Sunday 14 August 2011

Valerie Sinason's credibility takes a dive

Disturbing new material has surfaced in the latest Satanic Ritual Abuse scandal currently being played out in the UK. The Justice For Carol website is being regularly updated as new documents become available.

As Carol's family members point out at the site:
"...Carol’s medical history is littered with the who’s who of Satanic Ritual Abuse believers. The myth of Satanic Ritual Abuse is in our opinion a national scandal. And it is a scandal which needs exposing. In 1994, Valerie Sinason edited a collection of essays about putative satanic abuse. The book, Treating Survivors of Satanist Abuse, was reviewed by one commentator as: ‘useful for anyone who needs a startling, clear demonstration of the amazing ability of 20th century human beings to persuade themselves firmly to believe in utter claptrap and nonsense.’ Carol almost certainly forms one of the case studies discussed in chapter 32 of the book...."
Sinason is considered an authority by many SRA believers, and her books and papers are often cited as references in their writings and publications.

Carol was also treated by other prominent believers in Satanic Abuse such as Dr Robert Hale, and her medical records contain a letter written by him:
"...The letter is dated 28 May 1993 and it is signed by Dr Hale. The letter confirms that Carol had received weekly therapy from Hale and Valerie Sinason, over an eight- month period. Significantly, Carol was placed on the mental health register in 1992. Dr Hale’s prognosis is that Carol was a victim of Satanist abuse and this abuse had begun in ‘very early childhood.’ In Carol’s psychiatric notes, it states that her parents were the High Priest and High Priestess of a Satanic Cult. Our family are supposed to have dug up graves and performed ritual sacrifices, which include murder. Here is a letter written by Valerie Sinason to a Dr Frances Raphael on 9th July 1997. In the letter Valerie Sinason confirms that Carol was the first Satanic Ritual Abuse patient that she had treated. As Carol was not a victim of Satanic Ritual Abuse, as there was no ritual cult whatsoever, as Carol was never abused or injured in any way, shape or form, and as the events attributed to Carol’s life did not happen and were incontrovertibly impossible, Dr Valerie Sinason’s method for treating patients such as Carol was clearly invalid, irrational, and dangerous...."
A copy of Sinason's letter has recently surfaced and is now available for download.

As the Felstead family make clear, claims made as a result of 'therapy' with Sinason and other practitioners are demonstrably false, even under cursory examination.

This surely further undermines Sinason's many assertions regarding the SRA phenomenon. Even before these latest revelations, her credibility appears to have been plummeting – at least in the UK.

This latest scandal contains lessons for other countries, including Australia – where there remains a hardened core of SRA believers within organisations such as ASCA and Liz Mullinar's Heal For Life Foundation.

More details at www.justiceforcarol.com