Oct 31, 2012

Unification Church Leader Outs Ex-Gay Guru Richard Cohen as Moonie?

Ex-Gay Watch

Dave Rattigan
October 31, 2012

Ex-gay maverick Richard Cohen is a member of the Unification Church, according to the leader of the religious group better known as the Moonies.

Church president Hyung Jin Moon made the claim at a Bay Area town hall meeting earlier this month:

Richard Cohen is a member in our movement who has worked on this tremendously, the whole issue [of homosexuality]. Even as you mentioned, you said that people are gay through no fault of their own. But of course this is debatable; that’s an assumption. Richard Cohen actually debates that assumption. He’s actually an expert on this issue and so maybe we can connect you to him, Richard Cohen. If you could, give your contact information to Dr. Grubb, we will try to connect you to Richard Cohen. I think in our movement he is probably the foremost expert on that whole issue, and hopefully he can contribute and helping us with programs in the future as well.

Although Cohen has admitted to having been a member in the past, he has repeatedly denied having an ongoing affiliation with the Unification Church. Hyung Jin Moon’s statement now casts doubt on the denials.
If the claim is true, it is one more embarrassment for the beleaguered Cohen, whose outlandish methods have seen him held up to ridicule by the media. (His “gay cure” techniques range from beating pillows with a tennis racket to cradling his male patients like babies.)

It is also an embarrassment for his few remaining supporters in Christian circles, who undoubtedly would not be happy to associate with a group denounced widely as a cult. They include the Catholic ex-gay organization Courage (not to be confused with the LGBT-affirming British organization of the same name), who have referred members to Cohen and promoted him in their resources.

Oct 30, 2012

Why Cranial Therapy Is Silly

Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Quack Watch
October 30, 2012

Craniosacral therapy (CST) is one of many terms used to describe a various methods based on fanciful claims that:

The human brain makes rhythmic movements at a rate of 10 to 14 cycles per minute, a periodicity unrelated to breathing or heart rate.

Small cranial pulsations can be felt with the fingertips.

Restriction of movement of the cranial sutures (where the skull bones meet) interfere with the normal flow of cerebrospinal fluid (the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord) and cause disease.

Diseases can be diagnosed by detecting aberrations in this rhythm.
Pain (especially of the jaw joint) and many other ailments can be remedied by pressing on the skull bones.

Most practitioners are osteopaths, massage therapists, chiropractors, dentists, or physical therapists. The other terms used to describe what they do include cranial osteopathy, cranial therapy, bio cranial therapy, and two chiropractic variants called craniopathy and sacro occipital technique (SOT).

Dubious Claims

Osteopaths assert that CST was originated by osteopath William G. Sutherland, who published his first article on this subject in the early 1930s. Today's leading proponent is John Upledger, DO, who founded the Upledger Institute of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Various Institute publications have claimed:

CranioSacral Therapy is a gentle, noninvasive manipulative technique. Seldom does the therapist apply pressure that exceeds five grams or the equivalent weight of a nickel. Examination is done by testing for movement in various parts of the system. Often, when movement testing is completed, the restriction has been removed and the system is able to self-correct [1].
The rhythm of the craniosacral system can be detected in much the same way as the rhythms of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. But unlike those body systems, both evaluation and correction of the craniosacral system can be accomplished through palpation. CranioSacral Therapy is used for a myriad of health problems, including headaches, neck and back pain, TMJ dysfunction, chronic fatigue, motor-coordination difficulties, eye problems, endogenous depression, hyperactivity, attention deficit disorder, central nervous system disorders, and many other conditions [2].

Practitioners today rely on CranioSacral Therapy to improve the functioning of the central nervous system, eliminate the negative effects of stress, strengthen resistance to disease, and enhance overall health [3].

Using a soft touch generally no greater than 5 grams, or about the weight of a nickel, practitioners release restrictions in the craniosacral system to improve the functioning of the central nervous system. By complementing the body's natural healing processes, CST is increasingly used as a preventive health measure for its ability to bolster resistance to disease, and is effective for a wide range of medical problems associated with pain and dysfunction, including: migraine headaches; chronic neck and back pain; motor-coordination impairments; colic; autism; central nervous system disorders; orthopedic problems; traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries; scoliosis; infantile disorders; learning disabilities; chronic fatigue; emotional difficulties; stress and tension-related problems; fibromyalgia and other connective-tissue disorders; temporomandibular joint syndrome (TMJ); neurovascular or immune disorders; post-traumatic stress disorder; post-surgical dysfunction [4].

The Upledger Institute has also advocated and taught "visceral manipulation," a bizarre treatment system whose practitioners are claimed to detect "rhythmic motions" of the intestines and other internal organs and to manipulate them to "improve the functioning of individual organs, the systems the organs function within, and the structural integrity of the entire body." [5] Upledger died in October 2012, but the institute will perpetuate his teachings.

Some chiropractors claim that Nephi Cottam, D.C. introduced "cranial adjusting" (craniopathy) to the chiropractic world in 1929, several months before Sutherland publicly presented his methods. During the 1980s, a brochure distributed by his son Calvin Cottam, D.C., claimed that cranial adjustments had relieved "insanity, insomnia, paralysis . . . spoken aphasia, headache . . . trigeminal neuralgia, pain between the shoulders, pain in the stomach (apparently from ulcers), indurated empyema. . ." [6]

Weird Beliefs

Some of Upledger's beliefs are among the strangest I have ever encountered. Chapter 2 of his book, CranoSacral Therapy: Touchstone of Natural Healing, describes how he discovered and communicates with what he calls the patient's "Inner Physician":

By connecting deeply with a patient while doing CranioSacral Therapy, it was possible in most cases to solicit contact with the patient's Inner Physician. It also became clear that the Inner Physician could take any for m the patient could imagine —an image, a voice or a feeling. Usually once the image of the Inner Physician appeared, it was ready to dialog with me and answer questions about the underlying causes of the patient's health problems and what can be done to resolve them. It also became clear that when the conversation with the Inner Physician was authentic, the craniosacral system went into a holding pattern [7].

The chapter goes on to describe Upledger's care of a four-month-old French baby who was "as floppy as a rag doll." Although the baby had never been exposed to English, Upledger decided to see whether the baby's "Inner Physician" would communicate with him via the craniosacral system:

I requested aloud in English that the craniosacral rhythm stop if the answer to a question was "yes" and not stop if the answer was "no." The rhythm stopped for about ten seconds. I took this as an indication that I was being understood. I then asked if it was possible during this session for the rhythm to stop only in response to my question and not for other reasons, such as body position, etc., The rhythm stopped again. I was feeling more confident. I proceeded [7].

Using "yes-no answers," Upledger says, he pinpointed the problem as "a toxin that was inhaled by the mother . . . over a period of about two-and-a-half hours while cleaning the grease off an antique automobile engine" during the fourth month of pregnancy. After "asking many particulars" about what he should do, Upledger was told to "pump the parietal bones that form a large part of the roof of the skull, and to pass a lot of my energy through the brain from the back of the skull to the front." As he did this, Upledger frequently checked with the baby's "Inner Physician." After about an hour, Upledger says, the baby began to move normally [7].

