THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR CONSUMER 
PROTECTION IN MENTAL HEALTH PRACTICES

Office of the President
E-mail: rcbarden@aol.com

FOR IMMEDIATE NATIONAL RELEASE


TEXAS WOMAN WINS $1.75 MILLION IN THERAPIST MISCONDUCT SUIT


WISCONSIN FAMILY WINS $850,000 -- THERAPIST FOUND NEGLIGENT FOR IMPLANTING 
FALSE MEMORIES OF ABUSE 


PROMINENT WRITER EXPOSES THE CORRUPT HISTORY
OF THE "MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER" INDUSTRY


September 3, 1999 

FROM:   R. Christopher Barden, Ph.D., J.D., LP 

This month has produced stunning victories for consumer protection in mental 
health practices. 

I.  In Dallas, Texas a plaintiff received a $1.75 Million verdict from a 
local jury. The verdict included $1 Million in punitive damages against 
defendant Dr. William R. Swicegood.   Plaintiff's attorney Marc Stanley said 
"This jury wanted to send a message to the medical community that they are 
not going to tolerate unethical breaches like this".   (See Dallas Morning 
News, 9/3/99). 

II.     In Wisconsin, Joan Hess and her family were awarded $850,000 by a 
Wisconsin jury.  Plaintiff's attorneys William Smoler and Pamela Schmelzer 
successfully demonstrated to the jury that the defendant,  Dr. Juan Fernandez 
III, was negligent in using "recovered memory" treatments, "multiple 
personality" theories and implanting horrifying false memories of childhood 
abuse.  
(See, http://vh30084.vh3.infi.net/headlines/hessheadlines.html for media 
coverage of the trial). 

These cases demonstrate that juries -- citizens of the United States -- will 
not tolerate quack or unethical pseudotreatments from mental health 
practitioners. 

These cases demonstrate that juries -- citizens of the United States -- will 
enforce the fundamental human rights of patients' -- including the right to 
informed consent from mental health practitioners. 

The Hess case in particular should serve as yet another reminder to the 
mental health industry (and defense lawyers) that: 

    A)  MPD treatment to "recover memories" has never been the standard of 
care for the mental health industry -- only the incompetent fringe of 
practitioners ever practiced such junkscience nonsense.  Many of the leaders 
of this movement have been very successfully sued or de-licensed.  The 
leading journal of the MPD movement has reportedly been put out of business.  
(See, Barach, P. (1999).  President’s Message. ISSD News, 17, No. 1, January 
1999 at pp. 1, 2 & 8).

    B)  MPD defense "experts" and attorneys have an abysmal record of defeat 
-- over 95% of plaintiffs with minimal legal resources win verdicts or 
substantial settlements.  

    C)  Informed consent -- for all forms of health care treatment -- is a 
fundamental human right that WILL BE ENFORCED by citizen juries (and 
increasingly by licensing boards) regardless of the misguided efforts of 
mental health industry apologists.  The uneducated diatribes of those who 
accuse so-called "enemies of psychotherapy" of creating the right of informed 
consent are insulting to responsible members of the mental health industry 
(E.g. see,  Fink, Paul in Clinical Psychiatry News, Nov. 1998).  Properly 
trained and competent psychotherapists of all professions welcome the 
enforcement of informed consent rights.  Properly trained and competent 
psychotherapists have no problem with telling patients the truth about the 
risks and benefits of proposed treatments.  The true "enemies of 
psychotherapy" are those who continue to try to lead the mental health 
professions in unethical, ignorant and illegal directions. 


III.    Prominent writer Joan Acocella has published "Creating Hysteria: 
Women and Multiple Personality Disorder" (www.josseybass.com). This brilliant 
and devastating history of the "multiple personality disorder" movement 
exposes the fraud and corruption that has harmed thousands of American 
families.  Expert Herbert Spiegel reviewed the book and noted it is "A 
remarkable expose of an embarrassing and mischievous epidemic instigated by a 
small group of 'multiple personality' proponents.  This book provides ample 
warning for patients and therapists alike."  

All of us who are concerned with the rights of vulnerable patients and the 
quality of care offered in the mental health system are grateful to this 
growing list of authors, plaintiffs, attorneys and experts. Your efforts have 
produced powerful victories in the ongoing battle against unethical  behavior 
and dangerous, quack mental health "treatments."   

We are also grateful to the vast numbers of responsible mental health 
professionals who never fell prey to irresponsible theories and practices 
such as "massive repression", "multiple personality disorder", therapy for 
"alien abduction" and other classic examples of junkscience.