While some misunderstandings may be rooted in semantics, others are more difficult to trace and harder still to describe adequately. It is very difficult to get quantitative data in the area of the beliefs held by therapists regarding topics that may manifest in the form of false memories in their patients. And although some surveys have attempted to obtain quantitative measures of therapists’ beliefs, practices, and experiences regarding traumatic memory recovery and therapy (e.g., Poole, et. al. 1995), such surveys fail to fully inform the reader of the quality of those beliefs. In an attempt to obtain a qualitative analysis of the beliefs of therapists with regard to recovered memories of traumatic events, I have frequently attended sexual- and ritual-abuse conferences. Some of these conferences ##have afforded me valuable insight into the dynamics of a scientifically informed trauma therapy. At other times I have gained valuable insight into the beliefs of some “fringe” therapists who believe in vast and nefarious conspiracies organized to harm children. My purpose here is not to argue whether such beliefs are accurate or not; rather, I simply wish to outline what some of those beliefs are. The following is not meant to be representative of all therapists in this field. I offer only a description of what some therapists believe. The reader will please keep in mind that any qualitative description, such as this one, may not be used to infer anything about the population as a whole, but it may be illuminating in that there is a certain subpopulation that clearly is represented.

This article describes my experiences at a conference held in Dallas, Texas, March 23-26, 1995, by a group calling itself the “Society for the Investigation, Treatment and Prevention of Ritual and Cult Abuse” (SITPRCA). SITPRCA may be reached at P.O. Box 835564, Richardson, Texas 75083-5564.

The 1995 SITPRCA conference was titled “Cult and Ritual Abuse, Mind Control, and Dissociation: A Multidisciplinary Dialogue.” The word dialogue is misleading because there were no skeptics or critics among the speakers and, as will be demonstrated, any dissension from the audience was strongly discouraged — it was essentially a monologue. The 1995 conference offered continuing education credit available through the Texas State Board of Examiners of Licensed Professional Counselors.

The conference was attended by 150 to 200 people. A significant minority of the audience consisted of patients who claimed to have had recovered memories of ritual abuse (several of whom I spoke with) and who were allowed access to even the most advanced professional training sessions, sometimes at the recommendations of their therapists.

The SITPRCA organization was created by Dallas therapist James Randall "Randy” Noblitt, currently the president of the group, and Pamela Perskin, its executive director. Noblitt lectures widely on the existence of ritual cults and mind-control techniques, and has served as an expert witness in a number of child-abuse cases. In the 1992 Austin, Texas, day care case of Fran and Dan Keller, he helped obtain a conviction by informing the jury that cults across America regularly ritually abuse children through torture and sexual abuse and that the cults make child pornography with these victims. Noblitt stated that these children will often not be able to recall the events because they are so highly traumatized, and that the severity of the abuse causes the amnesia. This testimony, combined with Noblitt’s statement that he was “convinced” that the child in this case had experienced extreme trauma, apparently helped convince the jury that the Kellers operated a ritual-abuse cult in their day care center. At the time of that trial, Noblitt testified that in addition to supervising his own clinical employees he had been sought to consult in 15 similar cases and that he provides supervision for therapists individually and in groups. Noblitt and Perskin (1995) recently released a book outlining their beliefs about ritual abuse. While some mainstream therapists may conclude that those associated with SITPRCA represent a fringe element, I would point out that such organizations are able to have a dramatic influence on society.

Opening Remarks

The conference opened with a panel consisting of Walter Bowart (author of Operation Mind Control, Dell, 1978), Mark Phillips (who claimed to have inside information on government mind-control techniques), and Alan Scheflin. Scheflin is a lawyer who has for years documented the Central Intelligence Agency experiments with “brainwashing” in the 1950s and 1960s and who spoke on a panel at the 1993 American Psychological Association (APA) meeting with memory researcher Elizabeth Loftus and again at the 1995 annual meeting along with Richard Kluft and several others. Bowart opened the conference with a direct appeal to the therapists. Bowart claimed that “the False Memory Spindrome [sic] Foundation . . . is a Central Intelligence Agency action. It is an action aimed at the psychological and psychiatric mental health community to discredit you, to keep you in fear and terror.” Bowart stated that everyone connected with the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) will be shown to be “spooks or dupes.” According to Bowart, the CIA is currently conducting a campaign of mind control against the American public and wants to discredit victims of these experiments so that their stories will be seen as false memories. Phillips spoke for a while about how he would reveal the trade secrets of mind control.

Scheflin gave a lengthy talk about how therapists can protect themselves against the lawsuits brought by former patients who retract memories of childhood abuse. These lectures were warmly received, especially Scheflin’s. Perhaps because several speakers at the conference had been successfully sued by former clients, the therapists in attendance seemed quite fearful that their clients would retract their memories of abuse and sue them for instilling false memories. I felt that the opening remarks were overtly political for what was purported to be a scientific gathering.

Racist Conspiracy Theories and the Militias

Doc Marqui, a self-described former “school teacher and witch,” lectured about the satanic “Illuminati” conspiracy, which he alleged President Bill Clinton was part of, serving as the “anti-Christ.” Marqui assured the audience that this theory is not racist; but the fact is the Illuminati theory is the same one advocated by most members of the American militia movement, and it was utilized by the Nazis in their effort to justify their campaign of genocide against the Jews of Europe (Cohn 1966). The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an anti-Semitic document (based on the Illuminati conspiracy theory) that purports to document plans for Jewish world domination and which first appeared in Russia in 1903 in a newspaper edited by a “noted and militant anti-Semite” (Cohn 1966, p. 65). The book was instituted as mandatory reading in German schools by the Nazis in 1933 (Cohn 1966). Marqui touted the overall validity of the Protocols while replacing the word Jews with the word satanists. The Illuminati conspiracy holds, in part, that large Jewish banking families have been orchestrating various political revolutions and machinations throughout Europe and America since the late eighteenth century, with the ultimate aim of bringing about a satanic New World Order. Members of the militia movement have said they believe that the United Nations has been infiltrated by these “demonic forces” and is poised for a violent overthrow of the American government, after which American rights to own firearms will be removed and American citizens will be enslaved by the introduction of a cashless society, as foretold in the Bible’s book of Revelation (see, e.g., Constantine 1995; Kelly 1995; Springmeier 1995; Stern 1996). Marqui stated that the Illuminati is essentially a shadow government that has controlled the United States since its inception, controls the Masonic order, and commits all manner of occult crime culminating in human sacrifices on eight days of each year. Much of this paranoia was chronicled more than 30 years ago by Richard Hofstadter (1965).

While the Illuminati conspiracy theory is widely endorsed by militia members, it is also embraced by reactionary groups such as: the Lyndon LaRouche organization (political analyst Chip Berlet [1994] stated that in the early 1970s, Lyndon LaRouche “took his followers . . . and guided them into fascist politics”); the John Birch Society (which Berlet [1994] said believes “Insiders” have for years controlled the U.S. and former Soviet Union governments); and the Liberty Lobby. The Liberty Lobby, with its newspaper Spotlight, was created by Willis Carto, who also founded the Institute for Historical Review, which asserts that the Holocaust was a hoax (Berlet 1994).

Author Linda Blood, who spoke later in the day, protested that she was "unhappy to be following someone [Marqui] who is pushing the Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” which she said was anti-Semitic trash. Blood’s protest deeply angered some and bewildered others, while about four of Blood’s friends clapped in support. Perskin, who moderated the session, announced that although she is Jewish she found nothing offensive in Marqui’s lecture. Marqui appeared to me to be connecting existing racist conspiracy theories with the therapists’ theories about satanic cults.

Marqui was followed by former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Ted Gunderson, who highly praised Marqui’s lecture. Gunderson is well known for his claims that an archaeological dig under the McMartin preschool showed evidence of tunnels, through which the children were allegedly spirited to other buildings to be prostituted in the community (Summit 1994). The results of this dig have for years gone unpublished while calls for funds to self-publish the results have been issued in newsletters such as the Survivor Activist (1994). Meanwhile, the integrity of the dig has been strongly disputed (Earl 1995). Gunderson presented what he called “new evidence” in the 1984 McMartin preschool sex-abuse case in Manhattan Beach, California. He produced a number of photographs of the foundation of a house in the hills above San Bernadino, California, that had burned down, he claimed, the night the charges were filed in the McMartin case. He alleged that the McMartin children were flown to this house and ritually abused, and that the house was torched to destroy evidence. The sum total of the evidence he presented to support this allegation was the existence of spray-painted satanic graffiti on the foundation stones and on boulders on the property. Apparently, several years had gone by between the time of the alleged fire and the time Gunderson snapped the photos. Yet Gunderson was dismissive of the idea that the house foundation on the lot, with its hillside vista of San Bernadino, had been used by teenagers who might have painted the graffiti after the fire. The therapists were enraptured and later asked if Gunderson was planning to publish his photos or if there was any chance of using this evidence in a new trial. The McMartin preschool case resulted in the longest criminal proceeding in American history and failed to produce any convictions (see e.g., Nathan and Snedecker 1995).