Two Deaths Reported

Relying on CST instead of effective treatment can be dangerous. Moreover, its practice indicates poor judgement that may harm patients in other ways. At least two deaths associated with craniosacral therapy have been reported:

In 2003, a Pennsylvania chiropractor (Joann A. Gallagher) was convicted of insurance fraud in connection with the death of a 30-year-old epileptic woman whom she treated with cranial therapy. Court documents indicated that the patient died of severe seizures after following the chiropractor's advice to stop taking her anticonvulsive medication. The fraud involved submitting insurance claims falsely describing Upledger's "meningeal balancing" as spinal manipulation [8].
In 2012, a Missouri dentist (Joseph H. Kerwin) had his license revoked for contributing to the death of a 2-day-old infant who had been brought to him because of a high fever. Records in the case indicate that instead of referring the parents to a medical facility, he manipulated the child's skull and applied a vibrating machine to his sacrum. The boy died 12 hours later, and the autopsy showed that he died from complications of a subdual hematoma (a blood clot that compressed his brain). The medical examiner concluded that the hematoma could have been present at birth but was more likely caused by the skull manipulation. The dental board concluded that Kerwin had acted outside the scope of dentistry [9].
Related Systems

British osteopath Robert Boyd, who developed a variant he calls Bio Cranial Therapy, which—according to the International Bio Cranial Web site—is "extremely helpful" for "chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS); varicosity and varicose ulcers; tinnitus; bladder prolapse; prostate disorders; Meniere's syndrome; cardiovascular disturbances including hypertension, angina; skin disorders (psoriasis, eczema, acne etc); female disorders (dysmenorrhoea, PMS (PMT), menorrhagia etc); arthritis and rheumatic disorders; fibromyalgia and heel spurs; gastric disorders (hiatus hernia, ulceration, colitis); asthma and a range of bronchial disorders including bronchiectasis and emphysema." [10]

Sacro-occiptal technique (SOT) combines theories about spinal fluid pressure with chiropractic theories about spinal "nerve pressure" as a cause of ill health. Chiropractors who advocate SOT claim to detect "blockages" by feeling the skull and spine and measuring leg lengths [11].

The Scientific Viewpoint

I do not believe that CST has any therapeutic value. Its underlying theory is false because the bones of the skull fuse by the end of adolescence and no research has ever demonstrated that manual manipulation can move the individual cranial bones [12]. Nor do I believe that "the rhythms of the craniosacral system can be felt as clearly as the rhythms of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems," as is claimed by another Upledger Institute brochure [13]. The brain does pulsate, but this is exclusively related to the cardiovascular system [14], and no relationship between brain pulsation and general health has been demonstrated.

A few years ago, three physical therapists who examined the same 12 patients diagnosed significantly different "craniosacral rates," which is the expected outcome of measuring a nonexistent phenomenon [15]. Another study compared the "craniosacral rate" measured at the head and feet of 28 adults by two examiners and found that the results were highly inconsistent [16].

In 1999, after doing a comprehensive review of published studies, the British Columbia Office of Health Technology Assessment (BCOHTA) concluded that the theory is invalid and that practitioners cannot reliably measure what they claim to be modifying. The 68-page report concludes that "there is insufficient evidence to recommend craniosacral therapy to patients, practitioners, or third party payers." [17]

In 2011, the Archives of Disease in Childhood published the results of a well-designed randomized, controlled study of 142 children ages 5-12 with cerebral palsy. About half received cranial therapy (up to six sessions) and the others were placed on a "waiting list." After six months, the researers found no difference between the treatment and no-treatment groups in gross motor function or the child's quality of life [18].

In 2002, two basic science professors at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine concluded:

Our own and previously published findings suggest that the proposed mechanism for cranial osteopathy is invalid and that interexaminer (and, therefore, diagnostic) reliability is approximately zero. Since no properly randomized, blinded, and placebo-controlled outcome studies have been published, we conclude that cranial osteopathy should be removed from curricula of colleges of osteopathic medicine and from osteopathic licensing examinations [12].

I certainly agree! In fact, I believe that most practitioners of craniosacral therapy have such poor judgment that they should be delicensed.

Related Articles

Jarvis WT. Some notes on cranial manipulative therapy. NCAHF Web site, Sept 11, 2001.
Hall HA. Wired to the kitchen sink: An evaluation of Dr. John Upledger's craniosacral therapy illustrates an exercise proposed
for skeptics to develop critical thinking and a better understanding of human psychology. Skeptical Inquirer, May/June 2003.
Barrett S. Some notes on Viola Frymann, D.O. Quackwatch, Jan 26, 2003.
Reader Comment
As a physical therapist and exercise physiologist, I'd like to thank you for your article on "craniosacral therapy". Too many patients and therapists have been duped by this so-called therapy. If these therapist were ever to suggest to any self-respecting neurosurgeon, that they could move the sutures of the skull with ounces of force, they would get laughed right out of the room. I have personally witnessed how saws and drills are needed (with more than a few ounces of force) to alter the structure of the adult skull. To tell patients that you have the ability to analyze the cerebral spinal fluid flow with your fingertips and then "normalize" it by mobilizing the cranial sutures is not just quackery but malpractice. They should lose their license.

References

Discover CranioSacral Therapy. Undated flyer distributed in 1997 by the Upledger Institute.
Upledger CranioSacral Therapy I. Brochure for course, November 1997.
For serious education in complementary care . . . come to the source. Brochure for course, Upledger Institute, Aug 2001.
CranioSacral Therapy. Upledger Institute Web site, accessed Aug 15, 2001.
Visceral manipulation. Upledger Institute Web site, accessed Aug 15, 2001.
Cottam C. The first known statement about any cranial adjusting technique by any professional group. Including in a promotional mailing in 1987.
Upledger JE. CranoSacral Therapy: Touchstone of Natural Healing. Berkeley, Caliifornia: North Atlantic Books, 1999, p 51-58.
Barrett S. Bizarre therapy leads to patient's death. Chirobase, July 7, 2003.
Findings of fact, conclusions of law, and disciplinary order. Missouri Dental Board v Joseph H. Kerwin, D.D.S.. Cause No. 01-1073 DB, June 22, 2009.
Bio Cranial Therapy in action. International Bio Cranial Web site, accessed Aug 21, 2001.
Homola S. Bonesetting, Chiropractic, and Cultism, 1963.
Hartman SE, Norton JM. Interexaminer reliability and cranial osteopathy. Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine 6(1):23-34, 2002.
Workshop catalog, Upledger Institute, 1995.
Ferre JC and others. Cranial osteopathy, delusion or reality? Actualites Odonto-Stomatologiques 44:481-494, 1990.
Wirth-Pattullo V, Hayes KW. Interrater reliability of craniosacral rate measurements and their relationship with subjects' and examiners' heart and respiratory rate measurements. Physical Therapy 74:908-16, 1994.
Rogers JS and others. Simultaneous palpation of the craniosacral rate at the head and feet: Intrarater and interrater reliability and rate comparisons. Physical Therapy 78:1175-1185, 1998.
Kazanjian A and others. A systematic review and appraisal of the scientific evidence on craniosacral therapy. BCOHTA, May 1999.
Wyatt K. Cranial osteopathy for children with cerebral palsy: A randomised controlled trial. Archives of Disease in Childhood, doi:10.1136/adc.2010.199877, Feb 24, 2011.

This article was revised on October 30, 2012.

http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/cranial.html

Oct 24, 2012

The Hugging Saint

Rolling Stone
August 16, 2012
David Amsden

A guru named Amma has drawn 32 million people into her embrace - spreading a message of love, compassion and overpriced merchandise.

