherapist believes in satanic ritual abuse then their patient's recovered memories will always be of satanic ritual abuse. However, if the hypnotist believes in alien abduction then the patient's recovered memories will be of alien abduction. If the hypnotherapist believes in reincarnation then their patient will have past lives. If the hypnotherapist believes in multiple personalities then their patients will have multiple personalities. Is this true? Are there studies or articles about this?
I, too, have been making this point for some time. There was a paper presented at a Physiological conference in Toronto some time (decades) ago that had such an analysis and was reported in the Toronto Star. Finding it today would take a considerable effort.
__________________
"Reality is what's left when you cease to believe." Philip K. Dick
Gord_in_Toronto is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 21st October 2012, 09:14 PM   #9
Scott Sommers
Illuminator
 
Scott Sommers's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 3,866
People who Expect to Enter Psychotherapy are Prone to Believing that They Have Forgotten Memories of Childhood Trauma and Abuse

Quote:
We asked 1004 undergraduates to estimate both the probability that they would enter therapy and the probability that they experienced but could not remember incidents of potentially life threatening childhood traumas or physical and sexual abuse. We found a linear relation between the expectation of entering therapy and the belief that one had, but cannot now remember, childhood trauma and abuse. Thus, individuals who are prone to seek psychotherapy are also prone to accept a suggested memory of childhood trauma or abuse as fitting their expectations. In multiple regressions predicting the probability of forgotten memories of childhood traumas and abuse, the expectation of entering therapy remained as a substantial predictor when self-report measures of mood, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity, and trauma exposure were included.
__________________
See my blog,
Wonders of the Invisible World
Scott Sommers is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 21st October 2012, 11:15 PM   #10
Orphia Nay
Penguilicious Spodmaster.
Tagger
 
Orphia Nay's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Ponylandistan Presidential Palace (above the Spods' stables).
Posts: 45,220
Originally Posted by marplots View Post
I couldn't find when this episode is supposed to air, if at all?
Not this week, according to Dr Phil's site, which only lists shows one week in advance.

http://www.drphil.com/shows/


Judy Byington's website says it's "Coming soon". (Scroll down.)

http://22faces.com/
Orphia Nay is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 21st October 2012, 11:22 PM   #11
MG1962
Guest
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 17,252
Sister in law went through this therapy.... discovered she'd been abused by a coven satanic rituals etc etc, could describe the location dates...you name it - all her suppressed memories came out. All childhood trauma from when she lived in a particular town

Then her mother revealed that my sister in law had never lived in the town in question. She had stayed with an aunt while her mother and father went to the town in search of work
MG1962 is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 21st October 2012, 11:28 PM   #12
Scott Sommers
Illuminator
 
Scott Sommers's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 3,866
Originally Posted by MG1962 View Post
Sister in law went through this therapy.... discovered she'd been abused by a coven satanic rituals etc etc, could describe the location dates...you name it - all her suppressed memories came out. All childhood trauma from when she lived in a particular town

Then her mother revealed that my sister in law had never lived in the town in question. She had stayed with an aunt while her mother and father went to the town in search of work
How does she feel about all this?
__________________
See my blog,
Wonders of the Invisible World
Scott Sommers is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 21st October 2012, 11:29 PM   #13
Orphia Nay
Penguilicious Spodmaster.
Tagger
 
Orphia Nay's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Ponylandistan Presidential Palace (above the Spods' stables).
Posts: 45,220
Originally Posted by Scopedog View Post
I don't mean to derail but I know that recovered memory via hypnotherapy is common among purveyors of these sort of things. I've always suspected that if a hypnotherapist believes in satanic ritual abuse then their patient's recovered memories will always be of satanic ritual abuse. However, if the hypnotist believes in alien abduction then the patient's recovered memories will be of alien abduction. If the hypnotherapist believes in reincarnation then their patient will have past lives. If the hypnotherapist believes in multiple personalities then their patients will have multiple personalities. Is this true? Are there studies or articles about this?
An astute observation.

Originally Posted by Scott Sommers View Post
Fascinating.

