Mesner misquoted myself and others in an attempt to defame our work. He misquotes my presentation twice in his articles, both times making up statements that I never said. Mesner has refused to correct any of these misstatements. Julaine has stated in writing that Mesner misquoted her and put words in her mouth.

Mesner picks and chooses information to mischaracterize the research behind our work. The data I have listed conclusively rebuts his opinions on memory, DID and ritual abuse. I list hundreds of journal articles to back up my research, many of these are above.

Is Mesner “academically qualified” to discuss these topics? Has he worked with the victims of child abuse and those that suffer from these crimes?

Mesner mentions Susan Clancy. Her work has been critiqued by several experts in the field.

These include:

closing arguments
by Alan W. Scheflin, professor, Santa Clara University School of Law
Memories of Abuse

“The phenomenon incorrectly known as “repressed” memory or “recovered” memory, but more accurately called “dissociative amnesia,” has been recognized by psychiatry and well documented for more than 100 years.” “In a letter to the Boston Globe after the verdict in the Shanley case, Harvard memory researcher Susan A. Clancy wrote: “I don’t believe repression exists. Second, I don’t believe the abuse at the time it occurred was traumatic. For children, sexual abuse is rarely painful or terrifying at the time it occurs.”

“In fact, however, the concept of repression has existed long before statute of limitations issues
involving sexual abuse have been litigated. Furthermore, legislators have recognized the validity of repressed memory and drafted statutes protecting causes of action that would otherwise be barred.”
http://www.scu.edu/etal/spring2005/closing.cfm

Clancy's opinion on the idea that child abuse is “rarely painful or terrifying at the time it occurs”
is in the extreme minority of the field, as research has clearly shown the significant detrimental
effects of child abuse.

Clancy has stated: ''What they're getting from alien abductions is what I wish I could get from
religion,'' Dr. Clancy said. The people who spoke of abductions described a sense of belonging, and of someone watching over them. ''Not one of them said, 'I wish it didn't happen,' ''.

Daniel P. Brown replied:
The same, of course, cannot be said of victims of childhood rape. Daniel P. Brown, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School and author of the 1998 book ''Memory, Trauma Treatment and the Law,'' said Dr. Clancy was not naïve, but instead canny, in trying to equate adults who say they have unearthed memories of abuse with people who swear they have talked with space aliens. ''There's a political agenda here,'' he said.
(Harvard Advertises for People Abducted by Aliens, but the Truth Is Out There a Little Farther
By Diana Jean Schemo Wednesday, December 18, 2002)

Another critique of Clancy:
The Boston Globe
Letters to the Editor
Children are Harmed by Sexual Abuse
February 27, 2005

AS A PROFESSIONAL who has devoted many years to trying to aid in the healing of child sexual abuse survivors, I was surprised by the peremptory tone and deficient scholarship in Susan Clancy's Feb. 20 letter regarding child sexual abuse (''The concept of repression”).

The notion that child sexual abuse is usually not harmful is ignorant at best and provides pernicious support to pedophiles at worst. This pseudoscience was thoroughly debunked in the controversy over the infamous Rind study in 1998 alleging similar notions to Clancy's. Clancy states she does “not believe that repression exists.” Personal belief does not belong in scientific discussions. There are more than 85 studies in the literature, conducted using multiple research paradigms, that verify the phenomenon of fragmentary or total traumatic amnesia. No study that has asked survivors the question has failed to find a robust number of persons reporting the phenomenon….Tell me that my clients who have been raped at gunpoint by drunken relatives firing guns near their heads to obtain compliance have not been harmed.

Clancy's letter is a biased document whose errors of logic and scholarship do not reflect the state of the science and serves to support the dangerous notion that children can give consent to and are not harmed by sexual abuse. PHILIP J. KINSLER, PhD Lyme , N.H.
http://leadershipcouncil.org/1/blog/mj.html#Kin...

(Dr. Kinsler is extensively published in the fields of psychological trauma, suggestibility in
interviews of children and adults, relational psychotherapy of trauma survivors, and ethical forensic practice.)

In Amirault, Mesner continues to ignore the fact that there were physical findings of abuse and even as adults, the victims have continued to state they were abused.