They make the journey every year, thousands of people heading up an unmarked, unpaved road into the feral hills outside San Ramon, a suburb some 30 miles east of San Francisco. Their destination is the tranquil and sprawling grounds of the M.A. Center, an ashram named after Mata Amritanandamayi, a 58-year-old spiritual guru from southern India. 

Known to her devotees as Amma, an honorific nickname meaning "Mother," she is most famously referred to as the "hugging saint" because of her trademark blessing: a big, rapturous hug that her admirers describe as a transformative event – an infusion of pure, unconditional love that works on you like an elixir, cleansing the soul and bringing about a higher state of consciousness. Wherever Amma goes, people wait for hours in order to kneel before her and be embraced, and they are waiting on the morning in early June when I first arrive: blissed-out clusters congregating around the ashram's temple, everyone basking in a collective mood that is as seductive as it is unnerving.

Inside Amrita Hall, as the modest A-frame structure is called, Amma is surrounded by a dense, undulating throng. Clad in a billowing white sari, her rotund figure is perched atop her dais, a cushy throne draped in garlands and strewn with rose petals. A sly, benevolent smile spreads across her face as she pulls one person after another to her bosom. This is what she does nearly every day, breaking for only a few hours in the afternoons, and going until three, four, five in the morning. Her stamina is a point of reverence among her "children," as devotees refer to themselves, more than a few of whom are sitting on the temple's open floor in the lotus position, watching the proceedings projected on a massive screen hanging from the ceiling, tears streaming down their faces.

Oct 23, 2012

Kripalu Maharaj and Prakashanand Saraswati in Barsana Dham in 2007

RISHIKA
October 23, 2012

Prakashanand Saraswati is a notorious person among members of the transcendental meditation community who were in Fairfield, Iowa, in the 1980s. That’s when he arrived in the U.S., and tried to recruit followers away from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of TM. In one infamous advertisement, Prakashanand even equated the Maharishi to Satan and in lectures claimed he was “bringing people into darkness.”

It was a curious comment, since he and the Maharisihi briefly shared a guru in the 1950s — the Jagadguru Shankaracharya Brahmanand Saraswati, known as Guru Dev. He was the Shankarcharya of Jyotirmath, a very prestigious religious seat in India. The Maharishi was his secretary for many years, until Guru Dev died in 1952.

As for Prakashanand, according to his official biography, he claims he was offered the guru’s official seat, even though he was only 22 and had known him for less than two years. What’s more, there were several official successors to the seat. Nonetheless, here’s how Prakashanand stated his version of history in his bio:

Religious Conflict Resolution - Slideshow

Studying how brain responds to hypnosis

Stephanie M. Lee
San Francisco Chronicle
October 23, 2012


Despite what Halloween lore might have you believe, hypnosis isn't all about swinging watches, magic spells and mind control.

It is the oldest Western conception of psychotherapy and, in mainstream medicine, it has been shown to help patients manage pain, stress and anxiety, and combat traumas and phobia. It is also associated with being used to retrieve "repressed" memories connected to mental disorders.


Now, new scientific research, bolstered by technological advances, is shedding light on the neurological nuances of the brain's response to hypnosis. For instance, a recent study from the Stanford University School of Medicine helps explain why some people easily fall into a trance while others do not.


David Spiegel, the study's senior author, defines hypnosis as a state of highly focused attention, achieved through deep breathing and muscle relaxation. When patients are fully hypnotized, they can, for instance, alter their minds to perceive pain as less painful.


"It's the equivalent in consciousness of a telephoto lens on a camera - great detail, but not a lot of context," said Spiegel, medical director of Stanford's Center for Integrative Medicine.


The ability to slip into this mentality varies among people, according to Spiegel's study. Published this month in Archives of General Psychiatry, it shows that the reason may have to do with the strength of connections between specific brain regions.


Spiegel and his team performed brain imaging scans on 12 adults considered highly hypnotizable and 12 others who were not so hypnotizable. They were divided into the two groups based on a test that assessed their behavioral responses to hypnosis.


The researchers examined activity in different networks in their brains while they were relaxed and not hypnotized. They found that the highly hypnotizable patients showed greater activity between parts of the executive-control network, which is involved in making decisions, and the salience network, which is involved in deciding what is important.


In particular, researchers saw a strong connection activated between the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is part of the brain's executive-control network, and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, which is part of its salience network and plays a role in focusing one's attention.


"For the high hypnotizable, it was a high level of functional connectivity," Siegel said. "If executive control is on, so is the salient network. (They) tended to work together. That's the kind of absorption you see in highly hypnotizable people. When they're in something, they're not thinking, 'Why am I doing this and not that?' "


In contrast, the activity between those regions was very low in the less hypnotizable subjects. Spiegel said his study was the first to show teamwork between the two networks in relation to hypnosis.


The 10 percent


Spiegel estimated that 10 percent of people are highly hypnotizable, one-third are not and the rest fall in between.


It is unclear why some people are more wired for hypnosis than others, but some theories posit that those who are hypnotizable especially enjoyed imaginative activities as children or learned early to focus their thoughts elsewhere in times of physical pain, Spiegel said. Another explanation holds that some people are genetically predisposed to produce certain neurotransmitters in a way that makes them more hypnotizable.


This deeper proof of people's abilities to be hypnotized helps physicians explain to patients that hypnosis "is not just some carnival trick" but a helpful medical tool, said Donald Olson, director of the pediatric epilepsy program at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. He was not involved in Spiegel's study.


In a 2008 study, Olson and Richard Shaw, a child psychiatrist at the hospital, used hypnosis to properly diagnose nine children who appeared to be epileptic.




Despite what Halloween lore might have you believe, hypnosis isn't all about swinging watches, magic spells and mind control.


It is the oldest Western conception of psychotherapy and, in mainstream medicine, it has been shown to help patients manage pain, stress and anxiety, and combat traumas and phobia. It is also associated with being used to retrieve "repressed" memories connected to mental disorders.


Now, new scientific research, bolstered by technological advances, is shedding light on the neurological nuances of the brain's response to hypnosis. For instance, a recent study from the Stanford University School of Medicine helps explain why some people easily fall into a trance while others do not.


David Spiegel, the study's senior author, defines hypnosis as a state of highly focused attention, achieved through deep breathing and muscle relaxation. When patients are fully hypnotized, they can, for instance, alter their minds to perceive pain as less painful.


"It's the equivalent in consciousness of a telephoto lens on a camera - great detail, but not a lot of context," said Spiegel, medical director of Stanford's Center for Integrative Medicine.


The ability to slip into this mentality varies among people, according to Spiegel's study. Published this month in Archives of General Psychiatry, it shows that the reason may have to do with the strength of connections between specific brain regions.


Spiegel and his team performed brain imaging scans on 12 adults considered highly hypnotizable and 12 others who were not so hypnotizable. They were divided into the two groups based on a test that assessed their behavioral responses to hypnosis.


The researchers examined activity in different networks in their brains while they were relaxed and not hypnotized. They found that the highly hypnotizable patients showed greater activity between parts of the executive-control network, which is involved in making decisions, and the salience network, which is involved in deciding what is important.


In particular, researchers saw a strong connection activated between the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is part of the brain's executive-control network, and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, which is part of its salience network and plays a role in focusing one's attention.