Orphia Nay is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd October 2012, 06:43 AM   #14
Scopedog
Muse
 
Scopedog's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 836
Originally Posted by Scott Sommers View Post
Thanks, but this isn't what I was looking for. I'm looking for a study from the perspective of the therapist rather than the patient. I'm suggesting that the patient's shocking recovered memories will predictably coincide with the hypnotherapist's biases and preconceived notions about supressed memories (I imagine this can be applied to mental therapy in general). However, I'm sure the patient shares some responsibility by being open and receptive to the therapist's suggestions.
Scopedog is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd October 2012, 07:25 AM   #15
MG1962
Guest
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 17,252
Originally Posted by Scott Sommers View Post
How does she feel about all this?
Complete denial, then went into a massive bout of diagnosed depression. Which while not a doctor I can not help think that's what she should have been treated for instead of having repressed memory therapy in the first place
MG1962 is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd October 2012, 07:50 AM   #16
Weak Kitten
Graduate Poster
 
Weak Kitten's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,909
Isn't there an article about this on "What's the Harm"? I seem to recall that what happened to MG1962's sister in law is actually quite common. Especially the denial part when facts are revealed that completely disprove the "repressed memory".

Found it! It's called False Memory Syndrome and sounds quite traumatic.
__________________
A quick reminder to all participants that although incomprehensibility is not against the Membership Agreement, incivility is. Please try and remember this, and keep your exchanges polite and respectful. -arthwollipot

Last edited by Weak Kitten; 22nd October 2012 at 07:54 AM. Reason: Found the link
Weak Kitten is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd October 2012, 07:53 AM   #17
LibraryLady
Emeritus
 
LibraryLady's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Maryland
Posts: 14,265
Until recently I had a little grudging respect for Philip McGraw, Ph.D.

That has completely evaporated unless and until these episodes air and he refers these deluded/conniving people to the applicable science.
__________________
What I tell you three times is true.
LibraryLady is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd October 2012, 08:06 AM   #18
MG1962
Guest
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 17,252
Originally Posted by Weak Kitten View Post
Isn't there an article about this on "What's the Harm"? I seem to recall that what happened to MG1962's sister in law is actually quite common. Especially the denial part when facts are revealed that completely disprove the "repressed memory".

Found it! It's called False Memory Syndrome and sounds quite traumatic.
What would be interesting to know is how many people have this therapy and dont have repressed memories.

And I cant help but think there are linkages to the UFO abduction stories. The person offering the treatment has a specific outcome already in place and needs to lead the patient to that outcome to justify their diagnosis.
MG1962 is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd October 2012, 08:30 AM   #19
douglas mesner
Thinker
 
douglas mesner's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 241
Scopedog -- Regarding your question to whether studies have been done that show that recovered memories match the biases of the therapist: this is an observation that has been made by many researchers in recovered memories, and I would recommend the books 'Abducted' by Susan Clancy and 'Multiple Identities & False Memories' by Nicholas Spanos. Broadly, it is obvious that the types of trauma that are recovered quite match the interest of the therapist, and when you have a "therapist" who is convinced that a trauma is rooted in unresolved issues from a past life, he will regress the client back into another, earlier, imaginary lifetime where they will explore the "real" root of whatever their current malaise is. Clients with false memories of past lives can hold them as near & dear as those who have recovered memories of child abuse. It is the same with memories of alien abduction. Therapeutic frauds, who continue to make their living from this recovered memory folly, like to argue that the memories of past lives and alien abduction aren't real traumatic memories, and false traumatic memories simply can't be implanted, thus they are not relevant to the discussion. This simply isn't true. Professor Richard McNally at Harvard did a study that you can find online, "psychophysiological responding during script-driven imagery" that demonstrates that false memories of alien abduction do indeed act as real traumas in the minds of those who hold them. It is in the field of alien abduction that we find more obviously the biases of the therapist effecting the client, and this is because of the vast differences of opinions in that field regarding the nature of abduction and the intentions of the aliens. Last April, I did a series of interviews with abduction therapists. On the one hand, I found a woman named Dolores Cannon, and she always found that aliens intervened like angels. On the other hand, there was David Jacobs, and his abductions were always rather satanic. I wrote a pretty lengthy piece, in fact, about the similarities between abduction stories and satanic ritual abuse claims that you can find online if you google my name and the title, 'among the brain-washed and abused'.
douglas mesner is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd October 2012, 09:28 AM   #20
douglas mesner
Thinker
 