These kinds of attacks allow the victims of these crimes to continue to be defamed and these crimes against children to continue.

I will reply to Mr. “Mesner” (not his real name) below. Mesner's article has been removed from several websites due to defamation. The repeated name calling and insults in his articles and the comments below these articles (calling me a “pedophile” etc.) caused the articles to be removed. Of course, the conference attendees and myself did contact the Examiner when these defamatory comments were made and not removed by Mesner below his article at their webpage.

Mesner states: “This rebuttal prefers quantity over content, but don't let that quantity fool you.” This is Mesner's way of ignoring the data I have presented to rebut his arguments, without addressing most of mine and others' statements.

Mesner states: “He is angry because my research in “recovered memories” is showing of how little value they actually are…” No, Mesner misrepresents the field of memory. His extreme position that they have little value is supported by few in the field. Since he keeps ignoring the data showing the accuracy of recovered memories, I will list several pages below for readers to read:

http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/whatabout.html

http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/recov...

http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/recov...

Research discussing corroboration and accuracy of recovered memories
http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/suggestedrefs.html

http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Taubman_Center...

http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Taubman_Center... 101 Corroborated Cases of Recovered Memory

http://www.jimhopper.com/memory/ Recovered Memories of Sexual Abuse Scientific Research & Scholarly “Amnesia for childhood sexual abuse is a condition. The existence of this condition is beyond dispute. Repression is merely one explanation – often a confusing and misleading one – for what causes the condition of amnesia. At least 10% of people sexually abused in childhood will have periods of complete amnesia for their abuse, followed by experiences of delayed recall.”

http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/tm/tm.html Research has shown that traumatized individuals respond by using a variety of psychological mechanisms. One of the most common means of dealing with the pain is to try and push it out of awareness. Some label the phenomenon of the process whereby the mind avoids conscious acknowledgment of traumatic experiences as dissociative amnesia . Others use terms such as repression , dissociative state , traumatic amnesia, psychogenic shock, or motivated forgetting . Semantics aside, there is near-universal scientific acceptance of the fact that the mind is capable of avoiding conscious recall of traumatic experiences.

These are only a few of the many scientific sources that rebut Mesner and show that recovered memory is a robust phenomenon.

Mesner states: “I have spoke to the top medical professionals (included those consulted in the making of the Showtime TV series The United States of Tara) who still believe that MPD/DID is a legitimate diagnosis, but NONE of them support what Neil Brick and S.M.A.R.T. do by promoting the idea of a multi-national satanic conspiracy to the mentally vulnerable. Every one of them distance themselves from S.M.A.R.T.”

This statement is incorrect for several reasons. Many professionals in the field of dissociation do believe that ritual abuse exists and some believe that groups participating in ritual abuse network and may work together. I work with many of these professionals. People at our conference have a wide range of beliefs. Mesner here and throughout his article twists our statements to the extreme to make them look ridiculous. Some believe that ritual abuse exists but these groups may or may not network to share resources and commit crimes. Others believe that these groups work together under a more formal structure. Mesner states “the mentally vulnerable.” This tactic moves the weight from “blame the victim” to “blame the person that helps the victim.” Therapists and others that help these victims do so at great risk for little if any financial remuneration. It is unfortunately often more acceptable to diagnose a victim with a mood disorder rather than a dissociative disorder, partly due to the disinformation in the general public around these issues. Also, how does Mesner know if anyone is “mentally vulnerable.” Has he diagnosed any of these victims?

Mesner states: “The best links are those that actually cite articles that explore DID as an actual phenomena, but they all miss the point. I take Paul McHugh's view that DID is a clinical creation – thus, the symptoms exist, so pointing to articles that explore these symptoms is really no argument at all.”