"For the high hypnotizable, it was a high level of functional connectivity," Siegel said. "If executive control is on, so is the salient network. (They) tended to work together. That's the kind of absorption you see in highly hypnotizable people. When they're in something, they're not thinking, 'Why am I doing this and not that?' "


In contrast, the activity between those regions was very low in the less hypnotizable subjects. Spiegel said his study was the first to show teamwork between the two networks in relation to hypnosis.


The 10 percent


Spiegel estimated that 10 percent of people are highly hypnotizable, one-third are not and the rest fall in between.


It is unclear why some people are more wired for hypnosis than others, but some theories posit that those who are hypnotizable especially enjoyed imaginative activities as children or learned early to focus their thoughts elsewhere in times of physical pain, Spiegel said. Another explanation holds that some people are genetically predisposed to produce certain neurotransmitters in a way that makes them more hypnotizable.


This deeper proof of people's abilities to be hypnotized helps physicians explain to patients that hypnosis "is not just some carnival trick" but a helpful medical tool, said Donald Olson, director of the pediatric epilepsy program at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. He was not involved in Spiegel's study.


In a 2008 study, Olson and Richard Shaw, a child psychiatrist at the hospital, used hypnosis to properly diagnose nine children who appeared to be epileptic.


The young patients periodically erupted in behavior that included twitching, loss of consciousness, shaking, jerking and falling - all signs of epilepsy. But psychological stresses, such as physical or emotional trauma, manifest in the body in virtually identical episodes in a non-epilepsy-related condition called conversion disorder, Olson said.


Determining epilepsy


The only way to truly know if epilepsy is the cause of those behaviors is to monitor the child's brain activity during such an episode for abnormal electrical impulses, he said.


To figure out who had which condition, the physicians hypnotized the children and, after they connected a panel of electrodes to their scalps, instructed them to envision an unpleasant, stressful situation and recall the feelings or events that usually preceded seizure-like behavior. Eight of the nine children responded with that behavior. To end the test, the children were then instructed to envision their favorite place.


By looking at their brain activity, the researchers found that the eight were actually experiencing non-epileptic episodes. Olson said the method is now in use at the hospital to help diagnose patients.


"Most people can sense these non-epileptic seizures coming on, and many of them can learn a self-hypnosis technique to interrupt it and keep it from coming out in a full-blown manner," Olson said.


Katie Duchscherer, 21, a senior at Stanford, didn't know she was highly hypnotizable until Spiegel mass-hypnotized her class of 150. The psychology major has participated in his studies since then and learned how to slip into that focused state of mind on her own.


Duchscherer likens the feeling to intently reading a book to the point where the rest of the world seems to disappear.


"Hypnosis is actually similar to that, but instead of focusing on the TV you're watching or the book you're reading or the project you're working on, you're focusing on what's going on inside your head and what's going on inside your body," she said.


Self-hypnosis recently proved useful during a doctor's visit, when she had a wart on her foot frozen off with liquid nitrogen.


Was it painful? Sort of - but Duchscherer said she was able to hypnotize herself into believing that she was running barefoot through the snow for fun. When it was over, her mother remarked that she hadn't even winced.


"If you can get into this brain state where you're thinking about it differently, thinking about the pain differently," she said, "it can be a lot less unpleasant."


Stephanie M. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: slee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @stephaniemlee


http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Studying-how-brain-responds-to-hypnosis-3975724.php

Oct 22, 2012

Jagadguru Kripalu denies link with wanted godman Prakashanand Saraswati

New Delhi, Oct.14 (ANI): A trust founded by Jagadguru Kripalu Ji Maharaj issued a statement over the weekend, refuting and rejecting suggestions and allegations of his link with wanted godman Swami Prakashanand Saraswati.

Saraswati has been declared a criminal in America, and a spokesman for the Jagadguru said that the spiritual leader was not in the habit of accepting or making disciples.

"It is to be noted that Prakashanand Saraswati is a disciple of Jagadguru Shankaracharya Brahmanand Saraswati (a sanyasi). Jagadguru Kripalu Ji Maharaj is a family man and is a Vaishnava," the statement said.

According to the trust, several people in India and abroad claim to be their guru's disciples, impressed by his actions and his "irrefutable devotion towards god".

"Under such circumstances, creating a misconception, and thereby, deluding the public by saying that a wanted criminal is his disciple or associated with any of the trusts functioning under his guidance, is definitely a condemnable action," the trust statement said. (ANI)

Oct 21, 2012

Jagadguru Kripalu denies link with wanted godman

4 October 2012
India News
By IANS
New Delhi: Jagadguru Kripalu Ji Maharaj and organisations functioning under his guidance have denied any connection with Swami Prakashanand Saraswati who has been declared a criminal in America, his trust said in a statement here.



Reacting to some media reports, the Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat-Shyama Shyam Dham said the guru is strictly against the practice of making disciples.
"Maharaj Ji has never ever made disciples and has never given initiation to anyone," it added.
"It is to be noted that Prakashanand Saraswati is a disciple of Jagadguru Shankaracharya Brahmanand Saraswati (a sanyasi). Jagadguru Kripalu Ji Maharaj is a family man and is a Vaishnava," the statement added.
"The above statement is stated by Jagadguru Kripalu Ji Maharaj's trust in reaction to news published in a newspaper which says that Swami Prakashanand Saraswati, wanted in a case in America, is related to Jagadguru Kripalu Ji Maharaj," it said.
According to reports, Swami Prakashanand Saraswati was sentenced on 20 counts of indecent behaviour with children by a county court in Texas March 2011. The octogenarian was sentenced in absentia to 14 years on each count. But he jumped bail and forfeited the $1.2 million bond. US marshals are still looking for him.
According to the trust, several people in India and abroad claim to be their guru's disciples, impressed by his actions and his "irrefutable devotion towards god".
"Under such circumstances, creating a misconception and thereby deluding the public by saying that a wanted criminal is his disciple or associated with any of the trusts functioning under his guidance, is definitely a condemnable action," the trust said.

Religious Conflict Resolution: A Model for Families


Patrick L. Ryan and Michael D. Langone, Ph.D.

Research suggests that in the West hundreds of thousands of individuals join and leave cultic groups each year. Research studies also suggest that at least a sizeable minority of those who join cultic groups are adversely affected. The families of these group members, and probably many other families, tend to become concerned about their loved one's group involvement.Roughly 80% of the groups that cause concern are religious. The psychological, political, and occasionally commercial groups that aren't overtly religious often influence members' lives as though they were religions because they typically bring about a major shift in members' views of self, world, and other, i.e., a conversion experience.

During the past 25 years, most professionals who work with these families have emphasized helping them persuade their loved ones to leave cultic groups. Exit counseling, a process aimed at helping families create conditions under which their loved one will reevaluate a group involvement, has been very valuable to thousands of grateful families and group members. (Exit counseling is also often referred to as "thought reform consultation.")

Nevertheless, only a very small percentage of families are able to proceed to an exit counseling intervention. In many cases an intervention is not possible or even appropriate because the loved one's relationship to a group does not fit the typical pattern of exploitative manipulation associated with the subjects of exit counseling interventions, even though the family may have valid concerns. In other cases, the loved one may be so attached to the group (e.g., because of family ties within the group, decades of commitment, fear of adjusting to the mainstream world) that his or her departure is unlikely, even with an intervention.