douglas mesner's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 241
I'm very glad to find this as a topic of discussion over here. Please know that if any of you have blogs or websites where you think the open letter to Dr. Phil might be of interest, you may feel free to post it in its entirety. The background to this is that I wrote a review of the book in question -- Twenty-Two Faces by Judy Byington -- for Skeptical Inquirer which will appear in the Jan/Feb issue. I was appalled by the uncritical media attention this book was drawing, especially given the number of supernatural claims the book makes which I detail in my letter. On one such uncritical review online, I decided to comment regarding my own impressions of the book at which I found myself entered into an infuriating exchange with the author herself. She accused me of spreading "falsehoods". When pressed for an example of anything I stated that was false, she failed to reply. No matter what the question, in fact, she only replied by saying that I was "defending rapists and murderers", and a bit later she decided I am a satanist as well. This is the quality of person we are dealing with here. This is the person whose book is being endorsed by a president of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD). The most frustrating thing about this to me is that the author of this unhinged lunacy is by no means alone. There are plenty of therapists who go along with this insanity, and they use the idea of an anti child-abuse campaign as a sheild against critical assault. Thus, when I object to supernatural claims, I'm "defending rapists and murderers". As I wrote elsewhere:
"This tactic of argumentation is truly offensive, as it hijacks children’s rights and attempts to create human shields of real victims as protection against criticisms directed at patently absurd claims. In the proper context, Twenty-Two Faces is a helpful book, as it illustrates this problem clearly for those who may doubt the magnitude to which conspiracists have over-run the study of Dissociative Disorders. Byington does not simply misappropriate the condition of multiple personalities as a plot device for her ridiculous book, she shows the condition for what it largely (if not entirely) is: a collaborative therapeutically-created delusion. In trying to expose a Satanic conspiracy, Byington unwittingly exposes a foul movement that exploits vulnerable mental health consumers. Let’s hope the licensing boards and professional associations eventually move to erase such embarrassments from practice."
douglas mesner is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd October 2012, 09:40 AM   #21
Halfcentaur
Philosopher
 
Halfcentaur's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 6,620
Originally Posted by douglas mesner View Post
I'm very glad to find this as a topic of discussion over here. Please know that if any of you have blogs or websites where you think the open letter to Dr. Phil might be of interest, you may feel free to post it in its entirety. The background to this is that I wrote a review of the book in question -- Twenty-Two Faces by Judy Byington -- for Skeptical Inquirer which will appear in the Jan/Feb issue. I was appalled by the uncritical media attention this book was drawing, especially given the number of supernatural claims the book makes which I detail in my letter. On one such uncritical review online, I decided to comment regarding my own impressions of the book at which I found myself entered into an infuriating exchange with the author herself. She accused me of spreading "falsehoods". When pressed for an example of anything I stated that was false, she failed to reply. No matter what the question, in fact, she only replied by saying that I was "defending rapists and murderers", and a bit later she decided I am a satanist as well. This is the quality of person we are dealing with here. This is the person whose book is being endorsed by a president of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD). The most frustrating thing about this to me is that the author of this unhinged lunacy is by no means alone. There are plenty of therapists who go along with this insanity, and they use the idea of an anti child-abuse campaign as a sheild against critical assault. Thus, when I object to supernatural claims, I'm "defending rapists and murderers". As I wrote elsewhere:
"This tactic of argumentation is truly offensive, as it hijacks children’s rights and attempts to create human shields of real victims as protection against criticisms directed at patently absurd claims. In the proper context, Twenty-Two Faces is a helpful book, as it illustrates this problem clearly for those who may doubt the magnitude to which conspiracists have over-run the study of Dissociative Disorders. Byington does not simply misappropriate the condition of multiple personalities as a plot device for her ridiculous book, she shows the condition for what it largely (if not entirely) is: a collaborative therapeutically-created delusion. In trying to expose a Satanic conspiracy, Byington unwittingly exposes a foul movement that exploits vulnerable mental health consumers. Let’s hope the licensing boards and professional associations eventually move to erase such embarrassments from practice."
Paragraphs may seem needlessly fancy looking to some, but they give people a chance to rest their eyes and find a frame of reference so they don't lose track when trying to discern between 30-50 lines of text all squished together.