Gunderson then described a conversation he had with a witness, Paul Bonacci, from an alleged satanic-ritual abuse case in Nebraska that was detailed by former Nebraska state Sen. John DeCamp (1992), who was also a speaker at this conference. The grand jury of Lincoln described this case as an attack by DeCamp “for personal political gain and possible revenge” (Dorr 1991, p. 1), a “smear campaign,” and a "carefully crafted hoax” (United Press International, September 18, 1990). The grand jury jailed one and indicted two others (including Bonacci) for perjury, and was so critical of DeCamp that he sued the grand jury for ridicule, though he quickly lost (Dorr 1991). A church in the area, the Nebraska Leadership Conference, responded by publishing a tract (no date) named The Mystery of the Carefully Crafted Hoax, with a foreword by Gunderson, in which he continued the allegations of satanic-ritual crime. At the conference Gunderson related Bonacci’s description of a slave auction in Las Vegas in which 25 to 30 vans pulled up, airplanes landed, and foreign men with turbans bought children and took them away. According to Gunderson: "Nobody knows what happened to those kids. They use them for several things: body parts, they use them for sacrificing, for sex slaves. But this is a big market. Does anybody have any idea what a blue-eyed, blond-haired eleven- or twelve-year girl would sell for? Fifty thousand dollars.”

Gunderson claimed that there are currently 500 satanic cults in New York City alone, each averaging eight sacrificial murders a year, for a total of 4,000 human sacrifices every year. Gunderson did not explain how the cults remove bodies in the asphalt jungle of New York.

Gunderson believes in the threat posed by the New World Order, as do Marqui and militia members. Gunderson has appeared on Dateline NBC, at militia conferences (Witt 1995), on Michigan Militia member Mark Koernke’s shortwave radio program, and on the cover of Spotlight (May 13, 1995), stating that the U.S. government intentionally bombed the Oklahoma City federal building in April 1995, in order to remove our rights through anti-terrorism bills. Gunderson informed the audience that Spotlight “tells it like it is,” and urged audience members to call the subscription number, which he read aloud. On top of this, Gunderson gave an interview to Lyndon LaRouche’s Executive Intelligence Review (May 25, 1990), in which he described FBI special agent Ken Lanning as “probably the most effective and foremost speaker for the satanic movement in this country, today or at any time in the past.” Gunderson and Marqui seem to me to be attempting to introduce therapists to racist conspiracy theories and reactionary propaganda, while at the same time groups such as the LaRouche organization endorse satanic conspiracy theories to draw in new members.

Political analyst Chip Berlet’s argument that radical right elements are seducing the left should be taken seriously. In his monograph Right Woos Left (Berlet 1994), he describes, among other examples, how the LaRouche organization has persistently destabilized legitimate leftist activist organizations by infiltrating these groups and then claiming that these groups endorse LaRouche. The LaRouchians also gain credibility through their association with legitimate political activists, which enables them to draw new converts. The cult-ritual abuse field is a prime example of such infiltration. Many therapists who specialize in treating ritual or other forms of abuse identify to some degree with feminism and other liberal ideals. When radical right conspiracists get such liberals to believe in the New World Order or "Operation Monarch” (a similar movement, described later) they gain a boost in credibility far beyond what they could expect by printing their stories in Spotlight or the Executive Intelligence Review.

Former Nebraska state Sen. John DeCamp, mentioned earlier, has been on the ritual-abuse circuit for some time now, talking about his 1992 book The Franklin Cover-Up, which purports to document a satanic organization in Nebraska that abused children and prostituted them within the White House. DeCamp gives a favorable mention to a fact-finding mission sponsored by LaRouche (DeCamp 1992, p. 241). The editors of the Executive Intelligence Review repeat DeCamp’s claims and praise his book as “important” in their virulently anti-Semitic party tract titled The Ugly Truth About the ADL (Anti-Defamation League) (Editors of the Executive Ingelligence Review 1992). The July 27, 1990, issue of the Executive Intelligence Review stated that the FBI in Nebraska covered up child abuse and murder.

On June 15, 1995, DeCamp appeared before a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing on domestic terrorism chaired by Arlen Spector. DeCamp appeared as a lawyer representing the American militia movement and the four militia leaders testifying that day. At a Washington, D.C., news conference, DeCamp glowingly described the militia movement as “a political movement in the birthing . . . painful, joyous, confusing, and exciting” (Janofsky 1995, p. 10). DeCamp also has clear ties with the Nebraska Leadership Conference. A call to the church office confirmed that the Nebraska Leadership Conference had “contributed significantly” to DeCamp’s book.

DeCamp delighted the therapists at this conference during a luncheon session in which he described the allegations put forth in his book.

Conspiracy Theories in Action

I struck up a conversation with a woman and her son and learned that the woman claimed to have recovered memories of being abused in a satanic cult. She drove across two states to attend the conference, she said, in the hope that she could learn about Nazi scientists being brought to the United States after World War II. She knew nothing about this topic but seemed to suspect that it had something to do with her. The conversation drifted to the topic of treatment for sex offenders while they are incarcerated. At this point we were joined by a man, whom I'll call Felix, and his companion, who said that treatment for sex offenders is unnecessary because when the New World Order takes control of the country, members are going to shoot all prisoners and also eliminate three-quarters of the world’s population. Felix described to us how the New World Order operated, manufacturing multiple personality disorder through torture and creating sex slaves and drug mules under the mind control of the CIA (this is the basis for the alleged “Operation Monarch”). Felix also described how the black helicopters of the New World Order landed in his hometown of Portland, Oregon, and black-suited storm troopers illegally searched all the homes in the neighborhood. There was a total news blackout of this because, Felix said, the media are part of the conspiracy. Later, Felix confided to me that his companion was wrong: the New World Order would not kill all the prisoners, but would use them as slave labor. Felix said he did not like to disagree with her because she was a former “Monarch” mind-control slave.

Felix sold me his newsletter, as big as a book, in which he makes some very strange claims: Charles Manson was programmed by the Illuminati, the Anti-Defamation League is controlled by Jewish satanists, and Marilyn Monroe was a mind-control slave. According to Felix, virtually anyone who disagrees with Felix is a Monarch slave, including prominent militia leader Bo Gritz, who talked Randy Weaver into surrendering at the 1992 incident at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. Most disturbingly, Felix told me that he works as a counselor and has helped “a lot” of people suffering from multiple personality disorder. Felix apparently has no mental-health counseling credentials, and his name badge identified him as “clergy.” Nevertheless, he said he counsels dissociative clients and guides them through the intricacies of international cabals.

By this time a crowd had gathered around Felix and me. After Felix’s monologue, a social worker from North Carolina informed the group that in the day care sex-abuse case she was investigating, she thought she remembered the kids talking about black helicopters. She said she would look into it.

Secrets of Mind Control Revealed

Felix’s claims paled in comparison to what came next. Mark Phillips claimed to be a former government agent involved in mind-control experiments. He was always vague, never giving any information that could be checked. His companion, Cathy O'Brian, claimed to have survived years of torture and abuse at the hands of her CIA handlers in Operation Monarch (these two seem to be the source of most of the Monarch material). O'Brian maintained she had been tortured in unimaginable ways since the time she was a child, and that her cult handlers successfully created dissociative identity disorder in her, which was cured by Phillips, who also managed to hide her from the CIA. She was so savagely tortured, she said, that her back was a complete mass of scar tissue. Phillips added that he had once tried to count the scars but lost count somewhere in the hundreds. We never saw the scars, photos of the scars, or doctors’ reports about the scars.

O'Brian stated that she was forced to have sex with a plethora of political figures including George Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, and Gerald Ford (whom she said she knew as “the neighborhood porn king”). She also said she was abused by Hillary Clinton (but not by Bill). Politicians were not the only ones involved — O'Brian stated that a number of baseball figures were in this satanic/CIA mind-control plot. She told me personally that virtually the entire country music industry is set up by the New World Order to make money. According to O'Brian, most popular country singers are Monarch slaves who had alter-personalities created with good voices for singing. Phillips and O'Brian, along with Bowart and others, claimed that the CIA is currently abusing people through Operation Monarch. Phillips claimed 20 years of experience in genetics and said that the cults would breed slaves selectively to create musical geniuses. To test his vast experience with genetics, I asked him what he thought of the Human Genome Sequencing Project. He had never heard of it. It seems impossible for anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of genetics to be unaware of the biggest project ever in that field. Nevertheless, one author claims that Phillips is “currently deprogramming at least six Monarch slaves” (Springmeier 1995, p. 243).

It seems that a number of people in the audience were accepting of Phillips’s and O'Brian’s claims, although Perskin (of SITPRCA) informed me that this duo will not be asked back in the future because they failed to produce evidence of Operation Monarch. In a personal conversation with me (July 12, 1995), Scheflin stated that he had been able to obtain internal CIA documents corroborating the existence of mind-control experiments in the 1950s and 1960s. (The documents demonstrate that the CIA conducted unethical experiments to try to create multiple personalities in people for the purpose of creating a super spy who could keep vital information submerged in an alter personality [Thomas 1990].) But, he said, the paper trail completely died out by 1976. According to Scheflin, there are no credible reports of mind-control experiments after 1976 and no credible reports of any nature on Operation Monarch.