McHugh's view has been rebutted and it has been stated McHugh has no experience working in the actual field. (It appears that Mesner does not either.) Mesner repeatedly ignores these rebuttals.
“The problem with McHugh’s publications on MPD/DID, like those of Mersky, is that they are mere speculation. From deposition testimony in several cases, McHugh has made it clear that other than an occasional consultation, he has very little actual clinical experience with the ongoing treatment of MPD/DID patients and is generally unfamiliar with both the clinical features of MPD/DID and with what usually occurs in their treatment. This McHugh’s opinion is informed neither by actual in-depth clinical experience with contemporary MPD/DID patients nor by any scientific research on MPD.”
Brown, D; Frischholz E, Scheflin A. (1999). “Iatrogenic dissociative identity disorder – an evaluation of the scientific evidence”. The Journal of Psychiatry and Law XXVII No. 3-4 (Fall-Winter 1999):549–637. p. 604 – 605

McHugh may also have a conflict of interest:
“he frequently testifies on behalf of accused molesters”
Dubious choice for resolving church scandal by Mara J. Math 9/21/02
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=...

The idea that DID/MPD is a clinical creation is unproven and has been rebutted by most of the clinical field working in dissociation. The clear antecedent of DID/MPD is severe, repeated child abuse.

The DSM-IV-TR (American Psychological Association (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed. text revision).Washington, D.C.) states that patients with DID report having severe physical and sexual abuse, especially during childhood and that the reports of patients with DID are often validated by objective evidence. People that are responsible for acts of sexual and physical abuse may be prone to distorting or denying their behavior. The DSM-IV-TR is the research and diagnostic standard for the field of psychology.

Objective documentation of child abuse and dissociation in 12 murderers with Dissociative Identity Disorder. Lewis, D.O., Yeager, C.A., Swica, Y., Pincus, J.H., & Lewis, M. (1997). American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 1703-1710. This study establishes, once and for all, the linkage between early severe abuse and dissociative identity disorder.
http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/ful...

D. Gleaves July, 1996 “The sociocognitive model of dissociative identity disorder: a reexamination of the evidence” Psychological Bulletin Volume 120, issue 1, pages 42-59 “No reason exists to doubt the connection between DID and childhood trauma.”

Kluft, R.P. (2003) Current Issues in Dissociative Identity Disorder in journal Bridging Eastern and Western Psychiatry 1(1) p. 71-87 http://www.psyter.org/allegati/180/Kluft.pdf “A review of the DID literature demonstrates numerous instances of documented abuse. Two studies of younger dissociative patients found documentation of abuse for 95% of their young subjects. The documentation of recovered memories of childhood abuse in DID populations has been documented. “

Brown, D; Frischholz E, Scheflin A. (1999). “Iatrogenic dissociative identity disorder – an evaluation of the scientific evidence.“ The Journal of Psychiatry and Law XXVII No. 3-4 (Fall-Winter 1999): 549–637. p. 604 – 605 “At present the scientific evidence is insufficient and inadequate to support plaintiffs’ complaints that suggestive influences allegedly operative in psychotherapy can create a major psychiatric disorder like MPD per se…there is virtually no support for the unique contribution of hypnosis to the alleged iatrogenic creation of MPD in appropriately controlled research.”

Pearson, M.L. (1997). “Childhood trauma, adult trauma, and dissociation”. Dissociation 10 (1): 58–62. https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/dspace/bitstre...
“Subjects who experienced both early and recent trauma were more dissociative and endorsed more symptoms consistent with DID.”

Paley, K. Dream wars: a case study of a woman with multiple personality disorder. Dissociation : Vol. 5, No. 2, p. 111-116 https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/dspace/bitstre... Multiple personality is seen as the adult manifestation of child abuse (Fraser, 1990; Baldwin, 1990; Ross, 1988; Kluft, 1986; Bliss, 1985; Greaves, 1980) . Putnam, Guroff, Silberman, Barban, and Post’s (1986) survey of 100 patients revealed significant childhood trauma in 97% of the cases; incest was the most commonly reported trauma (68%).

Also, there are several studies showing physiological differences between personalities in DID patients. This means that it is highly unlikely that DID/MPD symptoms could be created clincially, but instead were created instead through extreme, repeated trauma.

J Am Optom Assoc. 1996 Jun;67(6):327-34. Visual function in multiple personality disorder. Birnbaum MH, Thomann K. State College of Optometry, State University of New York, NY 10010, USA.
“Numerous reports indicate physiological differences, including significant differences in ocular and visual function, across alter personality states in MPD.”

