Correspondence
Correspondence THERAPEUTIC THREAT It was shocking to read Christopher Caldwell's revelation regarding the behavioral therapy of a young child, considered to be normal by her first grade teacher...
...So is the idea of a behavioral disorder that flares up only when its alleged sufferer is in the presence of his "primary caretaker" (as Croke states in point 7) and goes immediately into remission when someone else enters the room...
...Fortunately for us, no one worried about breeding aggression, and self-esteem hadn't been discovered yet...
...Millis, MA I READ WITH DISGUST the article by Christopher Caldwell, "Death by Therapy...
...Colorado, however, is one of the least regulated states on matters of psychotherapy, and Watkins practiced "attachment therapy" for years with the degree Croke describes: a Master's in [Non-Clinical] Social Work...
...During the 1980s he arguably was its most influential proponent...
...2) Foster Cline did not originate "holding therapy" and never claimed to have done so...
...But Watkins's license had lapsed, her conduct was condemned by a former head of the North Carolina state association of Licensed Clinical Social Workers as "extremely disturbing," and she was convicted on April 20 of unlawful practice of psychotherapy...
...Correspondence THERAPEUTIC THREAT It was shocking to read Christopher Caldwell's revelation regarding the behavioral therapy of a young child, considered to be normal by her first grade teacher and others ("Death by Therapy," May 28...
...This Calasso calls "absolute literature," and Valiunas adds that it "pays no obeisance to the petty idols of social usefulness...
...5) While I do not have personal knowledge of the credentials Connell Watkins holds, simple research would show that it is standard in most states to permit persons holding the degree Cald-well attributes to Watkins to practice psychotherapy independently...
...Caldwell is correct that the holding and rebirthing therapies advocated by Cline, Watkins, and others have never been scientifically validated...
...ALBERT KEITH WHITAKER Chicago, IL THE REAL MALLARME IN "PAGANS & MODERNS" (May 28), Algis Valiunas quotes Robert Calasso: "In Mallarme, the material of poetry is brought back, with unprecedented and as yet unrepeated determination, to mental experience...
...The incident is documented by both the Colorado Board of Medical Examiners and the Colorado Psychiatric Society...
...I am disabled by cerebral palsy, and as a child growing up in the late fifties and early sixties, I attended a special school strictly for handicapped children...
...We're all going to die, no matter how many aerobics classes we take...
...If the citizens of North Carolina wish to avoid a repeat of this shameful episode, they must demand a thorough and public investigation of their family welfare system...
...A far cry, indeed, from Lautreamont and the surrealists ("automatic writing") and the others Val-iunas lumps together...
...How is it that this is the first time we hear about something like this...
...The slow process of the legal system will ultimately punish the transgressors, but the basic source of the monstrosity will remain unpunished and intact...
...I don't know what Kass's stance is on spinning classes or anti-oxidants...
...I did not know that Cline was a political conservative, but cannot see why Croke considers it of the slightest importance...
...The mystifying aspect of this horrifying disclosure is acceptance of this method as a beneficial remedy by the therapist and Candace's stepmother, who submitted her for treatment...
...ROGER L. COOPER Vero Beach, FL CHRISTOPHER CALDWELL'S ARTICLE on the death of 10-year-old Candace was moving and very disturbing...
...True conservative, pro-life, pro-adoption, anti-crime advocates should be screaming for serious study of these methods to continue, not sabotaging them with sensational and inaccurate journalism...
...The parody's reference to "differently abled" children (now the politically correct way of referring to disabled people, I suppose) in this context was especially amusing for me...
...I'm sure kids fell and banged up an elbow or a knee here or there, and that the more severely disabled kids were pretty easy marks for the less disabled (horror of horrors in today's world, for sure), but, as I think back, this was probably very therapeutic for most of us, and more important, it was just plain fun...
...A child is dead...
...3) The suggestion that the liberal press, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, skipped this story out of liberal bias is discordant with the undeniable fact that the promotion of holding therapy by Cline was an expression of his ultra-conservative politics and, to a lesser degree, his Christian faith...
...Luckily, Dr...
...To say that RAD is "fully accepted in traditional psychiatric circles" is preposterous...
...Cline may have kept his shingle up for a time, but he agreed to stop practicing rage reduction therapy and later moved to Idaho...
...But the course of treatment developed at the Attachment Center in Evergreen—which included "holding therapy," known less euphemistically as "intrusive restraint"—was Foster Cline's own...
...Nowhere did I "suggest" (nor do I believe) that "liberal bias" is the reason the Candace Newmaker case was so little covered in the press...
...It must have been quite a sight to see kids on crutches, in leg braces, and in wheelchairs, hobbling and wheeling about to avoid being the target...
...What is wrong with our society today that something as wretched as this receives no press while disciplining children who need it makes the front pages and the evening news night after night...
...No one has been less improvi-sational than Mallarme...