Catherine Gould gave an advanced workshop in which she described the mechanics of cult mind-control, extensively utilizing the mind-as-computer model. At one point she puzzled over the idea of cult members catching AIDS. She said that no one can figure out why the offenders are not "dropping like flies, because we know they don't practice safe cult sex.” With all the blood, cannibalism, and unprotected sex, they ought to be catching a lot of sexually transmitted diseases. Therapist Jerry Mungadze offered a unique explanation. He suggested that mind-control programming boosts the immune system, making the victim resistant to the HIV virus, and that is why children in day care satanic-ritual abuse cases do not have elevated levels of sexually transmitted diseases.

Well, if they've found a cure for AIDS, why do they bother making money with pornography? Such a cure must be worth several billion dollars! In the grand tradition of conspiracy theories, discrepant information is explained away or, as in this case, incorporated into the scheme. Amazingly, this solution to the AIDS conundrum appeared to be taken seriously by most in the room.

Alternate Views Not Welcome

Chrystine Oksana lectured on her experiences of recovering memories of ritual abuse and her subsequent search for corroboration (see Oksana 1994). Oksana stated that she had read some 500 books on the topic of trauma and child abuse. For this reason I asked what she thought of the recent study by Linda Meyer Williams (1994). Oksana said she had not heard of it. The report by Williams is a pivotal study that demonstrated that a substantial minority of adults failed to disclose their documented emergency room visits when they were children, which ostensibly occurred because they had been sexually abused. The study demonstrated that some people may forget such events. There is a mistake in the text of the paper that states the existence of a nonsignificant trend such that, as the amount of force used in the commission of the abuse increases, recall decreases. The trend in the data actually shows that as the amount of force used in the commission of the abuse increases recall increases, which is opposite from, and fails to support, the theory of repression of traumatic memory (Harrington 1995). My description of this data set visibly angered several in the audience. One woman voiced disbelief of what I had said (preferring to believe that greater trauma typically was related to nonrecall), while a second woman shouted at me twice to read Lenore Terr’s Unchained Memories. After a couple more rebuffs, the session ended in a stony silence. Yet another woman approached me and bluntly stated that she did not believe what I had said. I told her that I had a signed letter from Williams affirming my observations. This woman shrugged her shoulders and walked away smiling, as if to say that she still did not believe me. This appears to be an example of the resistant nature of strong beliefs toward discrepant information.

In the final analysis of the Williams data, the nonsignificant trend of force being associated with greater recall is probably a confound wherein both greater force and greater recall are associated with older age at time of abuse. Nevertheless, mine was a legitimate question to raise during a session on traumatic memory where it was stated that events that are more traumatic are more likely to be dissociated from consciousness. The scalding reaction I received from the audience supports the view that group social representations are not amenable to contradiction (Guerin, in press), and indicates that these are not issues open for discussion.

Skepticism and Satanism

The next session featured lawyer John Kiker and therapists Noblitt, Michael Moore, and Jan Maclean on the topic of the travails of being sued. Moore described in detail how violated he felt by being sued by former patients. Maclean stated you can always believe the stories children tell of being abused — children might make up other things, but they never make up traumatic events. I asked the panel what they thought of Steve Ceci’s work. There was a moment of dead silence. None of the four panelists had ever heard of Ceci, who is one of the top developmental psychologists in the country and is well known for his recent experiments demonstrating the suggestibility of children. Ceci’s “mousetrap” experiments (Ceci 1993; Ceci and Bruck 1995) demonstrated that repeated interviews regarding a false traumatic event (getting a finger caught in a mousetrap and being taken to the hospital) can result in a portion of children saying (and apparently believing) that the fictional traumatic event occurred. After I described this experiment, the panelists concluded (without reading Ceci’s papers) that “these analogue studies” cannot be generalized to the real world.

It seems incredible that a psychological conference could be constructed with a seminar focusing on legal issues and the testimony of children in court, without a single person involved ever having heard of Ceci, who has contributed so much in this area. Indeed, this was the third day of the conference and there had been much talk of children’s accusations of abuse, but not one mention of Ceci’s research, which was why I felt obliged to pose the question. Often when I attend lectures I ask the speakers what they think of criticisms against them.

Immediately after the session a man connected with the conference demanded to know who I was, where I was from, and why I had asked the question. He was not satisfied with my answers and became visibly agitated when I tried to describe Ceci’s experiments in greater detail. He soon gave up and informed me in a brusque tone that "everyone here thinks you are a plant.” Perturbed, I entered the main hallway where I was confronted by Perskin, who asked if I had set out any literature in the bathroom. Apparently, someone had set out flyers from the Temple of Set, a satanic church, in the men’s room!

Conclusion

Conspiracy theories have operated in many societies at many times and may be seen from a social-psychological perspective as serving certain functions within society. Conspiracy theories may of course represent real conspiracies, but they may also act in a manner similar to racist stereotyping in which the targeted group is seen as deviant and deeply immoral (Moscovici 1987). Conspiracy scholarship is on the one hand irrational, while on the other “far more coherent than the real world, since it leaves no room for mistakes, failures, or ambiguities. It is, if not wholly rational, at least intensely rationalistic” (Hofstadter 1965, p. 36). Conspiracy theories offer individuals well-organized enemies against whom the self is defined; this offers them a guiding structure and purpose (Farr 1987).

I frequently observed a categorical rejection of the possibility that there could be “false” memories of traumatic events, and that anyone who made such claims must be “dirty” or a part of the “backlash,” and that such claims could be dismissed without serious consideration. There was clearly an assumptive worldview or social representation that unified the audience and speakers, deviation from which would brand one as a spy. Actual debate was an anathema. The assumptions that united the group often veered toward conspiracism, though the particular elements of the conspiratorial plots could change from person to person (satanic cults, New World Order, etc.). Most, though by no means all, of the therapists appeared to be previously unaware of New World Order conspiracy, though some appeared receptive to such ideas. Many seemed to be familiar with and believe in the Operation Monarch conspiracy, despite the lack of credible evidence for this. Of course, belief in conspiracies does not necessarily indicate therapeutic incompetence. However, I would be worried if those therapists interviewing children who are suspected of being victims of sexual abuse believed that the biblical revelation was coming in the form of satanic U.N. troops sweeping up children in black helicopters.

We cannot know what effect these therapists’ conspiratorial beliefs may have on their clients. What we can see from these anecdotes is that strong beliefs are highly resistant to discrepant input and they do have a certain persuasive power. An indication of the influence of this conference can be seen in a quote from Jerry Leonard, a physicist who attended and wrote a review of the conference (Leonard 1995), in which he stated:#### I came away with the opinion that cults are far more prevalent, well connected, sophisticated and dangerous than I had ever dreamed . . . apparently, this type of cult activity is fairly widespread. Police departments have stumbled on well organized nationwide child kidnapping rings. Ted Gunderson . . . described one case in which he personally uncovered an elementary school which had been built on a system of tunnels through which children were taken into neighboring houses . . . to participate in Satanic ritual abuse. . . . It is my personal view that the larger satanic cults are being manipulated by the federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies from behind the scenes. Leonard informed me that this was his introduction to claims of cult child abuse. This testimonial demonstrates the persuasive power of the rumors that were put forth at this conference, at least to someone who was receptive to hearing them.

We have no way of knowing the percentage of practicing therapists who are represented by this style of thinking. Even if only a very small minority of the therapeutic community is represented, it is troubling to think of the effect these therapists may have on their colleagues, to say nothing of their clients. The theories presented at this conference may at times find wider appeal among more traditional therapists who are searching for evidence of cults, and it appears that such theories have enjoyed fairly wide popular circulation in the recent past (Victor 1993). Sherrill Mulhern (1991, 1994) has outlined the role played by conspiracy theories both historically, and at prestigious gatherings of psychologists. While the majority of psychological trauma specialists are not “conspiracists,” they may at times be influenced by conspiracy claims, such as the claim that tunnels existed under the McMartin preschool, because such claims resemble or circumstantially support in some way the memories reported by clients.

The possibility of right-wing racist organizations using the present mental-health dilemma for their political gain is something therapists working in this area should be aware of. Therapists who only seek what is best for their clients may at times be vulnerable to propaganda put out by such groups. In the end it is the client, along with the client’s family, who suffers. Whether motivated by such groups, claims that critics are active CIA agents who are engaged in a secret war against the American public, or that they are part of a nationwide backlash against belief in child abuse, only serve to make some therapists antagonistic to all forms of criticism, regardless of the motives of the critic. This is unfortunate because, as trauma therapist and researcher John Briere stated at the 1995 APA meeting, many of the criticisms have merit, and the field will be made better, not worse, because of them.

Note

I would like to thank Sherrill Mulhern for comments.