Otherwise, welcome to the forum.
Halfcentaur is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd October 2012, 10:56 AM   #22
douglas mesner
Thinker
 
douglas mesner's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 241
Originally Posted by Halfcentaur View Post
Paragraphs may seem needlessly fancy looking to some, but they give people a chance to rest their eyes and find a frame of reference so they don't lose track when trying to discern between 30-50 lines of text all squished together.

Otherwise, welcome to the forum.
Thank you. I have a long history with the topic, and very much to say about it, so concision has proven my greatest difficulty lately. It's the same when debating creationists: if you don't anticipate the same old, tired arguments, they will inevitably rise up with them again and again.
douglas mesner is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd October 2012, 07:13 PM   #23
Altus
Critical Thinker
 
Altus's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 414
Originally Posted by marplots View Post
I couldn't find when this episode is supposed to air, if at all?
Marplots, I am new so I can't post links, but if you go to Byington's Amazon page "Twenty-Two Faces" and click her name you'll see:

Judy Byington, "Twenty-Two Faces"
Dr. Phil is featuring "Twenty-Two Faces" Jenny Hill and author Judy Byington on his show discussing how the ongoing ritual torture of children causes formation of multiple personalities and denial of Jenny's family that her Dissociate Identity Disorder diagnosis was the result of this childhood abuse.

When: Wednesday, October 31, 2012, 3:00 PM
Where: Dr. Phil Show, 5555 MELROSE AVE BUILDING, HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA, United States 90038-3993

Halloween, go figure! The next day she is scheduled to do an interview with an ABC affiliate in Salt Lake.

You'll also notice on the Amazon page that Doug's comments have been voted down. These believers are pretty entrenched.

Maybe the ABC affiliate will wake-up. The Dr. Phil show has been filmed. Not sure of ABC. If anyone wants to contact them, it's ABC4.com. The anchor scheduled to do a "news" segment is Kimberly Nelson. Doug has documented that this Byington is practicing without a license, which is a felony in Utah...to promote this twaddle is just irresponsible.
Altus is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd October 2012, 07:23 PM   #24
marplots
Penultimate Amazing
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 29,167
Thanks Altus.
I had some small hope that the interview wouldn't air. Oh well.
marplots is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd October 2012, 11:15 PM   #25
Orphia Nay
Penguilicious Spodmaster.
Tagger
 
Orphia Nay's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Ponylandistan Presidential Palace (above the Spods' stables).
Posts: 45,220
Originally Posted by Altus View Post
Marplots, I am new so I can't post links, but if you go to Byington's Amazon page "Twenty-Two Faces" and click her name you'll see:

Judy Byington, "Twenty-Two Faces"
Dr. Phil is featuring "Twenty-Two Faces" Jenny Hill and author Judy Byington on his show discussing how the ongoing ritual torture of children causes formation of multiple personalities and denial of Jenny's family that her Dissociate Identity Disorder diagnosis was the result of this childhood abuse.

When: Wednesday, October 31, 2012, 3:00 PM
Where: Dr. Phil Show, 5555 MELROSE AVE BUILDING, HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA, United States 90038-3993

Halloween, go figure! The next day she is scheduled to do an interview with an ABC affiliate in Salt Lake.

You'll also notice on the Amazon page that Doug's comments have been voted down. These believers are pretty entrenched.