Very little attention has been paid to this large majority of families for whom an exit counseling is not feasible or appropriate. Livia Bardin's book, Coping with Cult Involvement: A Handbook for Families and Friends, offers some guidance. Ms. Bardin says that a cult involvement is often "a situation to manage, not a problem to solve."

This talk will explore ways in which families can more effectively "manage" a loved one's involvement in a group that causes concern, at least in part because of the nature of the conversion that it tends to bring about. The talk will approach the situation as a family conflict over what at least overtly are religious issues. Through lecture and discussion the speakers, a counseling psychologist and an exit counselor (thought reform consultant), will examine:
  • How families and group members can come to better understand and appreciate each other's perspectives on the conflict that divides them.
  • How they can improve communication so as to reduce the level of conflict.
  • How they can negotiate mutual behavioral changes that will reduce the level of conflict.
  • How they can come to terms with the need to compromise so as to protect the love between them while respecting differences that divide them.

On Using the Term "Cult"

Herbert L. Rosedale, Esq.
Michael D. Langone, Ph.D.


Even though we have each studied cults and educated people about this subject for more than 20 years, neither of us has ever felt completely comfortable with the term "cult." No other term, however, serves more effectively the linked educational and research aims of ICSA (International Cultic Studies Association, founded as American Family Foundation in 1979), the organization that we serve as president (Rosedale) and executive director (Langone).  In order to help others who have asked questions about the term "cult," we here offer some thoughts on the definition and use of this term.

Review of Definitions

According to the "Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary"(1971) the term, "cult," originally referred to "worship; reverential homage rendered to a divine being or beings...a particular form or system of religious worship; especially in reference to its external rites and ceremonies...devotion or homage to a particular person or thing."  More recently, the term has taken on additional connotations:
3 : A religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious...
4 : A system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator...
5 a. great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work...b. a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion." (Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, 1994)
Robbins's (1988) review of recent sociological contributions to the study of cults identifies four definitional perspectives:
(1) cults as dangerous, authoritarian groups;
(2) cults as culturally innovative or transcultural groups;
(3) cults as loosely structured protoreligions;
(4) Stark and Bainbridge’s (1985) subtypology that distinguishes among "audience cults" (members seek to receive information, e.g., through a lecture or tape series) "client cults" (members seek some specific benefit, e.g., psychotherapy, spiritual guidance), and "cult movements" (organizations that demand a high level of commitment from members).   The Stark and Bainbridge typology relates to their finding that cult membership increases as church membership decreases. 
Rutgers University professor Benjamin Zablocki (1997) says that sociologists often distinguish "cult" from "church," "sect," and "denomination."  Cults are innovative, fervent groups. If they become accepted into the mainstream, cults, in his view, lose their fervor and become more organized and integrated into the community; they become churches.  When people within churches become dissatisfied and break off into fervent splinter groups, the new groups are called sects. As sects become more stolid and integrated into the community, they become denominations.   Zablocki defines a cult as "an ideological organization held together by charismatic relationships and demanding total commitment."  According to Zablocki, cults are at high risk of becoming abusive to members, in part because members' adulation of charismatic leaders contributes to their becoming corrupted by the power they seek and are accorded.
Definitions proposed at various times by associates of ICSA tend to presume the manifestation of what is potential in Zablocki's definition. These definitions tend to emphasize elements of authoritarian structure, deception, and manipulation and the fact that groups may be psychotherapeutic, political, or commercial, as well as religious.   One of the more commonly quoted definitions of "cult" was articulated at an ICSA/UCLA Wingspread Conference on Cultism in 1985:
Cult (totalist type): A group or movement exhibiting a great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea, or thing and employing unethically manipulative techniques of persuasion and control (e.g. isolation from former friends and family, debilitation, use of special methods to heighten suggestibility and subservience, powerful group pressures, information management, suspension of individuality or critical judgment, promotion of total dependency on the group and fear of leaving it, etc.), designed to advance the goals of the group's leaders, to the actual or possible detriment of members,  their families, or the community. (West & Langone, 1986, pp. 119-120)
Because this and related definitions imply high levels of psychological manipulation, many students of the field have associated cults with the concept of thought reform (Lifton, 1961; Ofshe & Singer, 1986; Singer & Ofshe, 1990). Although there are many similarities between these concepts, a cult does not necessarily have to be characterized by thought reform, nor does a thought reform program necessarily have to be a cult.  Nevertheless, the two seem to go together often enough that many people mistakenly see them as necessarily linked.
Definitions advanced by ICSA associates imply that the term "cult" refers to a continuum, in which a large gray area separates "cult" from "noncult," or add qualifiers to the term "cult," such as "destructive."  These definitions suggest that there may be some debate about the appropriateness of the term as applied to a specific group, especially when available evidence indicates that the group is in or near the gray area of the continuum.  This debate can become more acute when the group in question is one that varies among its geographic locations, has different levels of membership with correspondingly different levels of commitment, has changed over time in the direction of greater or less "cultishness," or is skilled at public relations.
Because they tend to focus on certain practices and behaviors, the definitions advanced by ICSA associates are implicitly interactionist.  Like all psychologically based models, they presume that different people will respond differently to the same group environment, much as twins can respond differently to the same family environment.  Cults are not all alike.   Nor are all cult members affected in the same way, even within the same group.  Nevertheless, a huge body of clinical evidence leads ICSA associates to contend that some groups harm some members sometimes, and that some groups may be more likely to harm members than other groups.       

Using the Term: Considerations

The concept "cult," as with other concepts (e.g., "right wing," "left wing"), is a theoretical type against which actual groups are compared as best as one can with the information at one's disposal.    The theoretical type should serve as a benchmark, not as an organizing structure that selects only those observations that confirm a stereotype.   It is vital that each case be evaluated individually with regard to the group environment and the person(s) interacting within and with that environment.
Much as people may wish that it were so, the fact is that, at least at present, no scientific "test" incontrovertibly establishes whether or not a group is indeed a "cult."   Although ICSA's Group Psychological Abuse Scale (Chambers, Langone, Dole, & Grice, 1994) is a useful and promising tool for assessing groups scientifically, this self-report measure needs further psychometric development and should be supplemented by observational measures yet to be devised.   Cult research is in a stage similar to that of depression research when the first objective measures of depression as a mental and emotional state were being developed.   The lack of objective measures didn’t nullify the utility of definitions of depression then in use, but the development of such measures enhanced definitional understanding and classification reliability.   In the years ahead, we hope to see similar progress in cultic studies.  
Because of the current ambiguity surrounding the term "cult," ICSA does not produce an official list of "cults," even though some people mistakenly interpret any list (e.g., a list of groups on which we have information) as a list of "cults."   Such a list would have little utility because there are thousands of groups about which people have expressed concern, yet scientific research has been conducted on few groups.   A list could even be misleading because some people might mistakenly think that the label "cult" implies that the group in question has all the significant attributes of the hypothetical type "cult," when in fact it has only some of those attributes.   Conversely, some people may mistakenly assume that because a group is not on the list, they need not be concerned.   Thus, when inquirers ask us, "Is such and such a cult?”   we tend to say, "Study our information on psychological manipulation and cultic groups, then apply this information to what you know and can find out about the group that concerns you."   Our goal is to help inquirers make more informed judgments and decisions, not to dictate those judgments and decisions.
We try to direct inquirers’ attention to potentially harmful practices, rather than to a label. In essence, we say:   "These are practices that have been associated with harmful effects in some people.   To what, if any extent, are these practices found in the group in question?   And how might you or your loved one be affected by these practices?"   One of us (Langone) tries to focus a family’s concerns by saying: "Assume, even if only for the sake of argument, that your loved one were not in a `cult.'  What if anything about his or her behavior would trouble you?"   After the troubling behaviors are identified, then the family can try to determine how, if at all, these behaviors are related to the group environment.  A label tends to be superfluous at this point in the analysis.
Thus, we advocate a nuanced, evidence-based approach to definition and classification.   We do not ignore or disparage evidence indicating that some groups may closely approach the theoretical type, “cult.”   Nor do we deny the necessity to make expert judgments about whether or not a particular set of group processes harmed a specific person or persons, a judgment that mental health clinicians and other professionals sometimes have to make in therapeutic or forensic contexts.   We do, however, advocate that these kinds of judgments should rest on careful analyses of structure and behavior within a specific context, rather than a superficial classification decision.
Such analyses sometimes result in the conclusion that some groups that harm some people are not necessarily cults.   A new age group that is neither manipulative nor authoritarian might harm some people because it advocates a medically dangerous diet or psychologically harmful practices.  A church may harm some believers because its pastor is domineering and abusive.   