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• Nathan, D. and M. Snedeker. 1995. Satan’s Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt. New York: Basic Books.
• Nebraska Leadership Conference. No date. The Mystery of the Carefully Crafted Hoax: A Report. Nebraska Leadership Conference, Box 30165, Lincoln, NE 68503.
• Noblitt, J. R. and P. S. Perskin. 1995. Cult and Ritual Abuse: It’s History, Anthropology, and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.
• Ofshe, R., and E. Watters. 1994. Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy, and Sexual Hysteria. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
• Oksana, C. 1994. Safe Passage to Healing: A Guide for Survivors of Ritual Abuse. New York: Harper Perennial.
• Poole, D.A., D. S. Lindsay, A. Memon, and R. Bull. 1995. Psychotherapy and the recovery of memories of childhood sexual abuse: U.S. and British practitioners’ opinions, practices, and experiences. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 63: 426-437.
• Springmeier, F. 1995. Project Monarch: How the U.S. creates slaves of Satan. In Cult Rapture, ed. by A. Parfrey. Portland, Ore.: Feral House.
• Stern, K. S. 1996. A Force upon the Plain: The American Militia Movement and the Politics of Hate. New York: Simon and Schuster.
• Summit, R.C. 1994. The dark tunnels of McMartin. Journal of Psychohistory 21: 397-416. Survivor Activist. 1994. Announcements. Survivor Activist 2: (4) p. 12. Available from Frank Fitzpatrick, 52 Lyndon Road, Cranston, RI 02905-1121.
• Thomas, G. 1990. Journey into Madness: The True Story of Secret CIA Mind Control and Medical Abuse. New York: Bantam.
• Victor, J. S. 1993. Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend. Chicago: Open Court.
• Williams, L. M. 1994. Recall of childhood trauma: A prospective study of women’s memories of child sexual abuse. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 62: 1167-1176.
• Witt, H. 1995. Amid Oklahoma mysteries, conspiracy ideas win hearing. Chicago Tribune, May 9.

I suspect that sign will be coming down soon, if it hasn't already. Twentieth-Century Fox sent from Hollywood a whole convoy of movie stars, reporters, and film moguls to a ceremony in te hamlet of Rachel to promote its new blockbuster, Independence Day, a film about aliens attacking the earth.A base supposedly beneath Area 51 plays a key role in the movie. The studio is also planning to unveil a “monumnt” along the Extraterrestrial Highway intended to “serve as a beacon for possible 'close encounters'with visitors arriving from the far reaches of outer space,” according to its press release.

While the local UFO hucksters were doing a brisker business than ever, not everybody in the UFOlogical realm was cheering. Area 51 promoter Glenn Campbell, who publishes a newsletter called The Desert Rat, warns that “the state is setting up naive tourists for arrest & film seizure along the tense & poorly marked military border near the highway,” and he does have a valid point, as the guards who patrol the perimeter of the high-security Air Force test range take a dim view of the cat-and-mouse games being played by amateur intelligence-gathers. Campbell also points out that Twentieth-Century Fox’s "UFO monument,” whatever it may be, seems to have completely circumvented the normal process of permits and approvals, as state and federal agencies have nothing on file about it, which would seem to preclude anything being constructed. However, Chuck Clark of Rachel, author of the rival Area 51 Handbook, suggests that Campbell may be “a government plant” sent to confuse people. Perhaps giving expression to this discontent, certain pranksters "abducted” the studio’s Las Vegas-to-Rachel caravan by posting official-looking signs for the “Extraterrestrial Highway,” sending them miles out of their way on a wild UFO chase down dusty desert roads, bypassing the paved state highway. Campbell reports that at least forty cars and one tour bus were thus “abducted” to the edge of the high-security area before arriving, covered with dust, at the planned extraterrestrial rendezvous.

All the excitement over the new Extraterrestrial Highway has obscured the most exciting development on which Campbell has yet reported: extraterrestrial linguistics. An anonymous earthling who uses the alias "Jarod 2” (pronounced Jay-rod) claims to have conversed briefly with his original namesake, an extraterrestrial now in residence at Area 51. This Jarod (the original) is reputed to be a consultant-alien, one of several who are advising the U.S. government on how to reproduce their flying saucers. That one or more extraterrestrials are now resident at that site is not news. Several years ago, John Lear claimed that aliens had violated their treaty with earthlings, resulting in humans at Area 51 being eaten by aliens. Bob Lazar later told a story of a battle being waged by earthly bullets against ET Ray Guns (this column, Fall 1993, 23). However, nothing had previously been reported about the extraterrestrials’ language.

Recently, Jarod 2 asked a group of UFOlogists, “What is the most difficult language on earth to learn?” When somebody piped up and said “Hungarian” (I have no idea whether this is true or not), Jarod 2 said that was right, and claimed that the ETs speak Hungarian — actually, “a higher form of Hungarian.” Or so he claimed to have been told by his supervisor at Area 51. Further evidence of this is that the extraterrestrials speak English words in Hungarian word-order during their terse conversations. “This is something we never ex-pected,” Campbell observes wryly. “The aliens can talk to Zsa Zsa Gabor! But it’s a HIGHER FORM of Hungarian, so maybe they can talk to Eva Gabor now that she has passed on.” Jarod 2 claims that the Area 51 project employed many skilled human linguists, but all of them were stumped trying to figure out this higher form of Hungarian. Campbell observes that he had previously suggested that “prudent investors consider boron as a possible growth commodity, since it is one product that Jarod says the aliens take from Earth. Now we suggest ambitious college students consider the benefits of Hungarian. Take a few introductory classes, and when the aliens reveal themselves you'll be way ahead of everyone else.” Apparently eager to place himself at the head of that queue, Campbell recently traveled to Budapest, describing his trip in Desert Rat. While contemporary Hungary is indeed in a state of UFO excitement, Campbell found nothing that would directly confirm or refute Jarod 2’s statements.

Other interesting tidbits from Jarod 2: The aliens keep clean by taking a "bug bath” (actually, a microbe shower). They enter a shower stall where microbes are sprayed onto the alien’s skin, and “the good bacteria eat the bad bacteria,” as he explains. The aliens do not eat as we do, but they apparently do drink liquids.

Everyone knows that Uri Geller’s psychic powers can supposedly bend spoons, but it seems that the task of psychically deflecting footballs has proven much more difficult. The British newspaper The Independent reported on April 2 that “Mr. Geller has forsaken [psychic] espionage and fork-bending to try to help his local football team, Reading FC. After all, if you can bend forks, you can bend free kicks. Last season he concentrated all his powers by walking 48 miles to Wembley to watch Reading in a play-off for promotion to the Premier League, but they lost to Bolton and missed a penalty to boot. And this season they're staring relegation in the face. What went wrong?” Mr. Geller answered the question in an interview in Q Magazine: “It’s going to be all right, I tell you. Don't give up hope. I might invite the players over to my home to give them a good surge of psychic energy. You have to do that sometimes because we only use 10 percent of our minds.”

Nonetheless, not only did the season go badly for Reading, but the team’s mascot, a hamster named Miss Ellie, died. It was given a fitting burial in one of the goalmouths. However, no sooner was Miss Ellie at rest than the team’s fortunes immediately turned around, starting with a 3-0 victory over a local rival which saved the team from relegation. More remarkably, goals are said to come particularly freely at Miss Ellie’s end of the field, and many members of the team are convinced that they are receiving supernatural assistance from the dead hamster, and not Uri Geller. James “The Amazing” Randi, who has been debunking Geller’s claims for years, writes, “I trust that Mr. Geller will act in a chivalrous manner, and will resist claiming that his powers, working over a period of several months, and not Miss Ellie’s, achieved this small wonder. Respect for the dead would seem to be called for here, and I, for one, will not cast doubt upon the ability of a dead rodent to lead a football team to victory.”

In the final chapter of the saga of psychic football, the Reading Evening Post reported on June 29 that “Uri Geller says England would be in the Euro '96 final if police had not stopped him from standing behind the goal. The Sonning psychic was about to move into position to 'beam' Gareth Southgate’s penalty into the net when Met Police officers barred him.” A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said, “our officers would not have wanted to do anything that would have stopped England winning, but security had to be the first priority.” They should have used a dead hamster.

The honor to CSICOP recognizes its contributions to science education and skepticism and was timed to coincide with its twentieth birthday. The International Astronomical Union (IAU), the body that officially names asteroids, accelerated its procedures so that the names would be approved in time to be announced at the conference, says CSICOP scientific and technical consultant James McGaha, director of the Grasslands Observatory in Tucson. McGaha initiated the process and made the announcement at CSICOP’s Saturday night awards banquet, June 22. Kurtz, CSICOP’s founding chairman, was not told of either honor in advance.

CSICOP’s asteroid — its numerical designation is 1982 VA1 (6630) — was discovered November 15, 1982, by E. Bowell at the Anderson Mesa Station of Lowell Observatory. Although named for CSICOP, its actual name will apparently be ‘Skepticus,' from the Greek word for skeptic. McGaha says the IAU preferred that to an acronym. Here are the complete citations:

These asteroids join asteroids Gardner and Randi (for Martin Gardner and James Randi) among asteroids named after prominent skeptical authors and investigators. The designation of Randi’s asteroid came this spring.

• Stephen Jay Gould, zoologist, Harvard University;
• Gerald Holton, physicist, Harvard University;
• Sir John Maddox, editor emeritus, Nature magazine;
• Eugenie Scott, anthropologist, Berkeley;
• Gerard Piel, former president, American Association for the Advancement of Science and former publisher of Scientific American;
• Carl Sagan, professor of astronomy, Cornell University;
• Leon Lederman, Nobel Prize-winner; and
• John Rennie, editor-in-chief, Scientific American; among others.

• Glenn T. Seaborg, Nobel Prize-winner for chemistry; and
• Steve Allen, TV entertainer and author.