Maybe the ABC affiliate will wake-up. The Dr. Phil show has been filmed. Not sure of ABC. If anyone wants to contact them, it's ABC4.com. The anchor scheduled to do a "news" segment is Kimberly Nelson. Doug has documented that this Byington is practicing without a license, which is a felony in Utah...to promote this twaddle is just irresponsible.
Thanks very much for the info. I added the links to your quoted post. ^
(ETA: I voted down the positive reviews at Amazon and voted up the negative ones.)

Welcome to the forum!

Last edited by Orphia Nay; 22nd October 2012 at 11:19 PM.
Orphia Nay is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd October 2012, 11:23 AM   #26
Alice Shortcake
Graduate Poster
 
Alice Shortcake's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,134
If you want some idea of the devastation caused by these beliefs, here's a good place to start:

http://www.fmsfonline.org/

I don't think there's ever been a single case in which memories of satanic abuse have proved to be based on reality.
__________________
Proud member of the Debunkly Skerricks Pack
Alice Shortcake is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd October 2012, 12:09 PM   #27
couchsloth
New Blood
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 8
I'm kinda surprised that this Satanic rituals/repressed-memories nonsense is still being taken seriously by so many.
What do these people think of the Daycare sex-abuse hysteria of the 1980's-90's?
Didn't they learn anything from these false cases of ritual sex abuse?
Or perhaps they just think those daycare workers got away with it.

Last edited by couchsloth; 23rd October 2012 at 12:13 PM. Reason: typo
couchsloth is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd October 2012, 12:12 PM   #28
Altus
Critical Thinker
 
Altus's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 414
Originally Posted by Orphia Nay View Post
Thanks very much for the info. I added the links to your quoted post. ^
(ETA: I voted down the positive reviews at Amazon and voted up the negative ones.)

Welcome to the forum!
Thanks for the links and the welcome. Thanks ESPECIALLY for taking some action on this issue by going to Judy Byington’s Twenty-Two Faces Amazon page and clicking an up for Doug Mesner’s review of Twenty-Two Faces and a down for the endorsements of this potentially harmful book.

There are over 1,000 views on this JREF thread. Big opportunity here for a little skeptical activism from all of us viewing.

Here’s the deal, as a poster detailed here, people go to these “therapists” for all sorts of things that have nothing to do with any troubled past. They end up being sucked down a rabbit hole of Satanic Ritual Abuse and it can screw people up for life as it becomes part of their personal narrative. From what I’ve seen of Jenny Hill, she’s pretty messed up, and according to her sister who posted in a forum detailed in Doug’s account, Judy Byington played no small role in that.

We can’t all take on Dr. Phil and or get the licensing board of Utah to take action as Doug is attempting, but we can go to Judy Byington’s Amazon page for Twenty-Two Faces and do a few clicks so that Doug’s review gets top billing on the opening page. Just having that perspective go to the top of the heap might cause a few folks---and some journalists---to think twice about giving Judy Byington and others a free pass and the power to suck more folks down the rabbit hole of SRA.

Last edited by Altus; 23rd October 2012 at 12:31 PM.
Altus is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd October 2012, 12:51 PM   #29
godless dave
Great Dalmuti
 
godless dave's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 8,266
Originally Posted by Scopedog View Post
I don't mean to derail but I know that recovered memory via hypnotherapy is common among purveyors of these sort of things. I've always suspected that if a hypnotherapist believes in satanic ritual abuse then their patient's recovered memories will always be of satanic ritual abuse. However, if the hypnotist believes in alien abduction then the patient's recovered memories will be of alien abduction. If the hypnotherapist believes in reincarnation then their patient will have past lives. If the hypnotherapist believes in multiple personalities then their patients will have multiple personalities. Is this true? Are there studies or articles about this?
I don't know about that, but there have been plenty of studies showing that recovered "memories" are often fictional.
__________________
"If it's real, then it gets more interesting the closer you examine it. If it's not real, just the opposite is true." - aggle-rithm
godless dave is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd October 2012, 01:11 PM   #30
Altus
Critical Thinker
 