A psychotherapist may harm some patients because she or he doesn't adequately understand how memory works and may, with the best of intentions, induce false memories in clients.   

These are all examples of individual harm related to interpersonal influence.  They are all examples of situations that might understandably arouse the concern of the harmed person's family and of ICSA.    But these situations are not necessarily "cult" situations, even though they may have a family resemblance to the concept "cult."   On the other hand, because appearances can deceive, especially in cults, further investigation of such cases may reveal the presence of cultic dynamics. The important point to keep in mind is that classification decisions should be based on the best available evidence and should always be subject to reevaluation.
Even though the term "cult" has limited utility, it is so embedded in popular culture that those of us concerned about helping people harmed by group involvements or preventing people from being so harmed cannot avoid using it.   Whatever the term's limitations, it points us in a meaningful direction.   And no other term relevant to group psychological manipulation (e.g., sociopsychological influence, coercive persuasion, undue influence, exploitative manipulation) has ever been able to capture and sustain public interest, which is the sine qua non of public education.   If, however, we cannot realistically avoid the term, let us at least strive to use it judiciously. 

References 

Chambers, W., Langone, M., Dole, A., & Grice, J.   (1994).   The Group Psychological Abuse Scale:   A measure of the varieties of cultic abuse. Cultic Studies Journal, 11(1), 88-117.

Lifton, R. J.   (1961).   Thought reform and the psychology of totalism.   New York: Norton.Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary, tenth edition.   (1994).   Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.

Ofshe, R., & Singer, M. T.  (1986).   Attacks on peripheral versus central elements of self   and the impact of thought reforming techniques. Cultic Studies Journal, 3(1), 3-24.


Robbins, T.   (1988).   Cults, converts, and charisma.   London: Sage.


Singer, M. T., & Ofshe, R.  (1990). Thought reform programs and the production of psychiatric casualties.   Psychiatric Annals, 20, 188-193.


Stark, R., & Bainbridge, W. (1985).   The future of religion: Secularization, revival and cult formation.   Berkeley: University of California (cited in Robbins, 1988).


The compact edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. (1980).   Oxford:   Oxford University Press.


West, L. J., & Langone, M. D. (1986).   Cultism:   A conference for scholars and policy makers.  Cultic Studies Journal, 3, 117-134.


Zablocki, B. (1997).   Paper presented to a conference, “Cults: Theory and Treatment Issues,” May 31, 1997 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Maharishi Ayur-Veda: Guru's marketing scheme promises the world eternal 'perfect health'

Andrew A. Skolnick
JAMA, Medical News & Perspectives
Oct. 2, 1991


IF THE CLAIMS of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi prove true, those who follow him soon will be blessed with eternal youth, "perfect health," and the "strength of an elephant." They will be able to "walk through walls," make themselves "invisible," and "fly through the air" without the benefit of machines.


In addition, there will be no more war or crime. Automobile accidents will be a thing of the past, and even the weather will have to obey their collective consciousness.


Such are the widely promoted claims of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement and Maharishi Ayur-Veda, some of which were presented by authors Deepak Chopra, MD, Hari M. Sharma, MD, FRCPC, and Brihaspati Dev Triguna, in their "Letter From New Delhi" ("Maharishi Ayur-Veda: Modern Insights Into Ancient Medicine," JAMA.1991;265:2633-2637).


According to a number of experts on religious cults, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Hindu swami from India, began his rise to fame and great fortune in the 1960s when the Beatles rock group briefly joined his following of worshipers. Today, he leads many thousands of devoted followers who are dedicated to bringing about his widely publicized "Master Plan to Create Heaven on Earth. "Many of these disciples are prominent in science, medicine, education, sports, entertainment, and the news media. According to Indian newspaper reports, his master plan has created an empire for the guru conservatively estimated to be worth more than $2 billion. But according to representatives of the TM movement, the Maharishi's plan to turn earth into heaven is not just wishful thinking; they say they have more than 500 scientific studies to prove they can do it.


Among them now is the "Letter From New Delhi," which is being pointed to throughout the TM movement as a sign that the Maharishi's plan is gaining scientific respectability. However, among many authorities on quackery and long-time watchers of this movement, the article in JAMA has brought anger and dismay. (Please see Letters, pages 1769 through 1774.) They say that Maharishi Ayur-Veda is not traditional Indian medicine, but the latest of the Maharishi's schemes to boost the declining numbers of people taking TM courses, through which the movement recruits new members.

This June, members of the TM community in Fairfield, Iowa, were called to a special assembly at one of the Maharishi International University's "Golden Domes of Pure Knowledge" to celebrate the news of JAMA's publication of "Letter From New Delhi." The same month, The Fairfield (Iowa) Source, a monthly newspaper that is run by members of the movement, reported that the "Letter From New Delhi" was "the lead article in JAMA."(The newspaper has since published a correction identifying it as the first article in the issue rather than the lead scientific article--a subtle but important difference.)

Failure to Disclose Connections


What the newspaper didn't report was what editors of THE JOURNAL learned shortly after the article was published: The authors are involved in organizations that promote and sell the products and services about which they wrote. Despite this, they submitted a signed financial disclosure form with their manuscript indicating that they had no such affiliations.

The statement, which all authors of articles accepted by JAMA must sign before publication, says: "I certify that any affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with a direct financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript (eg, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, expert testimony) are listed below. Otherwise, my signature indicates that I have no such financial interest. "The authors of the "Letter from New Delhi" listed no involvements or affiliations. Upon learning otherwise, THE JOURNAL immediately requested a full accounting from the authors, which was published as a financial disclosure correction (JAMA.1991;266:798). 

Although the confusing list apparently holds the record in terms of length for corrections published in THE JOURNAL, it still is incomplete. In addition to being the medical director of TM's premiere health facility, the Maharishi Ayurveda Health Center for Stress Management and Behavioral Medicine, in Lancaster, Mass, and a former consultant and board member for Maharishi Ayur-Veda Products International (MAPI) Inc, also in Lancaster (the sole distributor of Maharishi Ayur-Veda TM products, an extensive line of herbs, teas, oils, food supplements, incense, and devices said to prevent or treat disease and reverse aging), Chopra performs many of the unproven and expensive Maharishi Ayur-Veda services throughout the country. Indeed, he claims to have treated more than 10 000 patients with these remedies between 1985 and 1990 (Perfect Health: The Complete Mind/Body Guide.New York, NY: Harmony Books; 1990:6). 