The formation of the Council was announced at the opening session of the first World Skeptics Congress, attended by over 1,200 scientists and skeptics. The theme of the Congress was “Science in the Age of (Mis)Information.”

According to Paul Kurtz, chairman of CSICOP and coordinator of the new Council,

“The media have now virtually replaced the schools, colleges, and universities as the main source of information for the general public. . . . the irresponsibility of the media in the area of science and the paranormal is a worldwide problem. But it especially applies to the United States, where the media have been distorting science, and in particular presenting pseudoscience as genuine science. Indeed, we are appalled by the number of ‘documentaries,' which are really entertainment programs, presenting fringe science as real science.

“The major networks have been running two or three such specials almost every month. Recently there have been programs on prophecies, astrology, psychic powers, creationism, Noah’s Ark, angels, alien abductions, etc. This is in addition to the popular ‘Unsolved Mysteries,' ‘X-Files,' and ‘Sightings,' as well as new programs such as ‘Paranormal Borderlands,' and ‘Poltergeist,' and ‘Outer Limits.'”

The Council noted the fact that on Saturday, June 8th, NBC rebroadcast ”The Mysterious Origins of Man,” narrated by Charlton Heston. The program promoted pseudoscience and suggested that evolution is questionable, that human civilization originated 100 million years ago, and that humans coexisted with dinosaurs. The program, which was originally broadcast in February, raised protests from the scientific community, which NBC ignored. It also broadcast the fourth in a series of “Prophecies,” which provided questionable scenarios of the end of the world.

The Council also complained about the many talk shows devoted to the paranormal, in which claims in favor of the paranormal are given a platform but skeptical dissent is rarely heard. A statement endorsed by members of the Council maintained that,

“If the United States is to continue to provide leadership and compete in the global economy, then we need to raise the level of scientific literacy and understanding of the general public.

“We are not, of course, asking that TV producers not run these shows or make a profit. We surely do not wish to censor the media. We only ask that they provide some balance and provide some appreciation of the scientific approach. The new Council will monitor such programs, and attempt to persuade producers, directors, writers, and the general public to leave room for the appreciation of scientific methods of inquiry. “We realize that the media are being attacked from all sides, but we think that a plea for raising the level of understanding of science should be heard.”

According to Paul Kurtz, among the first tasks of the new Council is to attempt to persuade TV producers to label their so-called docudramas as “entertainment” or “fiction,” and to make it clear that they are not based on scientific fact.

In Part 1 of this report (SI, July/August 1996) we discussed the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and our observations of how it is practiced today in the People’s Republic of China. We also described research we had observed during our visit to China that is attempting to identify those empirically verifiable portions of TCM that could be incorporated into scientific medical practice. This opportunity was afforded us by an invitation from the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) to visit various centers in China and to participate in a symposium on pseudoscience held in Beijing in June of 1995. In this article we address the broader topic of the growth of pseudoscience in China, and present additional observations of-TCM as seen in centers in Shanghai.

The CAST Symposium

Part of our stay in Beijing was occupied by a seminar sponsored by CAST and the State Science and Technology Commission. There, Chinese scholars and physicians described the problems created by pseudoscience in their country. These authors and their fellow member of the delegation (Andrew Skolnick of the Journal of the American Medical Association) traded similar experiences from the U.S. and Canada. We had expected this to be one of the highlights of our trip, and we were not disappointed. CAST had assembled an impressive roster of social, physical, and medical scientists from various parts of China who described the obstacles that belief in Qigong¹ and some of the extreme claims of TCM have put in the way of their efforts to improve scientific literacy. From these presentations we achieved many insights that would otherwise have been much more speculative.

All Chinese speakers at the symposium made a clear distinction between ‘internal Qi’ and ‘external Qi.’ The former equates roughly to what we would call ‘psychosomatic medicine’; while believers consider the latter to be a supernatural life force that, like psychokinesis, can affect matter outside one’s body (believers refer to this as ‘special ability’ or ‘extraordinary functions of the human body’). Belief in this dubious power was repeatedly defined at the symposium as China’s major pseudoscience problem. Qigong was briefly outlawed during the cultural revolution (1966-1976) because it seemed too spiritual for the reigning Marxist materialists. It has since managed to stage a comeback by masquerading as a science. Qigong masters and their disciples routinely defraud the public with conjuring tricks and falsely present themselves as spiritual healers (Lin et al., in press). Honest practitioners of TCM eschew such deceptive practices, but they still adhere to the mystical notion that an imbalance of internal Qi energy underlies all illness. Many of the TCM doctors we interviewed still believe that specially gifted healers can use their external Qi to cure diseases by restoring the balance of a sufferer’s internal Qi.

A few Chinese scientists we met maintained that although Qi is merely a metaphor, it is still a useful physiological abstraction (e.g., that the related concepts of Yin and Yang parallel modern scientific notions of endocrinologic and metabolic feedback mechanisms). They see this as a useful way to unite Eastern and Western medicine. Their more hard-nosed colleagues quietly dismissed Qi as only a philosophy, bearing no tangible relationship to modern physiology and medicine.²

The first group of speakers at the CAST symposium concentrated on external Qi. After Chinese investigators and the earlier CSICOP delegation had exposed several prominent Qigong masters as charlatans (Alcock et al. 1988), the government was persuaded to crack down on their ilk (some have gone underground, but many still continue to enjoy protection provided by high-level state officials). We did not determine the extent of the crackdown, but we learned that many Qigong masters are still active, especially in the countryside. We were also told that we would not be able to observe any masters or ‘special ability’ children because they would no longer cooperate. This was disappointing but it is a tribute to our hosts’ debunking efforts that local performers are now too wary of being caught, as they were when exposed by James Alcock, James ‘the Amazing’ Randi, and the other members of the first CSICOP delegation.

Mr. Lin Zixin, the retired editor of China’s Science and Technology Daily and a CSICOP Fellow, was one of our principal hosts. At the symposium, which he helped organize, he discussed the extent of belief in pseudoscience in China. He credited the 1988 CSICOP delegation with helping to tarnish the reputation of the Qigong ‘superman,’ Xiao, but admitted much remains to be done. He compared widely held superstitions about the power of external Qi in China to the beliefs that inspired the Japanese sect, ‘Aum Shinri Kyo’ (the cult that attacked the Tokyo subway with nerve gas). Mr. Lin, one of China’s top scientific journalists and policy experts, described the extent of superstition in China as shameful and a threat to the nation’s technological development. Scientific literacy is more important than ever as China tackles the arduous task of modernizing its economy, he said, but superstition continues to impede progress. Mr. Lin firmly reiterated his organization’s support for CSICOP’s efforts to combat pseudoscience worldwide.

Professor Qui Renzong of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences compared the development of American and Chinese pseudoscience. He drew parallels between the concept of external Qi and the mysterious nonmaterial forces posited by parapsychologists, such as psychokinesis and extrasensory perception. Professor Qui echoed Mr. Lin’s assertion that the Qigong movement has had a negative influence on Chinese society. Professor Qui lamented the fact that it has also been psychologically damaging for some devotees, and that even some scientists have been duped into believing in the power of external Qi-for example, an ardent promoter is Professor Qian Xuesen, China’s foremost rocket scientist and a former professor at the California Institute of Technology. Professor Qui concluded with the memorable phrases: ‘It’s only your private experience, if it is not repeatable,’ and ‘pseudoscience is an infinite regression of excesses.’

Professor Wang Guozheng of the China Society for Dialectics of Nature continued the theme that pseudoscience is becoming a major social problem. He described his investigation of ‘seeing with ears,’ a trick similar to the ‘blind reading’ exposed by Martin Gardner in his famous article on the ‘peek-down-the-side-of-the-nose’ ruse.³ Professor Wang ended this inquiry when he concluded that it was a worthless fad that would disappear on its own. Apparently it did not, despite its affront to official Marxist dialectical materialism. In ten years, not one claim had been substantiated, yet popular belief continued to grow. Such concerns led Professor Wang to found the Society for the Protection of the Scientific Spirit. Its aim is to promote scientific attitudes and combat the growing influence of pseudoscience. The society has encountered opposition from paranormalists, such as when a Qigong advocate who was rejected as a speaker at one of its meetings disrupted the proceedings by trying to force his way onto the program physically. It seems Chinese skeptics are vulnerable to many of the same tactics as those endured by their Western counterparts.