Clin Electroencephalogr. 1990 Oct;21(4):200-9. Brain mapping in a case of multiple personality. Hughes JR, Kuhlman DT, Fichtner CG, Gruenfeld MJ. Department of Neurology, University of Illinois, Chicago 60612. “Findings that were replicated in the second session showed differences from 4 personalities, especially in theta and beta 2 frequencies on the left temporal and right posterior regions.”

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1982 Jul;39(7):823-5. EEG studies of two multiple personalities and a control. Coons PM, Milstein V, Marley C. “These data suggest that EEG differences among personalities in a person with multiple personalities involve intensity of concentration, mood changes, degree of muscle tension, and duration of recording.”

Mesner states: “This so-called rebuttal then defends Michelle Remembers on the grounds that the publisher said it was true, despite the fact that the hyperlinked article in my report shows that the facts of the book were thoroughly shown false.”

Mesner's authoritative source “debunking” Michelle Remembers is from “The Mail on Sunday” (posted at a Temple of Set website). It contains quotes from her father and a few acquaintances. Obviously the type of abuse Michelle stated she went through would be hidden from acquaintances and her father would of course not admit to it.

from the publisher of “Michele Remembers”:

“Two experienced interviewers journeyed to Victoria and talked to Dr. Pazder’s colleagues, to the priests and the bishop who became involved in the case, to doctors who treated Michelle Smith when she was a child, to relatives and friends. From local newspaper, clergy, and police sources they learned that reports of Satanism in Victoria are not infrequent and that Satanism has apparently existed there for many years. Satanism in Western Canada flourished in many areas with activities far more ominous than some of the innocuous groups now found in parts of the United States who claim some connection with Satanism.

The source material was scrutinized. The many thousands of pages of transcript of the tape recordings that Dr. Pazder and Michelle Smith made of their psychiatric sessions were read and digested; they became the basis of this book. The tapes themselves were listened to in good measure, and the videotapes made of some of his sessions were viewed. Both the audio and video are powerfully convincing. It is nearly unthinkable that the protracted agony they record could have been fabricated.”

It appears that the publisher did a much more thorough investigation of the case than “The Mail on Sunday” did.

Mesner states:
“Gerald Amirault to see just how distasteful it is to suggest that the man should still be in prison. All evidence points to his innocence, but “broadly consistent testimony” is enough for S.M.A.R.T. to accept his imprisonment. This shows either a complete ignorance of what “evidence” is, or the typical witch-hunting mentality that “the cause” is more important than the innocent lives ruined.”

Mesner makes another mistake here, like he did when he spelled DID “disassociative identity disorder” in the original version of his article and when he stated on a comment board that Jennifer Freyd retracted her claim of abuse and reconciled (she never did either). Here Mesner states that Amirault is still in prison, yet Amirault was released in 2004. The quote I cited in my rebuttal was from the victims asking for him not to be released earlier this decade.

I pointed to physical evidence from several sources that shows that the children were abused, as well as their own statements as adults confirming this. The “innocent lives ruined” were the children that were abused. The “witch hunt” is against the survivors of these crimes.

http://web.archive.org/web/20010719201703/http:... /hardoon.htm
Letters to the Editor: The Real Darkness Is Child Abuse WALL STREET JOURNAL (J) 02/24/95
“in Amirault, the majority of the female children who testified had some relevant physical findings, as did several female children involved in the investigation who did not participate in the trial. The findings included labial adhesions and hymenal scarring of the sort present in a very small percentage of non-sexually abused children.”

“All nine children testified in a broadly consistent way…The children testified to numerous instances of sexual abuse. Some of the children testified that they were photographed during this abuse, describing a big camera with wires, a red button, and pictures which came out of the camera. The children testified that the defendant threatened them and told them that their families would be harmed if they told anyone about the abuse…The Commonwealth also presented a pediatric gynecologist and pediatrician who examined five of the girls who testified…She made findings consistent with abuse in four of the girls.” (424 Mass 618 Commonwealth vs Amirault p.624)
http://abusearticles.files.wordpress.com/2007/1...)

