Under the influence

If you want to read the source article from the NY Times, click on the title of this post.

I remember watching parts of the HBO show "Capturing the Friedmens" and not being impressed. As anyone who watches television with a critical eye or has seen a Micheal Moore film, you can present evidence in a format that sounds like it might be balanced and truthful, but actually is rather biased and designed to lead the viewer to one specific conclusion.

I don't think I ever watched the whole program - simply because I thought it was bull.

Now, the man who was at the center of the show claims to have new evidence that the children in the case against him were hypnotized and influenced to "recall" abuse that never happened.

If you take the claim at face value, it appears he may have something worth looking into -- maybe not over turning his case, but taking a look. But, if you read the whole article, you see that the assertion is based on public speaking engagements from some of the therapists who treated the children central to the case, and in their lengthy talks, there is mention that sometimes, hypnosis can be a useful therapy tool for abused children in "cases like this." They never actually say "yes, we hypnotized the children, and only then did the children reveal or recall sexual abuse."

I'm mildly interested in this case. In the 80s (and early 90s) there were several cases of mass sexual abuse of children. These cases mostly happened before I started doing this work. They also happened at a time when most communities didn't have sexual assault crisis centers and when most therapists weren't required to be certified (at least in my state). Also, and we don't like to admit this often, there is still debate over the "best" way to treat abused children.

One of the problems is that with young children - it is difficult to lead them through cognitive processing. Other times, you have children who aren't invested in counseling. Other children may see the attentions and stresses surrounding the disclosure as negative and clam up. If the abuse created a dissolution of the family or household, it is difficult to encourage children to continue counseling. And, children are so heavily influenced by their parents, families.

If families aren't invested in counseling, children won't see the value in it. If family members question if the abuse happened, it feels like being disbelieved. Other times, family members will compact the shame the child feels, or openly blame the child for reporting it and bringing in outsiders to interfere.

I have no knowledge that would lead me to be able to say if this guy is guilty or innocent. I do have issues with the massive media attention on the very few cases of wrongful convictions (notice, I say media attention -- not on the wrongful conviction itself -- if there has been a wrongful conviction, our society owes it to the wrongfully convicted to be restored to their former life to the extent that we can.) and the little attention that is put on the issue of the many many many unsolved crimes in every community in America.

And, if we could prevent sexual abuse from happening in the first place, we wouldn't have to figure out ways to treat the victims.