Dr. Zhang Tongling, professor of psychiatry at Beijing Medical University, presented her research on negative effects of Qigong practices. She believes that there is no such thing as Qi, but she found that some vulnerable people, drawn into the Qi subculture, have been harmed psychologically by obsessional involvement with these breathing, meditative, and movement exercises. Dr. Zhang now runs a clinic for former Qigong extremists. Her study of 145 cases from ten provinces found that these casualties were relatively well educated- about half were high school graduates or above. Forty-four were classed as workers, thirty-nine were government employees, thirty were students, and thirty-one were engaged in scientific research. The group was found to be highly suggestible and their symptoms were related to various alleged effects of Qi contained in books they had read. Dr. Zhang described their responses as a form of mental illness, probably the result of latent psychiatric problems that were exacerbated by fanatical immersion in Qigong exercises. Many of these problems looked like those we would call hysterical or psychosomatic symptoms (Shorter 1992). For example, they reported feeling Qi surging through various parts of their bodies, and some would experience overwhelming lassitude that they attributed to Qi suddenly draining from their bodies. In other cases, experiences were provoked that were psychotic, including visual and auditory hallucinations, delirium, and feelings of being possessed by animal spirits. Some exhibited symptoms we would classify as paranoid, such as the conviction they were being harmed by the master’s power or that Qi had imbued them with extraordinary skills and a mission to cure diseases or save humanity. Some patients felt elated, perhaps manic, after their prolonged exertion, while others were left uncomfortably anxious, depressed, and suicidal. The severity was the worst in those who spent many hours per day immersed in Qigong exercises and in those with a long history of preoccupation with religious or superstitious pursuits. Dr. Zhang’s portrayals were reminiscent of people we had encountered who were obsessed with alien- abduction fantasies or had become fanatically immersed in Transcendental Meditation, Scientology, or irrational health schemes, leading at times to behavior that bordered on the delusional.

Professor Guo Zhengyi, deputy director of CAST, has visited the United States where he studied organizations dedicated to spreading pseudoscience. In his talk, he compared them to similar movements in China. He described a Mafialike network in China that has spread its influence by promoting (allegedly real) magical powers and fortune-telling in conjunction with acrobatic shows. These shady figures bill themselves as the future of science but, like pseudoscientists everywhere, they mangle all valid scientific principles. Their lucrative scams include Qigong demonstrations composed of fake acts of clairvoyance, superhuman physical strength, and ‘ possession by animals.’ Professor Guo likened the practices of these roaming hucksters to practices that were common in feudalistic times, a theme that was taken up by his colleague, Dr. Yuan Zhong. Dr. Yuan emphasized that official materialist doctrines have merely suppressed, not eliminated, the strong desire of the masses to believe in ancient spiritual entities and magical powers. The pseudoscientific patina of Qigong has allowed these old religious beliefs to reemerge in a way that is less likely to arouse official ire. Dr. Yuan referred to Qigong as a pseudoreligion, one that is growing as the regime relaxes its demands for strict ideological conformity. Occasionally, the chicanery of some of these impostors reaches proportions that spur the government to intervene. The official responses were not spelled out, but we discovered in private conversation that these tricksters are usually warned and fined.

Professor Zu Shuxian of Anhui Medical University was one of the most trenchant critics of Qi as a medical concept. Having done postgraduate training in epidemiology at the University of Virginia, he was well qualified to discuss why problems of medical quackery are worse in developing countries. Particularly in rural areas, folk-healing traditions and modest education make it difficult for people to distinguish between legitimate and bogus doctors. In addition, developing countries have as yet little in the way of consumer movements that could help protect citizens from quacks. Dr. Zu denounced the press for promoting quackery and for its apparent inability to distinguish between scientifically valid and sham treatments. He lamented the tendency to credit patient satisfaction instead of rigorous testing as the measure of therapeutic success. Fraudulent medical institutions are now competing with legitimate ones for money, while government funding for university research is diminishing. Once again, China’s problems parallel our own.

Also familiar to us was an interruption by a student at this session. He complained that scientifically trained Chinese physicians do not spend enough time with patients and do not offer enough emotional support, and that this feeds the popularity of quacks.

Beyerstein, Sampson, and Skolnick delivered papers dealing with various aspects of fraud and pseudoscience in health care and the proper methodology for testing putative treatments.

The CAST conference made it apparent, as Michael Fumento has titled his recent book, that science is under siege-not just in North America and Europe, but in China, as well.⁴ There, as here, superstition, quackery, and pseudoscience have infiltrated academia, and some prominent scientists and philosophers are among the leading apologists. Their appeal to ancient magical ways of thinking, cloaked in pseudoscientific language, sounded depressingly familiar to us. In China, pseudoscience is becoming increasingly competitive with science for public support and government funding. The extent to which Chinese criminal elements have used superstition and pseudoscience to bilk the gullible public was news to us, however. Chinese academics are becoming more aware of possible psychological harms resulting from involvement with pseudoscience and quack sects and cults. In 1994, awareness of these growing problems led the Chinese government to issue a proclamation decrying the rise of superstition and pseudoscience and the erosion of science education (Sagan 1996). It seems that for many Chinese, the concept of Qi supplies an all-encompassing vision of life and its role within the cosmos as a whole. Qi has become a comfortable explanation for everything. Unfortunately, something that purports to explain everything explains nothing.

On to Shanghai

After a day spent trekking the Great Wall, our tour of China then moved on to Shanghai. There we were hosted by friends of CAST officials who were academics, but not themselves associated with scientific institutions. They were able, however, to introduce us to a variety of practitioners of TCM. Before exploring local TCM facilities, we were given a chance to interact with conventional biomedical scientists during a most interesting tour of the brain research laboratories at Shanghai Medical University. The research problems, techniques, and apparatus we encountered at this well-equipped institute were familiar to us; and the work we discussed with these Chinese neuroscientists revealed that they are working at the forefront of their fields. After this tour, our focus shifted back to TCM.

We next visited the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and its affiliated Shu Guang Hospital-the largest TCM complex in China. The views expressed there were somewhat different from those we had encountered at the Beijing TCM Institute (Beyerstein and Sampson 1996), especially with regard to integration of scientific and traditional medicine. At the Shanghai institute, where the primary mission was the teaching of TCM, the president, Dr. Wang Ling Tai, was also a gastroenterologist who practices scientific biomedicine. As in Beijing, we were told that TCM was requested by less than twenty percent of the patient population. (It seems that self-medication with herbs is more pervasive in the country as a whole, however. The fifteen-to-twenty-percent figure refers to those patients who choose to see a TCM doctor.) After a long and enjoyable meeting with Dr. Wang, we were shown through the complex, which appeared similar in setup to the clinic complex in Beijing. We were shown a major manufacturing facility for antibiotics that we were told were derived originally from traditional herbal medicines. This aspect of TCM made sense to us because we knew that penicillin, for example, was derived from molds that had long been used in European folk remedies (there are frequent historical references to use of moldy bread for dressing dirty wounds).

While in Shanghai, we also toured the largest herbal pharmacy in China. TCM diagnosticians occupied booths around the periphery of each floor in this multistory building, while herbalists busily moved about the center, filling prescriptions according to the diagnosticians’ recipes. With rapid, animated movements, they grabbed handfuls of dried vegetable and animal matter from rows of drawers stacked in massive cabinets that resembled floor-to-ceiling library card files. The ingredients were dropped somewhat unceremoniously on hand- held balances and then mixed on large sheets of paper. These were then folded into dispensing packets and sold to waiting patients, mostly for preparation as herbal teas. The measurements struck us as rather imprecise by Western pharmaceutical standards, but greater accuracy might have been illusory because a perennial problem with herbal remedies is that the concentrations of active ingredients in the raw materials can vary greatly from source to source (due to climate, soil conditions, etc.). Also on sale were a variety of over-the-counter remedies that we also saw in department stores, corner pharmacies, tourist centers, and airports throughout China. Some of these, to our dismay, included preserved bear gall bladder, ground horns and penises of various wild animals, and other animal parts apparently sold primarily for their alleged ability to enhance sexual potency.⁵

We also saw North American ginseng prominently displayed in these stores — it is highly valued in China. Although many bold therapeutic claims are made for ginseng, its scientifically demonstrated effects are more modest. Its complex chemistry stimulates several bodily systems. Ginseng can act as a pick-me-up in a number of ways: it produces caffeinelike effects in the central nervous system, enhances carbohydrate metabolism and glycogen synthesis, and may stimulate the heart because it contains some digitalislike components (similar to those found in the common foxglove). It also has histiminic activity, and it contains steroids that can affect the hormonal system (Siegel 1979).⁶

At the Shanghai traditional pharmacy, we encountered for the first time TCM doctors who still use the ancient technique of pulse diagnosis (see WallnÜfer and von Rottauscher 1975). People are said to have fifteen different pulses detectable by traditionally trained healers although these have never been demonstrated scientifically. For us, the doctor placed his fingers on the pulse, stared vacantly into the distance for about a minute, as if absorbing its meaning, and then told us our diagnoses (none of which was accurate). He then wrote a TCM prescription for an off-the-shelf concoction that we filled at the counter. We were also diagnosed by a woman who held our hands and placed a small electrical probe at various points on our palms. From our muscle spasms, grimaces, and verbal descriptions of the tingling sensations, she arrived at a diagnosis, again one that would be news to our family physicians back home.

A Meeting with Professors of TCM

Our main conference in Shanghai was with about a dozen prominent TCM physicians affiliated with Shu Guang Hospital. Here, the flavor was quite different from the CAST symposium in Beijing, skepticism being much less pronounced. The Chinese doctors, most of whom had scientific medical training in addition to their traditional specialties, each gave brief introductory statements. The session was then opened for discussion and questions. We can best describe the event with a sample of our questions and the answers given. We asked our questions as naive Westerners, but with a perspective of scientific inquiry. The answers, as will be evident, highlighted the differences between the scientific outlook and that of TCM. The answers are not verbatim in every case because some were conveyed through a translator.

Q: How are the roles of Western-trained and TCM physicians different?