Amirault’s accusers reveal their faces, and their pain Boston Herald – Boston, Mass. – Peter Gelzinis – Aug 7, 2001 “During counseling meetings as a child, I would speak of a tall man touching me and taking pictures of me,” Phaedra Hopkins, 20, said at an emotional news conference. “So many times, Mr. Amirault hovered over me, touched me and hurt me and committed many disgusting acts of abuse.”
Those children, now adults, stood by their testimony Thursday.

“This family raped me, molested me and totally ruined my life,” said Jennifer Bennett, who was 3 1/2 years old when she started at Fells Acres.”

“We weren't coaxed. We weren't lying. We're telling the truth and we always will,” said Bennett, 22. “I was there. None of you were there. We weren't coaxed, nor were we ever ever ever brainwashed.''

“Brian Martinello, 21, said he was sexually abused by Amirault. His mother, Barbara Standke, claims her son came home from the day care with sores on his genitals and other people's underwear.”

In conclusion, Mesner ignores data that rebuts his position and twists and spins our position and the field's in general to create a straw man argument that he uses to discredit our work.

The journalist above, Douglas “Mesner” (not his real name) came to the conference under false pretenses. Journalists are not allowed into our conference to protect the safety and the anonymity of the attendees, who are child abuse survivors. He did not interview any of the speakers at the conference. His articles contained many misstatements, misquotes and inaccuracies. No attempt was made to correct any of these, other than where he misspelled “Disassociative Disorders” and “Disassociative Identity Disorder” which are actually “Dissociative Disorders” and “Dissociative Identity Disorder” and he did not correct these until we mentioned this on our website rebuttal page.

He is listed on a website for radiofreesatan, where he is a DJ and is described as “an unscrupulous journalist.” He is also connected to the Process group. He paid to enter the conference with a check and stopped payment on the check after the conference. His articles on our conference have been removed from several websites on the Internet due to defamation.

While myself and others were defending our work when his articles appeared on these websites, comments appeared on these websites either by the article writer or by aliases in his writing style calling conference members and supporters pedophiles, quacks, exploiters, frauds and worse. This may happen on this site as well. It appears that two of the long comments below were also written in the same writing style as the article writer.

A true skeptic looks at both sides of the story equally and then comes to a conclusion. This did not happen here. This author obviously has an agenda, due to his affiliation with Satanic websites. His intent was not to write a balanced or fair article. His intent was to defame and attack.

Why is Mr. “Mesner” afraid to use his own name?

The author continues his attack on child abuse survivors and his name calling and insults on the conference attendees in Part 2.

He insults one of our older conference presenters, stating she is “infirm.”

He attacks the book “Michelle Remembers” with an article now posted on the “Temple of Set” website.

What he fails to mention is that the book’s accuracy was verified by the publisher, see http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/day-...

A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER: “The source material was scrutinized. The many thousands of pages of transcript of the tape recordings that Dr. Pazder and Michelle Smith made of their psychiatric sessions were read and digested; they became the basis of this book. The tapes themselves were listened to in good measure, and the videotapes made of some of his sessions were viewed. Both the audio and video are powerfully convincing. It is nearly unthinkable that the protracted agony they record could have been fabricated.”

He also attacks the book “Sybil.” Yet, Sybil’s psychiatrist, Cornelia Wilbur, went to great lengths to validate the accounts of abuse…. The case firmly linked multiple personality disorder with child abuse. And Dr. Leah Dickstein of the University of Louisville in Kentucky, who said she was in touch with Sybil for several years after Wilbur’s death, recalls Sybil telling her, “tell people every word in the book is true.”‘ Dickstein, who knew Wilbur, said Wilbur “had no need to make this up.”

The author of the attack on our conference attacks Bennett Braun in the Burgus case.