Altus's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 414
Originally Posted by couchsloth View Post
I'm kinda surprised that this Satanic rituals/repressed-memories nonsense is still being taken seriously by so many.
What do these people think of the Daycare sex-abuse hysteria of the 1980's-90's?
Didn't they learn anything from these false cases of ritual sex abuse?
Or perhaps they just think those daycare workers got away with it.
The 80s-90s was a long time ago for some people--especially young journalists. An NPR affiliate let Judy come on and just babble away about how Nazis and devil worshipers were controlling people. It was a theatre of the absurd, to say the least, but NPR?!?! These "journalists" might do as much research as clicking open Judy's Twenty-two Faces Amazon page, and glancing at the top-voted reviews. That's why it's important to get on there and vote up the rational reviews and down the irrational ones (right now the irrational ones rule). You can hear the NPR interview through a link on Doug's letter where Judy Byington also says she conducted a therapy session (despite being unlicensed).

Last edited by Altus; 23rd October 2012 at 01:16 PM.
Altus is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd October 2012, 03:28 PM   #31
Turgor
Critical Thinker
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 454
Originally Posted by douglas mesner View Post
Scopedog -- Regarding your question to whether studies have been done that show that recovered memories match the biases of the therapist: this is an observation that has been made by many researchers in recovered memories, and I would recommend the books 'Abducted' by Susan Clancy and 'Multiple Identities & False Memories' by Nicholas Spanos. Broadly, it is obvious that the types of trauma that are recovered quite match the interest of the therapist, and when you have a "therapist" who is convinced that a trauma is rooted in unresolved issues from a past life, he will regress the client back into another, earlier, imaginary lifetime where they will explore the "real" root of whatever their current malaise is. Clients with false memories of past lives can hold them as near & dear as those who have recovered memories of child abuse. It is the same with memories of alien abduction. Therapeutic frauds, who continue to make their living from this recovered memory folly, like to argue that the memories of past lives and alien abduction aren't real traumatic memories, and false traumatic memories simply can't be implanted, thus they are not relevant to the discussion. This simply isn't true. Professor Richard McNally at Harvard did a study that you can find online, "psychophysiological responding during script-driven imagery" that demonstrates that false memories of alien abduction do indeed act as real traumas in the minds of those who hold them. It is in the field of alien abduction that we find more obviously the biases of the therapist effecting the client, and this is because of the vast differences of opinions in that field regarding the nature of abduction and the intentions of the aliens. Last April, I did a series of interviews with abduction therapists. On the one hand, I found a woman named Dolores Cannon, and she always found that aliens intervened like angels. On the other hand, there was David Jacobs, and his abductions were always rather satanic. I wrote a pretty lengthy piece, in fact, about the similarities between abduction stories and satanic ritual abuse claims that you can find online if you google my name and the title, 'among the brain-washed and abused'.
I think you mean http://www.process.org/discept/2011/...ed-and-abused/ and wanted to link it because it's a great (though indeed lengthy ) read.
Turgor is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd October 2012, 03:33 PM   #32
LibraryLady
Emeritus
 
LibraryLady's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Maryland
Posts: 14,265
Originally Posted by Altus View Post
Thanks for the links and the welcome. Thanks ESPECIALLY for taking some action on this issue by going to Judy Byington’s Twenty-Two Faces Amazon page and clicking an up for Doug Mesner’s review of Twenty-Two Faces and a down for the endorsements of this potentially harmful book.

There are over 1,000 views on this JREF thread. Big opportunity here for a little skeptical activism from all of us viewing.

Here’s the deal, as a poster detailed here, people go to these “therapists” for all sorts of things that have nothing to do with any troubled past. They end up being sucked down a rabbit hole of Satanic Ritual Abuse and it can screw people up for life as it becomes part of their personal narrative. From what I’ve seen of Jenny Hill, she’s pretty messed up, and according to her sister who posted in a forum detailed in Doug’s account, Judy Byington played no small role in that.