A: One example is a woman with cancer who failed with Western treatments and was then treated with TCM and lived four years longer than expected. [This exemplifies one of our major conclusions, namely that TCM still relies predominantly on anecdotal evidence-its practitioners exhibited very little understanding of the need for controlled clinical trials. Most of the group seemed to lack knowledge about how to do scientifically valid evaluations of their techniques.]

Q: Do you treat different cancers differently, or do you use the same treatment for all?

A: Every case is different, and treatment is different. [Ironically, TCM sees all disease as resulting from the same cause (Qi imbalance), but it sees each patient’s case as unique. This answer also illustrates TCM’s preoccupation with surface manifestations rather than trying to reveal a more limited number of underlying pathological processes that might manifest themselves in a wider variety of symptoms.]

Q: How do the different cancer remedies work, and what are the biochemical mechanisms for combatting cancer cells?

A: We are trying different methods to prevent cancer, especially in high-risk breast cancer patients — 17,000 professional women. [Perhaps something was lost in translation.] Many traditional medicines are static. TCM is developing. We are examining curative effects and theoretical basis. We regard the patient as oneness. Every patient is ‘a small world.’ A major reason for interest in natural developments is traditional Chinese herbs. People are panicking about environmental chemicals, effects now being reversed by TCM. There are breakthroughs. Look at TCM from the Chinese perspective. We say, ‘Water the ponies [peonies?] well.’ [For example, pay attention to internal stresses of the patient.] Rather than killing cancer cells, increase internal factors to bring one into balance. TCM doctors see a change in the patterns of things. TCM treats imbalance of the negative and positive sides of things. [In other words, it does not treat disease processes per se.] TCM works well in circulatory disorders — it corrects blood circulation. [This was typical of many answers we received in that it sidestepped the original question and substituted a rambling string of metaphors instead.]

Q: How about ephedra - herbs containing ephedrine - are there two concepts of how it works - pharmacological and TCM?

A: We have adopted several new ways of treating, and that is one [a probable translation problem, so we tried again].

Q: What is the rationale for the treatment with ephedra?

A: We have a division here - TCM and Western ways. Doctor recommends the method - surgery, medicine, or TCM - and the patient decides. Most doctors would use Western medicine first for acute problems, then TCM if needed. Such as with gallstones: operation first, maybe we would use TCM afterward. Same with cancer. Doctors agree on how to combine them. [It was apparent we were not going to obtain a direct answer, and so we moved on. The gist of the remainder of this part of the discussion was that TCM is seen as a way of strengthening the body to resist disease in general, not a means of combatting specific diseases.]

Q: [To a nephrologist (kidney specialist) who also uses TCM.] How does TCM treat a new disease or change as new concepts of disease arise? Does TCM change?

A: We combine TCM and Western medicine in treatment of kidney disease, but we have different ways in different phases of the illness. At first, we use TCM to prevent progression. In later stages, we also adopt Western ways. We also use TCM in transplants. [Again, we did not pursue this indirect answer.]

After the question-and-answer session, several TCM physicians tried to clarify earlier comments with the following statements:

Because of difficulties with cults, we have different definitions [for Qi, etc.]. TCM and Western medicine have sharp differences in their concepts.

Practice speaks the loudest. Results count most. Science is not absolute; it has its limitations, and is also developing. So, each has its own advantages. For example, Western [medical] science used to be [exclusively?] biological. Now it is biological and societal. Combining the biological, psychological, and societal occurred 1,500 years ago in China. Western medicine is developing in the same way. TCM was ahead of Western medicine.

TCM works and cures where Western medicine does not; Western medicine is more toxic,⁷ so they are complementary and can learn from each other. We hope TCM and Western medicine can help and understand each other.

Western proponents say they know what works and now present a body of knowledge. Another way to look at it is that TCM considers the macro or whole body; Western medicine considers the micro. TCM does not apply to all cases; it is better for recuperative and chronic cases.

Patients understand this and know where to go. TCM has not only a philosophy, but a background. It is bidirectional. Both TCM and Western medicine concern homeostasis; TCM includes heart and spirit. From the lab perspective, TCM can improve senile dementia, especially Alzheimer’s [disease]. Some biochemical levels return to baseline. We also see aging retarded in humans and animals, and there are other neurochemical and immune changes as well.

A notable exception to the generalities presented by most of the rest of this group of TCM physicians was a discussion we had with Dr. Yan De Xin. A scientist who studies the chemistry of traditional herbs, he expressed the belief, in private conversation, that many traditional medicines will be found to contain active ingredients of interest to scientific medicine (some of this has already happened - see, e.g., Lewis and Elvin-Lewis 1977). But, unlike most of the sentiments expressed during the Shanghai conference, Dr. Yan was only willing to grant that efficacy on the basis of scientific trials. He has been trying to extract possibly active ingredients from a number of traditional herbs and to subject them to proper double-blind tests. His understanding of what needs to be done was impressive but, like researchers everywhere these days, he has been hampered by funding shortages.

Our meeting with this group of TCM experts ended with a formal dinner, each of the numerous courses flavored by a different Chinese herb used by traditional Chinese physicians. It was explained to us that TCM makes little distinction between the health-giving properties of foods and medicines.

External Qigong

Although we saw no external Qi demonstrations in China, both of us have observed such exhibitions in the large immigrant Chinese communities in our home cities. One was at an American Medical Student Association meeting in San Francisco, April 8, 1995. It was performed by Effie Poy Yew Chow, R. N., for an audience of about one hundred students. She seemed to advocate a combination of Ju Jitsu, suggestion, and ‘applied kinesiology.’⁸ She also claimed (but could not demonstrate), as we heard in China, that Qigong masters can transport Qi energy several thousand miles to alter the molecular structure of water. The students seemed to enjoy the lecture and, surprisingly, none challenged Ms. Chow’s rather extreme claims. Barry Beyerstein had an equally unfulfilling encounter with a famous Qigong master in Vancouver.⁹ Previously, this author’s brother, Dale Beyerstein, had investigated some prominent TCM practitioners in the Vancouver area and found them dangerously wanting in medical knowledge (D. F. Beyerstein 1990).¹⁰

Conclusion

Looking back at our discussions with TCM proponents in China, it often seemed that our questions and their answers came from two different worlds. It soon became apparent to us that this is equally true when the scientific and traditional medical communities in China try to communicate. This was obvious in the wide gap between the remarks of the academics and physicians gathered by CAST in Beijing, and the answers given by most of the TCM physicians we encountered in Beijing and Shanghai. The former spoke in terms we could understand, emphasizing the requirement to support claims with evidence and the need to understand such demonstrable effects TCM might produce in terms of scientifically verifiable biological mechanisms. Although the speakers at the CAST meeting in Beijing tended not to demean TCM during their presentations, several of them dismissed it in private conversations. The rest refrained from making rationalizations for TCM.

The statements of the TCM physicians, on the other hand, tended to be rambling, global, and tangential (this was not merely a language barrier, for many of them spoke excellent English). The traditionalists were difficult to pin down because when they had no available answer, the question would be redirected. While TCM physicians downplayed the importance of statistical approaches and placebo-controlled clinical trials, they did not hesitate to enlist such data when it seemed to their advantage. We came away with the strong feeling that the TCM community, with a few exceptions, does not really understand the power of the placebo effect nor the need for double-blind clinical trials. They seemed not to comprehend why we were not impressed by testimonials or anecdotes about individuals who had recovered after TCM treatments. Many claims seemed inflated, such as that for TCM’s effectiveness in Alzheimer’s disease and AIDS (see, e.g., Hou 1991). In the end, we were left with the same sense of frustration we often felt after arguing with advocates of ‘alternative medicine’ at home. Both exhibit an essential vagueness when explaining the mechanisms presumed to underlie their treatments. Both are prone to assume that metaphors count as explanations and that anecdotal evidence can substitute for systematic verification of claims.

Several speakers in both Beijing and Shanghai laced their discussions with political references, for example, to the evils of feudalistic times, the unwillingness to be subjected to logic (dialectics), and inhibitions to social progress. It seems that the practice of TCM and the concepts of internal and external Qi place China in a dilemma. Advancement of these ideas, especially overseas, increases China’s prestige and is a matter of cultural pride. Yet the inherent mysticism and magical thinking in these notions are an embarrassment to the Marxist rationalism of the government and to the scientific community as a whole. Furthermore, the growing involvement of criminal elements in paranormal spheres, as occurs to some extent in all countries, is considered a growing threat to social order. Overall, we perceived a delicate balancing act, between toleration and encouragement of TCM on the one hand, and attempts to restrict its more extreme manifestations, such as external Qi quackery, on the other.