Here’s a summary of the research on Burgus v. Braun et al that was presented by a researcher at the 2002 International Society for the Study of Dissociation conference in Baltimore….In 1993 the Burgus family filed a malpractice lawsuit against Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, Dr. Elva Poznanski, the boys” psychiatrist, and Dr. Bennett Braun, Pat’s psychiatrist…Before her hospitalization at Rush in 1983, Pat spent most days in bed in with the curtains drawn, unable to care for herself. She threatened to kill herself and others. Her husband came home for lunch to make sure the boys were fed. She became convinced that the doctor who did her tubal ligation had implanted a fetus during the surgery. She approached mothers of infant daughters, asking them if they would trade their daughter for her infant son, Mikey. Pat entered Rush diagnosed with multiple personality disorder and borderline personality disorder. Upon admission Pat was agitated and incoherent. During her first month on the unit and before she was placed on meds, Pat told staff “I’m switching [personalities] out of control today. I’m doing so much switching today I can’t believe it.” Pat testified that the rapid switching decreased over time as her medications were increased….Other patients said they recognized her from her participation in cult-related criminal activities. At the time of her release from Rush in 1987 Pat was more stable and integrated. Did Pat’s psychiatrist implant false memories as Pat has claimed? On January 17, 1997, a defense attorney asked Pat about the source of her memories. Pat repeatedly conceded that she had originated all the memories herself. Her psychiatrist did not implant any memories. He had simply passed on to her what the other patients had reported.”

Candidate accused by former patient by Thomas R. O’Donnell – Des Moines Register – 10/28/98 – “A former Iowan who won a $10.6 million settlement from a Chicago hospital and two psychiatrists said the diagnosis of multiple personalities and repressed memories of satanic cults that led to her lawsuit originated with a West Des Moines clinical social worker. But the social worker, Ann-Marie Baughman, now a Polk County legislative candidate, said that when she started counseling Patricia Burgus in 1982, Burgus was a troubled woman who was threatening to kill herself and others. Burgus…also was displaying behavior that Baughman could not understand. “It was the physical changes more than just the verbal expressions of what she was telling me” that led Baughman to conclude she was seeing multiple personalities. The “muscles in her face would all relax . . . and she would just look different. It was just the eeriest thing….But suggestions that Braun somehow planted the horrific memories in Burgus’ head are wrong, Baughman said, because they started surfacing during her sessions with Burgus in Des Moines….In the settlement, reached last fall after six years of litigation, neither the hospital nor the psychiatrists, Braun and Elva Poznanski, admitted fault. Braun has said his insurance company settled over his objections.”

It appears that Burgus’ symptoms appeared before her work with Braun, something the attacking author appears to ignore.

The attacking author states he only found one mention of the Amirault case on our website http://ritualabuse.us

He obviously did not look very hard.

“All nine children testified in a broadly consistent way…The children testified to numerous instances of sexual abuse. Some of the children testified that they were photographed during this abuse, describing a big camera with wires, a red button, and pictures which came out of the camera. The children testified that the defendant threatened them and told them that their families would be harmed if they told anyone about the abuse….The Commonwealth also presented a pediatric gynecologist and pediatrician who examined five of the girls who testified…She made findings consistent with abuse in four of the girls.”

Additional information on the Amirault case is at our website at http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/day-...

“in Amirault, the majority of the female children who testified had some relevant physical findings, as did several female children involved in the investigation who did not participate in the trial. The findings included labial adhesions and hymenal scarring of the sort present in avery small percentage of non-sexually abused children.”

“Victims in the Fells Acres child abuse case broke down Thursday as they described their pain publicly for the first time in hopes of keeping the last person convicted in the case behind bars. Victims urged her to keep Amirault in prison.”

“This family raped me, molested me and totally ruined my life,’’said Jennifer Bennett, who was 3 1/2 years old when she started at Fells Acres. “We weren’t coaxed. We weren’t lying. We’re telling the truth and we always will.”

The attacking author states “sexually repressed housewives may place themselves in the midst of deviant orgies in which they had no choice but to participate.” This incredible statement shows the authors thinking clearly.

The attacking author even criticizes the story of one speaker that has signed confessions of Satanic Ritual Abuse from her mother and stepfather.

The attacking author states the conference is “full of bullshit.” He even criticizes the well established diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder, citing Paul McHugh.

