Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 70
Therapists say that Dugard‘s greatest challenge today may be switching loyalty back to her
birth family. ―Her captor was her primary relationship and the father of her two children,‖
says one therapist, ―and at some level separation may be difficult for all of them. Any
therapy has to be mindful that there are three victims, not one, and that they will be
entering a new life together.‖ A psychological trauma expert believes that the case is ―an
extreme version of a phenomenon that is really not that uncommon: a child engaged in an
abusive relationship when young and, not knowing any better, coming to accept it as their
life, adapting as best they can.‖ The major challenge in such cases, experts say, is breaking
the bond between captor and abuser. Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy is the
most rigorously tested method for dealing with this problem and overcoming such feelings
as, ―I can‘t trust anyone anymore,‖ and, ―It‘s my fault I didn‘t resist more.‖
Many frustrated young Muslim men with South Asian connections, marginalized in British
society, are fascinated by the Taliban, support its goals, and hope that British and
American troops are defeated in Afghanistan. One such young man patrols his London
neighborhood attempting to enforce Islamist morality. Others, including educated men with
jobs who rail against British prejudice that they say is holding them back, look to the
comeback of Mullah Omar and their own return to Afghanistan.
Boys trained by the Taliban to be suicide bombers are prepared in three stages. For two
weeks they‘re taught to provide intelligence about security force movements. This is
followed by 40 days of militant training, and then by instruction in how to become a suicide
bomber. Boys who have returned home from training for one reason or another appear to
remain fanatics.
Therapy Abuse. The Health Care Professionals Council, in Britain, has struck from its rolls
arts therapist Derek Gale—he calls himself ―Daddy‖—for misconduct including inappropriate
touching, breaches of confidentiality, swearing at patients, improper social and business
relationships with patients, and smoking cannabis in front of them. Gale continues,
nonetheless to offer services at £65 an hour on his website. The government reportedly
plans to bring all psychotherapists and counselors under state regulation.
Tony Alamo Christian Ministries‘ efforts to gather evidence for a civil suit in federal court
against the state—before jurisdiction has been determined—are really aimed, according to
state attorneys, to interfere in state-court custody actions involving the followers of jailed
leader Tony Alamo. The Alamo organization accuses the state Department of Human
Services of harassment and civil rights violations in the removal of children from the
Ministries. The legal action asks, among other things, that no Alamo followers be required to
leave their homes or employment in connection with the suit‘s proceedings. In this, Alamo
Ministries is essentially asking the federal court to overturn the state court‘s orders.
―If Tony Alamo were a white-collar criminal, he could hire a jail consultant to help him pick
out the right penitentiary. But he won‘t get to choose his own prison, which will be his
tomb.‖ The aging Alamo is awaiting a decision as to where he will serve the heavy sentence
that followed his conviction for numerous crimes committed while head of his Arkansas-
based cult.
In a letter to the Orlando Sentinel in April, a mother reports that when her son studied
Transcendental Meditation in his high school philosophy class he began chanting and
burning incense at home. She sued to remove the course from the curriculum. The school
board‘s lawyer argued: ―This is not a class in religion. It‘s only a course in philosophy.‖ A
judge ordered an end to the offering, citing a New Jersey decision that TM involves
instruction about a Supreme Being or power, which violates the First Amendment.
Physicist Victor Stenger, in Quantum Gods: Creation, chaos, and the search for cosmic
consciousness, debunks the uses of quantum physics concepts in certain contemporary
Therapists say that Dugard‘s greatest challenge today may be switching loyalty back to her
birth family. ―Her captor was her primary relationship and the father of her two children,‖
says one therapist, ―and at some level separation may be difficult for all of them. Any
therapy has to be mindful that there are three victims, not one, and that they will be
entering a new life together.‖ A psychological trauma expert believes that the case is ―an
extreme version of a phenomenon that is really not that uncommon: a child engaged in an
abusive relationship when young and, not knowing any better, coming to accept it as their
life, adapting as best they can.‖ The major challenge in such cases, experts say, is breaking
the bond between captor and abuser. Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy is the
most rigorously tested method for dealing with this problem and overcoming such feelings
as, ―I can‘t trust anyone anymore,‖ and, ―It‘s my fault I didn‘t resist more.‖
Many frustrated young Muslim men with South Asian connections, marginalized in British
society, are fascinated by the Taliban, support its goals, and hope that British and
American troops are defeated in Afghanistan. One such young man patrols his London
neighborhood attempting to enforce Islamist morality. Others, including educated men with
jobs who rail against British prejudice that they say is holding them back, look to the
comeback of Mullah Omar and their own return to Afghanistan.
Boys trained by the Taliban to be suicide bombers are prepared in three stages. For two
weeks they‘re taught to provide intelligence about security force movements. This is
followed by 40 days of militant training, and then by instruction in how to become a suicide
bomber. Boys who have returned home from training for one reason or another appear to
remain fanatics.
Therapy Abuse. The Health Care Professionals Council, in Britain, has struck from its rolls
arts therapist Derek Gale—he calls himself ―Daddy‖—for misconduct including inappropriate
touching, breaches of confidentiality, swearing at patients, improper social and business
relationships with patients, and smoking cannabis in front of them. Gale continues,
nonetheless to offer services at £65 an hour on his website. The government reportedly
plans to bring all psychotherapists and counselors under state regulation.
Tony Alamo Christian Ministries‘ efforts to gather evidence for a civil suit in federal court
against the state—before jurisdiction has been determined—are really aimed, according to
state attorneys, to interfere in state-court custody actions involving the followers of jailed
leader Tony Alamo. The Alamo organization accuses the state Department of Human
Services of harassment and civil rights violations in the removal of children from the
Ministries. The legal action asks, among other things, that no Alamo followers be required to
leave their homes or employment in connection with the suit‘s proceedings. In this, Alamo
Ministries is essentially asking the federal court to overturn the state court‘s orders.
―If Tony Alamo were a white-collar criminal, he could hire a jail consultant to help him pick
out the right penitentiary. But he won‘t get to choose his own prison, which will be his
tomb.‖ The aging Alamo is awaiting a decision as to where he will serve the heavy sentence
that followed his conviction for numerous crimes committed while head of his Arkansas-
based cult.
In a letter to the Orlando Sentinel in April, a mother reports that when her son studied
Transcendental Meditation in his high school philosophy class he began chanting and
burning incense at home. She sued to remove the course from the curriculum. The school
board‘s lawyer argued: ―This is not a class in religion. It‘s only a course in philosophy.‖ A
judge ordered an end to the offering, citing a New Jersey decision that TM involves
instruction about a Supreme Being or power, which violates the First Amendment.
Physicist Victor Stenger, in Quantum Gods: Creation, chaos, and the search for cosmic
consciousness, debunks the uses of quantum physics concepts in certain contemporary
