Peony,

We have a great tool now to research just about everything - the internet. Also, it's important to know that New Age thought can be coertly used by mainstream therapists. New Age ideas are becoming mainstream and everything, even science, is being looked upon as authoritarian (and therefore "bad"). As Corboy suggested, Craigslist is a great starting point. From time to time, posters on CL advertise other community boards. Search on Google in GROUPS to fine people discussing issues and personalities you wish to warn them about. You can always appear to be looking for info by asking, is it true that so-and-so is a blankety-blank....? If you get one person to question these jerks and avoid getting suckered, you've done a great thing.

I have read some analysis that when EMDR "works", what is really probably happening is Cognitive Therapy.
You move your eyes around while thinking, "moving my eyes around is going to Desensitize my trauma and Reprocess it".
So it could just be a "placebo effect", if you will. Or just flat out Cognitive Restructuring.
But there is enormous propaganda about EMDR from its creators. Its sort of "culty" and antiscientific, in my view. It seems to be about getting a "Magical Quick Fix".
I think it is a lot of hype.

[www.emdr.com]
"In 1987, Francine Shapiro was walking in the park when she realized that eye movements appeared to decrease the negative emotion associated with her own distressing memories. She assumed that eye movements had a desensitizing effect, and when she experimented with this she found that others also had the same response to eye movements. It became apparent however that eye movements by themselves did not create comprehensive therapeutic effects and so Shapiro added other treatment elements, including a cognitive component, and developed a standard procedure that she called Eye Movement Desensitization (EMD)1."
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There are lots of GREAT therapists out there these days.
In my view, the Cogntive-Behavioral Therapies are excellent.

Coz

Quote

Originally posted by corboy
My therapist specializes in working with traumatized people and those with dissociative disorders. So he sees lots of people with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

I asked K if he used EMDR, a technique that is supposed to be great for alleviating PTSD.

He replied 'No I dont use EMDR. I reviewed the literature (which meant he went to high quality peer-reviewed journals) and overall the reports were that people either did not have their symptoms alleviated by EMDR, or they experienced temporary relief, and then their symptoms returned--sometimes worse than before.

'So it appeared with EMDR the risks outwiegh the alleged benefits.'

Only reason K could do this was he'd gone to a good clinical social work program, sat through all the obligatory classes on research design and statistics, and trained himself to think like a scientist--while still keeping his warm, loving heart.

The rules and methods of science protect us from mere wishful thinking and fantasy. They force us to test our dreams and let them go if the dreams cant pass the test.

To do that means being willing to grow up and tolerate some frustration.

But a lot of therapists dont learn to think like scientists, and they dont realize the extent to which they are targeted by hucksters peddling baloney.

Okay, if anyone wants to see where my "evidence" ended up about the charity fraud that I mentioned to you all, go to [www.selectsmart.com]

It's now out there for all to see, but still, Twyman mostly communicates with his followers through his huge email list. At least people can link to it, if they want. I suppose it's possible that he sent the money by now or that the shelter director wanted it held back until she felt ready, but then he shouldn't have said that he had already contributed to funding the shelter. The facts are out there now for people to decide for themselves.

Peony

Hi, I happened to be reading something about INDIGO CHILDREN a couple of weeks ago. Apparently, to be an Indigo Child, you have to have been born between 1978 and 1995.... If you are born after 1995 then you are a 'Crystal Child'.

The term 'Indigo Children' was coined by Lee Caroll, who 'channels' the entity KRYON. He has his own cult and sleeps with a lot of men and women I heard. The term 'Crystal Children' was coined by Doreen Virtue, a well known psychic medium.

The whole thing with Indigo Children and Crystal Children is that it really was started for YUPPIES who like to feel that their children are special. They like to think that their children are all old evolved souls and are more spiritually and psychically advanced than children who were born in the 50's, 60's, or earlier 70's. It's absolute crap honestly. That would make me (being born in '83) an Indigo Child. And all my friends, who delve in drugs, alcohol and sex on a regular basis would be Indigo Children also. Then they cannot be very spiritual if they are into swimming in the gutter constantly. In terms of being more psychic, children in general, no matter when they were born, would have been very open and in tune to the spirit planes because they are very pure, and un-corrupt, and have a strong connection with the spirit planes due to the fact that they have not been in the physical world for long.

As I said, the whole thing with Indigo and Crystal Children is just a gimmick for yuppies and new age folk who are flaky who want to feel special and that their children are more important. The thing is that ALL children are important - no matter what.

I recently gave birth to my twin daughters, and people are constantly on about how they are CRYSTAL CHILDREN.... and it makes me feel ill because people buy into thinsg without having a healthy skeptic or investigating things for themselves. As is with all cult situations too. Not all things are bad, but a healthy skeptical frame of mind does help you not get sucked in by gimmicks.