Information on Paul McHugh is at http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/paul-...

quotes from cited articles at our website include:

“The problem with McHugh’s publications on MPD/DID, like those of Mersky, is that they are mere speculation. From deposition testimony in several cases, McHugh has made it clear that other than an occasional consultation, he has very little actual clinical experience with the ongoing treatment of MPD/DID patients and is generally unfamiliar with both the clinical features of MPD/DID and with what usually occurs in their treatment. This McHugh’s opinion is informed neither by actual in-depth clinical experience with contemporary MPD/DID patients nor by any scientific research on MPD.”

“At least eight men have been convicted of sexually abusing Maryland children while under treatment at the “sex disorders” clinic McHugh runs at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine – abuse the doctors did not report, citing client confidentiality.”

The attacking author writes “As Brick wrote in an angry comment upon my first half of this article, “who are you to decide what people remember?” Yet, Brick did not say any such thing. This is more inaccurate writing from the attacking author.

The attacking author in the original version of his article writes “Disassociative Disorders” and “Disassociative Identity Disorder” yet they are actually called “Dissociative Disorders” and “Dissociative Identity Disorder.”

But if the author had any experience in the field, he would know this.
The attacking author’s continued one-sided attack on our conference is inaccurate, insulting and simply untrue.

The following comments were made later on defending the conference, following further comments that included name calling and insults that were written about myself and the conference attendees.

9/4/09

As a speaker at the conference as well as “named” throughout this commentary, I am amazed and appalled at the inclusion of a seriously flawed “report” from a man who faked his identity to attend, canceled his check that was to pay for his attendance, misrepresented who he was, and then failed to check his “facts” about not only myself but others in attendance as well. His errors include such small details as my age and health, reason for sitting at a table (too many papers to juggle standing up), and larger ones such as misquoting and putting words in my mouth. My presentation is on tape, and it would have been easy for him to verify any of his shaky “facts”, but he chose to make fun of our pain, as well. We did not ask him to attend, he did not interview any of us in his “official” capacity as a reporter, and after reading part one in which he made sophomoric sport of his descriptions of attendees, I really did not expect anyone to legitimize his “work”. Googling him has given a clearer picture of a man who is full of contradictions. As a member of an atheist group, he then has a blog with artwork depicting a gleeful satan, another in which he grins as he holds up a jar containing a dead fetus, as well as proclaiming himself as playing the role of a prankster in his reporting. He may throw all the stones he wants. Truth is not dependent on any one man’s visions or delusions. True research, on both sides of the arguments presented, would give a much more balanced picture, but that requires actual intelligent examination of the material.

I do not know what the goal here is in accepting and publishing this satirical piece of commentary, but am disappointed that anyone can make any statements they choose about a topic like this and have it printed as if it is gospel. If Mr. “Undercover reporter” wishes to engage me directly, all he had to do was ask. Perhaps someone acquainted with him might be able to put some context into his purpose for sneaking into a conference where reporters may interview subjects outside of the conference room, with permission of those he interviews, but are purposely excluded from the speeches themselves.

This site seems dedicated to exposing abuse, yet it publishes this article that, on the contrary, denies the abuse of people he has virtually no prior knowledge about.

I expect more attacks–that is the classic M.O. of a debunker. Regardless, this report is about as factual as a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. I expected better of your publication.

Julaine Cooper

9/4/09

To Julaine,

I applaud you for standing up to this self-described journalist who apparently thought by defaming you he could influence others not to accept the reality of the crimes that you suffered. Your truth speaks much louder than his insults and debunks.

To the sponsors of the SMART conference,

I applaud you for continuing year after year, in spite of the personal insults you have been hit with because of your efforts to make the world safer for children.

To the owners of this website. I don’t understand how you can allow the article misrepresenting the SMART conference and giving distorted views of the history and literature on the topics of ritual abuse stay online and associated with your organization. It is my understanding that another online journal took this self-described journalist’s first article down apparently because of its libelous statements.

It is also my understanding that many victims report that they were victims of satanic ritual abuse by Catholic clergy. I ask that you do as the other online journal did and remove this self-described journalist’s reports from your website.

It went on – look up the Church Committee. It's all out in the open, even though it `doesn't exist'.

At least come up with something new, armchair skeptics. Isn't it amazing that people have mpd/did before they ever see the therapists who allegedly plant the disorder?