Starting Out in Mainstream America



Starting Out in Mainstream America offers information about life in the USA today. 

Adjusting to any new culture can be slow, difficult, and painful. If you are entering or preparing for re-entry into mainstream American life after a long absence, or perhaps for the first time, you may have many questions about where to find and how to do things.

This book provides practical solutions for people with needs like:

  • getting a driver’s license
  • finding a place to live
  • finding a job or job training
  • getting health care
  • finding your way around the legal system
  • Abuse and neglect
  • Communications skills
  • Relationships
  • Parenting skills
  • Aspects of mainstream culture like music, movies, and sports

First International Conference - Cultic Groups in Society- Ciampino (Rome) 18 - September 2010




First International Conference - Cultic Groups in Society- Ciampino (Rome) 18 - September 2010

Overview - Speaker: Michael Langone - 
First Part - ABSTRACT IN ITALIANO - Introduzione - Questa relazione affronta il lavoro dell'International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA). Si spiegherà innanzitutto il lavoro teoretico e razionale dell'attività discutendo alcuni aspetti relativi alle definizioni, la varietà tra i diversi Nuovi Movimenti Religiosi, l'interazione tra le variabili personali ed ambientali, la ricerca clinica relativa al danno, e i diversi trattamenti e approcci educativi all'argomento. In ultimo si descriveranno aspetti specifici del lavoro dell'ICSA, inclusa la consulenza, i laboratori, le conferenze, i gruppi di supporto e l'addestramento per i professionisti della salute mentale.

Intervention (playlist)

Intervention Video: Joseph Kelly

Cult Mediation/Intervention Video: Patrick Ryan

Essay: Coping With Trance States

Patrick Ryan

Cult Observer, Volume 10, No. 3, 1993, "Guest Column: Coping With Trance States"; and first appeared in the Summer 1992 issue of TM EX NEWS.

Trance states, derealization, dissociation, spaceyness. What are they? What strategies can we use to cope with them? By trance states we mean dissociation, depersonalization, and derealization. In the group we called it spacing out or higher/altered states of consciousness. All humans have some propensity to have moments of dissociation. However, certain practices (meditation, chanting, learned processes of speaking in tongues, prolonged guided imagery, etc.) appear to have ingrained in many former members a reflexive response to involuntarily enter altered states of consciousness. (These altered states are defined fully in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [DSM III]).

Even after leaving the group and ceasing its consciousness altering practices, this habitual, learned response tends to recur under stress. For some former members this can be distressing and affect their functioning. When this happens, it tends to impair one’s concentration, attention, memory, and coping skills.

Many former members coming from groups practicing prolonged consciousness altering find that the intensity, frequency, and duration of the episodes decrease when they deliberately and consistently use the strategies outlined below.

It is important to note that when one is tired, ill, or under stress, the feelings of spaceyness, dissociation, depersonalization, and derealization may temporarily return. By developing the ability to immediately label these states and attempting the following strategies, one can return to a consistent state of mental functioning.

Maintain a routine.


  • Make change slowly, physically, emotionally, nutritionally, geographically, etc.
  • Monitor health, watch nutrition, get medical checkups. Avoid drugs and alcohol.
  • Take daily exercise to reduce dissociation (spaceyness, anxiety, and insomnia).
  • Avoid sensory overload. Avoid crowds or large spaces without boundaries (shopping malls, video arcades, etc.) Drive consciously without music.

Reality orientation

  • Establish time end place landmarks such as calendars and clocks.
  • Make lists of activities in advance. Update lists daily or weekly. Difficult tasks and large projects should be kept on separate lists.
  • Before going on errands, review lists of planned activities, purchases, and projects. Mark items off as you complete them.
  • Keep updated on current news. News shows (CNN, Headline News, talk radio) are helpful because they repeat, especially if you have memory and concentration difficulties.

Reading

  • Try to read one complete news article daily to increase comprehension.
  • Develop reading "stamina" with the aid of a timer, and increase reading periods progressively.

Sleep interruptions

  • Leave talk radio/television and news programs (not music) on all night.
  • Don’t push yourself. After years or months, dissociation is a habit that takes time to break.

Ayn Rand on Human Nature

Scientific American
Eric Michael Johnson
October 5, 2012

“Every political philosophy has to begin with a theory of human nature,” wrote Harvard evolutionary biologist Richard Lewontin in his book Biology as Ideology. Thomas Hobbes, for example, believed that humans in a “state of nature,” or what today we would call hunter-gatherer societies, lived a life that was “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short” in which there existed a “warre of all against all.” This led him to conclude, as many apologists for dictatorship have since, that a stable society required a single leader in order to control the rapacious violence that was inherent to human nature. Building off of this, advocates of state communism, such as Vladimir Lenin or Josef Stalin, believed that each of us was born tabula rasa, with a blank slate, and that human nature could be molded in the interests of those in power.

Ever since Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand has been gaining prominence among American conservatives as the leading voice for the political philosophy of laissez-faire capitalism, or the idea that private business should be unconstrained and that government’s only concern should be protecting individual property rights. As I wrote this week in Slate with my piece “Ayn Rand vs. the Pygmies,” the Russian-born author believed that rational selfishness was the ultimate expression of human nature.

“Collectivism,” Rand wrote in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal “is the tribal premise of primordial savages who, unable to conceive of individual rights, believed that the tribe is a supreme, omnipotent ruler, that it owns the lives of its members and may sacrifice them whenever it pleases.” An objective understanding of “man’s nature and man’s relationship to existence” should inoculate society from the disease of altruistic morality and economic redistribution. Therefore, “one must begin by identifying man’s nature, i.e., those essential characteristics which distinguish him from all other living species.”

As Rand further detailed in her book The Virtue of Selfishness, moral values are “genetically dependent” on the way “living entities exist and function.” Because each individual organism is primarily concerned with its own life, she therefore concludes that selfishness is the correct moral value of life. “Its life is the standard of value directing its actions,” Rand wrote, “it acts automatically to further its life and cannot act for its own destruction.” Because of this Rand insists altruism is a pernicious lie that is directly contrary to biological reality. Therefore, the only way to build a good society was to allow human nature, like capitalism, to remain unfettered by the meddling of a false ideology.

“Altruism is incompatible with freedom, with capitalism and with individual rights,” she continued. “One cannot combine the pursuit of happiness with the moral status of a sacrificial animal.” She concludes that this conflict between human nature and the “irrational morality” of altruism is a lethal tension that tears society apart. Her mission was to free humanity from this conflict. Like Marx, she believed that her correct interpretation of how society should be organized would be the ultimate expression of human freedom.

As I demonstrated in my Slate piece, Ayn Rand was wrong about altruism. But how she arrived at this conclusion is revealing both because it shows her thought process and offers a warning to those who would construct their own political philosophy on the back of an assumed human nature. Ironically, given her strong opposition to monarchy and state communism, Rand based her interpretation of human nature on the same premises as these previous systems while adding a crude evolutionary argument in order to connect them.