...On RAD: Reactive Attachment Disorder has been listed since 1987 in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, along with many other ill-understood diseases, syndromes, and disorders whose very existence is controversial...
...The sight of those poor children being ripped from their parents' arms was also disturbing...
...Poor Candace longed for her mother and siblings, seemingly natural and understandable feelings for a 10-year-old, and her mother and these "therapists" brutalized the life out of her...
...I will say nothing to defend the therapists in this case...
...Christopher Caldwell's summation of the law in North Carolina makes one wonder: Whose welfare is the state concerned for...
...However, in his apparent zeal to demonize these therapists, Christopher Caldwell simply did not do his homework...
...Cooper's name is not the only one being "buzzed" about these days...
...Kenneth Cooper ("Bush's Exercise Guru," May 7...
...I note that Charles Krauthammer suggested putting Leon R. Kass, M.D., Ph.D., on this "unequaled soapbox" as surgeon general...
...however, there is significant anecdotal reporting of great progress in applying these therapies to Attachment Disordered children...
...A SECOND OPINION My thoroughly abused body is sweating, wheezing, and trembling already after reading Andrew Ferguson's deft surgeon general's warning about Dr...
...I refer to the Master of Social Work degree (MSW) that is highly respected as a clinical degree...
...MICHAEL PENCE Philadelphia, PA...
...So, Valiunas's remark that "The literary forms that tradition had hallowed now yield to inspired improvisation" won't do...
...Plainly, the term "mental" is very inadequate in this context as we know from the master Symbolist, who wrote "Song springs from an inborn source: before any concept" ("On Poe") and wrote a friend, "One must think with one's whole body...
...A few examples: (1) Foster Cline continued in practice with his name on the door at Evergreen Consultants and Attachment Center at Evergreen long after the 1988 incident Caldwell alleges...
...In the '80s and early '90s he was a whipping boy for liberals regarding views on child-care and therapy...
...While the accused therapists broke with Cline, his influence on the thinking behind this tragic event is undeniable...
...Based on that, it seems irresponsible not to continue to research the applicability of therapies involving physical contact for these children...
...The "new age" attribution was almost humorous...
...As for Thomas Croke's willful misreading of the article, let me address the points he thinks he's making...
...On Cline: "Rage reduction therapy" was pioneered by California autism specialist Robert Zaslow...
...Kass about the truly important medical dilemmas facing this nation (e.g., cloning, gene therapy, euthanasia...
...Even if I accepted (which I do not) Croke's assertion that "the Attachment Disordered children of today are likely to be the sociopaths and psychopaths of tomorrow if appropriate intervention does not occur," I would still reject the notion that "significant anecdotal reporting" (from whom, by the way...
...My own interest and bias in this matter is based upon the fact that I am an adoptive parent of a son, now in his thirties and well functioning, who exhibited all of the symptoms of Reactive Attachment Disorder as a child...
...It is also based on the fact that I professionally guide parents to therapeutic resources for children with behavioral and emotional problems...
...6) No one genuinely familiar with this case would seriously suggest that the therapists lacked remorse over the death of this child...
...7) The description of Attachment Disordered children exhibiting out-of-control behaviors primarily challenging a primary caretaker while being superficially engaging and charming with others is beyond serious dispute...
...THOMAS J. CROKE Latrobe, PA CHRISTOPHER CALDWELL RESPONDS: My thanks to Roger Cooper and Charles Fagan for their thoughtful letters...
...I quoted a few of them...
...In a country where cruel and unusual punishment is prohibited, this weird treatment defies imagination...
...Many did...
...ROBERT GREER COHN Menlo Park, CA DAYS OF DODGE BALL IT WAS WITH MUCH ENJOYMENT that I read your recent piece concerning the banning of dodge ball ("Parody," May 21...
...They knew they were operating in high-risk areas and apparently did not apply proper safeguards...
...Keep in mind that the Attachment Disordered children of today are likely to be the sociopaths and psychopaths of tomorrow if appropriate intervention does not occur...
...But there is no one who can speak as gently, firmly, and thoughtfully as Dr...
...4) The diagnosis of Reactive Attachment Disorder is fully accepted in traditional psychiatric circles...
...The criminal justice system acted...
...The key, as Leon Kass clearly observes, is not only to live healthily, but to live well...
...Croke is wrong that "no one genuinely familiar with this case would seriously suggest that the therapists lacked remorse over the death of this child...
...On Watkins: Connell Watkins was never a licensed clinical social worker...
...I don't "allege" an incident of abuse of an 11-year-old child under Cline's general supervision in 1988...
...Once a week we had physical education, more commonly called gym, and guess what...
...I do not believe the issues in this case were actually politically driven at all, but the thinking that went into the actions of these therapists have their roots in ultra-conservative ideology...
...justifies pressing ahead with "therapies involving physical contact for these children," as Croke so delicately puts it...
...CHARLES B. FAGANJR...
...We played dodge ball...
Vol. 6 • June 2001 • No. 37