We can’t all take on Dr. Phil and or get the licensing board of Utah to take action as Doug is attempting, but we can go to Judy Byington’s Amazon page for Twenty-Two Faces and do a few clicks so that Doug’s review gets top billing on the opening page. Just having that perspective go to the top of the heap might cause a few folks---and some journalists---to think twice about giving Judy Byington and others a free pass and the power to suck more folks down the rabbit hole of SRA.
Done. Welcome to the forum and thanks for taking this on. I'm only sorry you had to read the book.
__________________
What I tell you three times is true.
LibraryLady is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd October 2012, 03:54 PM   #33
douglas mesner
Thinker
 
douglas mesner's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 241
Thank you! In what I write, I try to strike a balance between being entertaining, so as to attract a general audience that may have no academic interest in these issues, while also not marginalizing the fact that people are being seriously hurt, lives are being ruined, because of a false notion of the mind that irresponsible therapists refuse to correct. The horrifying part is that this never did go away after the Satanic Panic faded -- the therapists who are purveyors of this nonsense simply became more aware that pursuing legal action against their imagined perpetrators was a dangerous course of action. Now, they simply cultivate delusions of abuse while assuring their exploited clients that they simply cannot pursue remediation because -- the conspiracy theory goes -- the False Memory Syndrome Foundation is simply too strong of a lobby with ties to the CIA (I kid you not). Just this month, the International Society for the Study of Trauma & Dissociation (ISSTD) hosted a lecture on "ritual abuse" at their annual conference given by hysterical Satanic cult fear-mongers Ellen Lacter and Valerie Sinason -- both of them, quite literally, are witch-hunters.
douglas mesner is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd October 2012, 05:28 PM   #34
Weak Kitten
Graduate Poster
 
Weak Kitten's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,909
I just read an article about a Dr Colin Ross and his experiments in repressed memories. Does anyone know if this monster was ever brought to justice? The story of how he drove a young woman to madness and drug addiction is truly chilling.
__________________
A quick reminder to all participants that although incomprehensibility is not against the Membership Agreement, incivility is. Please try and remember this, and keep your exchanges polite and respectful. -arthwollipot
Weak Kitten is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd October 2012, 05:31 PM   #35
joesixpack
Illuminator
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,531
Originally Posted by couchsloth View Post
I'm kinda surprised that this Satanic rituals/repressed-memories nonsense is still being taken seriously by so many.
What do these people think of the Daycare sex-abuse hysteria of the 1980's-90's?
Didn't they learn anything from these false cases of ritual sex abuse?
Or perhaps they just think those daycare workers got away with it.
Those who learn from history are doomed to watch others who didn't.
__________________
Generally sober 'til noon.
joesixpack is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd October 2012, 05:46 PM   #36
Altus
Critical Thinker
 
Altus's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 414
Originally Posted by Weak Kitten View Post
I just read an article about a Dr Colin Ross and his experiments in repressed memories. Does anyone know if this monster was ever brought to justice? The story of how he drove a young woman to madness and drug addiction is truly chilling.
Nope, Roma, who posted up above, can tell you all about Colin. He wrote the intro to Judy's book. Go on Amazon and preview Judy Byington's "Twenty-two Faces" to read his claptrap. You can get all of the Ross intro in the preview. That people like Colin Ross still have a license to practice is beyond disturbing. While you're on Amazon, take a minute to vote on the reviews. The only way this ***** will stop is if enough rational people take action. A couple of clicks on Amazon is the least we can do to bring a bit of rationality off the forums of JREF and out into the public arena.