Rand assumed, as Hobbes did, that without a centralized authority human life would erupt into a chaos of violence. “Warfare–permanent warfare—is the hallmark of tribal existence,” she wrote in The Return of the Primitive. “Tribes subsist on the edge of starvation, at the mercy of natural disasters, less successfully than herds of animals.” This, she reasoned, is why altruism is so pervasive among indigenous societies; prehistoric groups needed the tribe for protection. She argued that altruism is perpetuated as an ideal among the poor in modern societies for the same reason.

“It is only the inferior men that have collective instincts—because they need them,” Rand wrote in a journal entry dated February 22, 1937. This kind of primitive altruism doesn’t exist in “superior men,” Rand continued, because social instincts serve merely as “the weapon and protection of the inferior.” She later expands on this idea by stating, “We may still be in evolution, as a species, and living side by side with some ‘missing links.’”

Rand’s view that social instincts only exist among “inferior men” should not be dismissed as something she unthinkingly jotted down in a private journal. In two of her subsequent books—For the New Intellectual and Philosophy: Who Needs It?, where it even serves as a chapter heading—Rand quips that scientists may find the “missing link” between humans and animals in those people who fail to utilize their rational selfishness to its full potential. How then does Rand explain the persistence of altruistic morality if human nature is ultimately selfish? By invoking the tabula rasaas an integral feature of human nature in which individuals can advance from inferior to superior upwards along the chain of life.

“Man is born tabula rasa,” Rand wrote in her Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, “all his knowledge is based on and derived from the evidence of his senses. To reach the distinctively human level of cognition, man must conceptualize his perceptual data” (by which she means using logical deductions). This was her solution to the problem of prosocial behavior and altruism among hunter-gatherer societies.

“For instance, when discussing the social instinct—does it matter whether it had existed in the early savages?” Rand asks in her journal on May 9, 1934. “Supposing men were born social (and even that is a question)—does it mean that they have to remain so? If man started as a social animal—isn’t all progress and civilization directed toward making him an individual? Isn’t that the only possible progress? If men are the highest of animals, isn’t man the next step?” Nearly a decade later, on September 6, 1943, she wrote, “The process here, in effect, is this: man is raw material when he is born; nature tells him: ‘Go ahead, create yourself. You can become the lord of existence—if you wish—by understanding your own nature and by acting upon it. Or you can destroy yourself. The choice is yours.’”

While Rand states in Philosophy: Who Needs It? that “I am not a student of the theory of evolution and, therefore, I am neither its supporter nor its opponent,” she immediately goes on to make claims about how evolution functions. “After aeons of physiological development, the evolutionary process altered its course, and the higher stages of development focused primarily on the consciousness of living species, not their bodies” (italics mine). Rand further expands on her (incorrect) views about evolution in her journal.

“It is precisely by observing nature that we discover that a living organism endowed with an attribute higher and more complex than the attributes possessed by the organisms below him in nature’s scale shares many functions with these lower organisms. But these functions are modified by his higher attribute and adapted to its function—not the other way around” (italics mine). – Journals of Ayn Rand, July 30, 1945.

One would have to go back to the 18th century (and Aristotle before that) to find a similar interpretation of nature. This concept of “the great chain of being,” brilliantly discussed by the historian Arthur Lovejoy, was the belief that a strict hierarchy exists in the natural world and species advance up nature’s scale as they get closer to God. This is an odd philosophy of nature for an avowed atheist, to say the least, and reflects Rand’s profound misunderstanding of the natural world.

To summarize, then, Rand believed in progressive evolutionary change up the ladder of nature from primitive to advanced. At the “higher stages” of this process (meaning humans) evolution changed course so that members of our species were born with a blank slate, though she provides no evidence to support this. Human beings therefore have no innate “social instincts”–elsewhere she refers to it as a “herd-instinct”–that is, except for “primordial savages” and “inferior men” who could be considered missing links in the scale of nature. Never mind that these two groups are still technically human in her view. Selfishness is the ideal moral value because “superior men” are, by definition, higher up the scale of being.

Logic was essential to Ayn Rand’s political philosophy. “A contradiction cannot exist,” she has John Galt state in Atlas Shrugged. “To arrive at a contradiction is to confess an error in one’s thinking; to maintain a contradiction is to abdicate one’s mind and to evict oneself from the realm of reality.” I couldn’t agree more. However, Rand may have had more personal reasons for her philosophy that can help explain her tortured logic. As she was first developing her political philosophy she mused in her journal about how she arrived at her conclusion that selfishness was a natural moral virtue.

“It may be considered strange, and denying my own supremacy of reason, that I start with a set of ideas, then want to study in order to support them, and not vice versa, i.e., not study and derive my ideas from that. But these ideas, to a great extent, are the result of a subconscious instinct, which is a form of unrealized reason. All instincts are reason, essentially, or reason is instincts made conscious. The “unreasonable” instincts are diseased ones.” – Journals of Ayn Rand, May 15, 1934.

This can indeed be considered strange. Looking deep within yourself and concluding that your feelings are natural instincts that apply for the entire species isn’t exactly what you would call objective. It is, in fact, the exact opposite of how science operates. However, she continues and illuminates her personal motivations for her ideas.

“Some day I’ll find out whether I’m an unusual specimen of humanity in that my instincts and reason are so inseparably one, with the reason ruling the instincts. Am I unusual or merely normal and healthy? Am I trying to impose my own peculiarities as a philosophical system? Am I unusually intelligent or merely unusually honest? I think this last. Unless—honesty is also a form of superior intelligence.”
Through a close reading of her fictional characters, and other entries in her journal, it appears that Rand had an intuitive sense that selfishness was natural because that’s how she saw the world. As John Galt said in his final climactic speech, “Since childhood, you have been hiding the guilty secret that you feel no desire to be moral, no desire to seek self-immolation, that you dread and hate your code, but dare not say it even to yourself, that you’re devoid of those moral ‘instincts’ which others profess to feel.”

In Rand’s notes for an earlier, unpublished story she expresses nearly identical sentiments for the main character. “He [Danny Renahan] is born with,” she writes, “the absolute lack of social instinct or herd feeling.”

“He does not understand, because he has no organ for understanding, the necessity, meaning or importance of other people. (One instance when it is blessed not to have an organ of understanding.) Other people do not exist for him and he does not understand why they should. He knows himself—and that is enough. Other people have no right, no hold, no interest or influence on him. And this is not affected or chosen—it’s inborn, absolute, it can’t be changed, he has ‘no organ’ to be otherwise. In this respect, he has the true, innate psychology of a Superman. He can never realize and feel ‘other people.’ (That’s what I meant by thoughts as feelings, as part of your nature.) (It is wisdom to be dumb about certain things.)”

I believe a strong case could be made that Ayn Rand was projecting her own sense of reality into the mind’s of her fictional protagonists. Does this mean that Rand was a sociopath? Diagnosing people in the past with modern understandings of science has many limitations (testing your hypothesis being chief among them). However, I think it’s clear that Ayn Rand did not have a strongly developed sense of empathy but did have a very high opinion of herself. When seen through this perspective, Rand’s philosophy of “Objectivism” and her belief in “the virtue of selfishness” look very different from how she presented it in her work. When someone’s theory of human nature is based on a sample size of 1 it raises doubts about just how objective they really were.

About the Author: Eric Michael Johnson has a Master's degree in Evolutionary Anthropology focusing on great ape behavioral ecology. He is currently a doctoral student in the history of science at University of British Columbia looking at the interplay between evolutionary biology and politics.