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The
Press
November 18, 2003
Therapist receives mixed reaction
by Martin Van Beynen
An American
ritual-abuse therapist, Ms Pamela Hudson, received a mixed reaction from a
group of Christchurch therapists, social workers and parents, a participant
said yesterday
About 40 people attended Ms Hudson's workshop at the George Hotel where it
will continue today. A separate meeting between parents of children who
attended the Christchurch Civic Childcare Centre will be held on Friday.
In 1988, Ms Hudson, a Californian mental health worker, produced a now
well-known checklist of children's symptoms and allegations that she claimed
indicated ritual abuse.
Checklist allegations such as confinement, live burial, use of needles,
defecation, and circle dancing surfaced during the Civic creche court
proceedings where, former creche workers faced child abuse charges. Symptoms
suggested by Ms Hudson were also exhibited by many of the child complainants.
The workshop participant, who did not want to be named, said she had enrolled
for the $120 seminar because she expected to treat patients suffering from
the effects of ritual abuse in the next 10 to 15 years She said Ms Hudson had
presented some sensible material and other material that was very
controversial. The participant said she was. keeping an open: mind and would
need more hard data before accepting some of Ms Hudson's propositions.
"I'm not convinced,'' she said.
Whether the workshop confirmed descriptions of Ms Hudson, as hysterical,
gullible, and paranoid depended on where "you stood on the issue",
she said.
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