Last edited by Altus; 23rd October 2012 at 05:48 PM.
Altus is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd October 2012, 06:00 PM   #37
douglas mesner
Thinker
 
douglas mesner's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 241
Originally Posted by Weak Kitten View Post
I just read an article about a Dr Colin Ross and his experiments in repressed memories. Does anyone know if this monster was ever brought to justice? The story of how he drove a young woman to madness and drug addiction is truly chilling.
I suspect you read my own piece about him. I know it made its rounds, but if you see where I originally posted it on Process dot org, you'll note that Ross himself took a moment out to object to the piece in the comments. His rebuttal is so remarkably pathetic that I feel you'll agree that he only made himself look worse. There was hardly anything left to rebut, as I embedded scans of court documents, sworn affidavits, etc, into the piece itself. If you're interested, I have a site called Dysgenics dot com, and there is page there titled "evidence". In "evidence" you'll find the compiled Ross documents.
douglas mesner is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd October 2012, 06:19 PM   #38
douglas mesner
Thinker
 
douglas mesner's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 241
Anybody so moved to do so may send the link to the open letter to Dr. Phil's show through his website. I assure you, I've made every effort to get it to him personally, and I'm sure that they are aware of it, but it might be nice if they know that YOU know that that the letter was passed their way before the airing of the episode:

If you wish to offer the Dr. Phil Show your opinion of this content, contact information is available here: (can't post links -- see dr phil dot com slash contact)

If you want some background on the crowd that the author Phil interviews runs with, look up "Report from the S.M.A.R.T. Ritual Abuse/Mind-Control Conference 2009".

Please note: I am being sued for "defamation" for writing the above report, however, NONE of the facts presented in the article are being contested. In fact, only one sentence (near the end where I adjudge the conference "self-evidently full of ********") is cited in the suit at all. The rest of the suit is based on the baseless assumption that I wrote every other random criticism across the internet of the conference organizer, Neil Brick (a guy who claims to believe that he "recovered memories" of being a super top-secret action hero who was brain-washed and used by the CIA/Illuminati/Satanists as an assassin) when, of course, I did not. When I attended that conference and wrote that report, I was appalled, but I still had no idea how prevalent this lunacy is. As unhinged and delusional as S.M.A.R.T. and Neil Brick are, there is a surprisingly significant subculture in the "therapeutic" world that defend him and his wildly hysterical ideas.
douglas mesner is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd October 2012, 11:53 PM   #39
Orphia Nay
Penguilicious Spodmaster.
Tagger
 
Orphia Nay's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Ponylandistan Presidential Palace (above the Spods' stables).
Posts: 45,220
Here's the link to where you can email the Dr Phil show:

http://drphil.com/plugger/respond/?plugID=9164

The link to Doug's open letter to Dr Phil again:

http://www.examiner.com/article/jour...-health-menace

I sent the show this:

"Twenty-Two Faces" author Judy Byington says she will be on the Dr Phil show on October 31. Halloween - how appropriate for her fantasy stories!

If you would like to present accurate information about Ms Byington, and the myth of multiple personalities, I suggest you point your readers towards this article by Douglas Mesner:

http://www.process.org/discept/2012/...health-menace/

Multiple Personality Disorder is a myth. Promoting this myth causes needless trauma.

I would hope Dr Phil is aware that there is no such thing as MPD. It's not in the DSM.

===
Orphia Nay is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 24th October 2012, 01:04 AM   #40
Altus
Critical Thinker
 
Altus's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 414
Originally Posted by Orphia Nay View Post

I would hope Dr Phil is aware that there is no such thing as MPD. It's not in the DSM.
[/i]
===
The sad this is, it IS in the DSM. Don't want to go off topic, but there is a whole group of therapists including Ross and company who are very influential with the APA and have fought tooth and nail and succeeded in keeping this diagnosis in there. They are part of an organization called ISSTD (International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation) that probably has more malpractice suits (in the USA) collectively than any other professional health organization in history. On the other hand, there are a number of folks with some pretty impressive credentials in the profession who are fighting to get it out of the DSM. So far, the former is winning. Does not help that the head working group who advises the APA on this diagnosis is on record for hypnotizing people to discover their "alters".
Altus is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Reply

International Skeptics Forum » General Topics » General Skepticism and The Paranormal

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 01:55 AM.
Powered by vBulletin. Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.

This forum began as part of the James Randi Education Foundation (JREF). However, the forum now exists as
an independent entity with no affiliation with or endorsement by the JREF, including the section in reference to "JREF" topics.

Disclaimer: Messages posted in the Forum are solely the opinion of their authors.