An Inclusive Litany

12/15/97

Four Texas therapists and an administrator were charged with defrauding insurance companies of millions of dollars using repressed-memory therapy. The defendants targeted people with large and unlimited lifetime insurance policies and diagnosed them with Multiple Personality Disorder. Then they used suggestive questioning while the patients were drugged or under hypnosis, isolated them from the outside world, and held group discussions encouraging tales of alleged abuse. The patients were led to believe they were part of a satanic cult and had abused their own family members, some of whom were then admitted for treatment, according to a grand jury indictment.

[Ed.: A study by the Washington Department of Labor and Industries determined that 10 percent of a sample of patients had considered committing suicide before undergoing recovered-memory therapy. After three years of therapy, 67 percent were suicidal.]