Jan 16, 2020

CultNEWS101 Articles: 1/14/2020


Westboro Baptist Church, Video, Workshop, Jehovah's Witnesses, Abusive Therapies, LGAT, Shincheonji, Korea, Deprogramming, Human Rights, Counter-extremism, UK

"What's it like to grow up within a group of people who exult in demonizing... everyone else? Megan Phelps-Roper shares details of life inside America's most controversial church and describes how conversations on Twitter were key to her decision to leave it. In this extraordinary talk, she shares her personal experience of extreme polarization, along with some sharp ways we can learn to successfully engage across ideological lines."

Workshops: for Former Members, Helping Professionals, and Families

Workshop Day 1 -- Saturday, February 8th -- Recovery Issues After Leaving an Abusive Church. Workshops aimed towards addressing the specific needs of former Jehovah's Witnesses and others recovering from spiritual abuse. A variety of topics will be covered to help former members identify psychological challenges that may arise when they leave the faith.

Workshop Day 2 -- Sunday, February 9th -- Helpers That Abuse. An educational and recovery workshop focused on serving the needs of those who have experienced abusive therapies, large group awareness trainings, and abusive bootcamps.

Workshops are 9:30-5:30 on February 8th and 9th
$50 one-day
$75 two-days includes ICSA Membership

No one will be refused for lack of money. If you need financial assistance to attend contact ICSA at mail@icsamail.com

Human Rights Without Frontiers Int'l: Change of religion: Psychiatric internment of Hye-won SON
"Hye-won SON was forced to spend 81 days in a psychiatric hospital.

When her parents found out, they contacted a Presbyterian 'cult counseling center' which advised them to abduct Hye-won and confine her for a de-conversion program.

2 February 2017: Hye-won was kidnapped by her parents but managed to escape. She went to the police for help, but they refused to intrude on what they considered a family matter. Her parents then had her examined by a psychiatrist, but she was declared psychologically sane. Her parents were dissatisfied because they had hoped she would be diagnosed as suffering from religious delirium.

Hye-won's parents insisted to get the name of another psychiatric hospital outside of Seoul where it would be easier to intern her 'without too much trouble'. They finally got a name and an address: the mental hospital in Cheongsong, four hours' drive from Seoul. There was no psychological evaluation administered at admission, instead she was interned on the sole basis of a conversation between the doctor and her parents. This was the start of Hye-won's 81-day forcible psychiatric internment.

Hye-won was unable to have any contact with the outside world except for her parents' visits twice a month. Every time, they threatened that she would stay there until she promised to stop attending the Shincheonji Church.

A nurse in the hospital was moved by her situation and tried to help. She discreetly advised Hye-won to write to the authorities about her forced internment. Hye-won did so, sending a letter of petition calling for help to two city councilors. They answered and sent two officials to visit her on 21 March. However, they did not ask about her hospitalization and instead asked about her life in Shincheonji. After the visit, there was no change.

On 25 April, Hye-won wrote a letter to the court requesting her release but, before she sent it, her doctor tried convincing her not to. The next day, she was released without any explanation. She believes that her calls for outside help prompted the hospital to release her so as to avoid legal trouble.

For 81 days, she had been illegally interned in a psychiatrist hospital and had undergone a forced medical treatment.

After her release, she went back to the mental hospital to ask the doctor, Hyun-soo KIM, why he had interned her. He confessed that he knew she was sane, but despite that, she had been prescribed sedatives, anti-depressants, and antipsychotic medicine for bipolar depression. His confession was recorded.

This case is reminiscent of the misuse of psychiatry against political and religious dissidents in the Soviet Union in the 1970s and later.

Hye-won also claimed to have the right to religious dissent."

"Terrorists who "self-radicalise" using online material are a now a greater threat to the UK than those directed by Isis, a senior police officer has said.

The national coordinator for the Prevent counterextremism programme warned that young and vulnerable people, including those with mental health issues, were being exploited.

Chief Superintendent Nik Adams told The Independent: "Our biggest concern is those individuals who are self-radicalising and may go on to become lone actors in the terrorism space.

"That is now a far greater risk for us, in terms of the volume, than individuals who are directed and mobilised by a terrorist organisation overseas to come and attack people in the UK."

The officer said an "international explosion of propaganda" had made material inciting violence accessible from anywhere in the world."




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Selection of articles for CultNEWS101 does not mean that Patrick Ryan or Joseph Kelly agree with the content. We provide information from many points of view in order to promote dialogue.

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