We ended our tour unconvinced that Traditional Chinese Medicine has objectively proven its claims to cure any specific diseases. Acupuncture has some mild analgesic [lowered sensitivity to pain while conscious] properties and Chinese herbs have already yielded to scientific analysis some useful drugs - undoubtedly more will follow. We could find no scientific support for the use of cupping, moxibustion, and acupuncture for infectious diseases, deafness, and congenital deformities. We acknowledge the emotional comfort Chinese patients suffering from chronic or fatal disorders receive from TCM ministrations, but we saw no evidence to back up the oft-heard assertion that TCM actually works where Western medicine has failed. Insofar as TCM offers a degree of comfort and hope for those in difficult situations, it seems to perform a similar role to those of vitamin supplements, chiropractic, homeopathy, naturopathy, and therapeutic touch, our homegrown Western pseudomedicines.¹¹

Notes

1. “Qi” is the name Chinese philosophy gives to a scientifically undetectable “force” or “energy” believed to permeate everything in the universe. TCM asserts that imbalances in the flow of Qi in anatomically unverified “meridians” are responsible for disease, fatigue, etc. Acupuncture, Chinese herbs, massage, etc., supposedly restore well-being by rebalancing the flow of this mystical essence. Qigong is a set of mental and physical exercises akin to those ofÊTai Chi Chuan and Ai-ki-do that also promise spiritual and physical benefits by channeling this mysterious energy. With its mental disciplines and postural and breathing exercises, Qigong has long been practiced as a form of self-hypnosis that claims to promote relaxation and general health, much in the manner of certain yoga exercises. These days, practitioners of this aspect of the discipline call it “internal Qigong” to distinguish it from the much more dubious “external Qigong,” which has enjoyed a dramatic rise in popularity in China and in the West. Devotees of external Qigong claim they can control the Qi force beyond their own bodies to debilitate their foes, achieve the sorts of allegedly psychic feats familiar to Westerners, and diagnose and cure physical ailments. Qigong masters have become rich and powerful in China, filling massive sports arenas for their demonstrations of magic and faith healing. Chinese skeptics who have exposed these Qigong hoaxers were among the hosts of the delegation that included these authors (Lin et al., in press).

2. As an example of why scientific physicians consider external Qigong to be quackery, take the following advertisement for a “Qigong Herbal Pillow” that appeared in the September 1994 issue of the English-language magazine, China Today, published in Beijing by the China Welfare Institute. The pillow, which sells for U.S. $198, is claimed to be effective for high and low blood pressure as well as for “insomnia, diseases of the heart, brain, and blood vessels.” It also allegedly “reinforces the kidneys,” relieves rheumatism, “builds up the spleen,” “stops pain,” aids digestion, and “energizes the mind.” According to the manufacturers, it is a “small-radar Qigong bionic device” that “works by utilizing the synchronicity of global and human magnetic fields and of trace elements, and through the magnetization of Chinese herbal medicines.” Invented by the Qigong master Wang Shibo, it incorporates a “high-energy Qigong tube” that is supposed to generate its own power from the user’s speech, breathing, and heartbeat. This causes it to vibrate in therapeutic ways; and its radiant power can help users “develop their special bodily abilities” (a common euphemism for psychic powers). The pillow is sanctioned by the Bai Zi Yuan Shen Qigong Research Institute and, according to the ad, it is effective for three years.

3. Gardner, M. 1981. Dermo-optical perception: A peek down the nose. Science: Good, Bad, and Bogus. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 63-73. (Originally published in Science, February 11, 1966.)

4. Fumento, M. 1993. Science Under Siege: Balancing Technology and the Environment. N.Y.: William Morrow.

5. While we are quite prepared to accept that certain herbal remedies contain biologically active ingredients that could be useful in medical practice (some have already met this criterion of scientific proof (see Lewis and Elvin-Lewis 1977), we see no such value in those concoctions made from organs of endangered species. Their rationale, as we point out in Part 1 of this report, is purely that of “sympathetic magic,” the basis of all superstitious practices (see Note 6).

6. A good example of the “sympathetic magic” aspects of TCM (the belief that “like begets like”) is that the price paid for ginseng root is not determined by the concentration of its active chemical ingredients. Rather, it is determined by the degree to which the variegated root structure resembles a human body. Roots with a greater number of distinct parts that can be seen as a head, torso, appendages, etc., fetch a higher price.

7. Wherever we went, TCM doctors tended to emphasize the toxic side effects of Western drugs while glossing over the well-known fact that herbal medications have potential toxicities of their own (Tyler 1985). Many “natural” plant substances are virulent poisons; others can have serious side effects for the digestive, cardiac, pulmonary, hepatic, renal, and nervous systems. A major drawback among traditional herbalists of all ethnic stripes is their insufficient education concerning these potential harms.

8. “Applied kinesiology” is a scientifically discredited technique for reading the “muscle weakness” that allegedly follows (instantaneously) exposure to certain presumed pathogens (refined sugar, food dyes, preservatives, and fluorescent lighting are favorite culprits). This pseudoscience should not be confused with the authentic discipline of kinesiology, which is the scientific study of the control of bodily movement.

9. A recent meeting of the B.C. Skeptics in Vancouver, B.C., Mr. Ge Yingcai, a famous Qigong master and healer who had immigrated to Canada. Mr. Ge had promised to demonstrate, under double-blind conditions, his ability to make distilled water taste sweet by irradiating it with his Qi energy. The audience was disappointed and annoyed, however, when, after a rambling two-hour lecture, the master announced that he was now too tired to participate in the controlled test. Mr. Ge said he had a degree in nuclear physics from Beijing University, but his interactions with several professors of physics in the audience revealed significant gaps in his understanding of basic science. Likewise, in discussion with Dr. Kirsten Emmott, a physician member of the B.C. Skeptics, Mr. Ge exhibited deficiencies in elementary medical knowledge. For instance, he had no comeback when Dr. Emmott pointed out that his claim to diagnose disease in his clients’ organs by feeling pain in the corresponding ones in his own body was doubtful because the organs he referred to have no nerve supply that could signal such sensations (even if his organs could somehow magically resonate with those of his clients). Although Mr. Ge had specifically agreed to produce scientific studies to substantiate his conceptions of disease and his claimed cures, all he could deliver were the usual testimonials from satisfied customers.

   The B.C. Skeptics were similarly frustrated when they issued a challenge to be scientifically tested to the Qigong master Yan Xin during his North American tour in 1990. Yan’s associate, Wu Xutian, wrote saying that the skeptics only remained dubious because they had never seen a real Qigong master in action, but he declined to show them what his supposedly real colleague could do. In his letter of rejection addressed to Dale Beyerstein, Wu condescendingly dismissed the skeptics challenge: “. . . Dr. Yan Xin and I are not interested in the very low level test which was very popular in China ten or fifteen years ago. He is busy on some cooperating research subjects with several important organizations in U.S.” Wu suggested the skeptics should be content with some “scientific” papers by Yan which he enclosed. As usual, the claimed effects of Qigong were extremely unlikely by conventional scientific standards but were not published in peer-reviewed journals of any international scientific standing.

10. Dale Beyerstein, who suffers from diabetes, dropped several obvious hints in describing his complaint for each TCM doctor he visited (he listed the textbook symptoms but did not mention the word “diabetes”). He even prominently displayed his “Medic Alert” bracelet while having his pulses read, but none of the TCM doctors picked up on his diabetes (none even asked what the clearly marked bracelet was for!). The herbal remedies that were prescribed for Dale differed at the different offices and some of them would have been medically dangerous for a diabetic to take.

11. Many scientifically trained physicians accept that chiropractic manipulations could be beneficial for certain purely musculoskeletal complaints. However, medical scientists remain dubious about the underlying rationale for chiropractic still espoused by most of its practitioners. These theoretical “explanations” continue to fly in the face of scientific knowledge in the fields of anatomy and physiology (Jarvis 1987). Chiropractors who still insist that all diseases stem from spinal misalignments ("subluxations”), and can therefore be cured by joint manipulation, remain open to charges of pseudoscience. The same is true of the many chiropractors who continue to reject the germ theory of disease, oppose basic immunization, and use scientifically discredited diagnostic devices.

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The first World Skeptics Congress — also the twentieth-anniversary conference of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, Science in the Age of (Mis)Information — had a little something for everyone.

There was a surprise announcement that asteroids had been named after CSICOP and its founder, Paul Kurtz. There was a lively lunchtime question-and-answer interchange between Chris Carter, the creator of the immensely popular X-Files television show, and an audience of skeptics ranging from admiring fans to critics worried that the Fox network drama promotes paranormal beliefs. The conference even featured a surprise visit from Charles Darwin (persuasively played in black cape by biology professor Clyde Herreid), introducing and briefly upstaging his twentieth-century evolutionary disciple, Stephen Jay Gould.

A Council on Media Integrity (see page 8) was created, a twentieth-birthday cake cut, awards presented, conference T-shirts sold, and a second World Skeptics Congress initiated (in Heidelberg, Germany, probably June or July 1998).

At least 1,200 people from twenty-four countries attended all or parts of the congress-by far the largest crowd for any CSICOP conference. (The local newspaper estimated that 2,000 attended Gould’s lecture in the university gymnasium.) They heard some seventy speakers, themselves a representative roster of internationalism: Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S. There was a Nobel laureate (Leon Lederman), two MacArthur Fellows (James Randi and Stephen Jay Gould), an Emmy winner (Chris Carter), and the recently knighted if chronically rumpled (a point amusingly made by Randi in his introduction) editor emeritus of Nature, John Maddox.

The media were there in force as well. The Associated Press sent out an opening-day story. National Public Radio’s Science Friday did two hours live from the conference. WGN radio Chicago, Australian radio, C- SPAN, and the BBC were there; CNN did something, NBC’s Today Show mentioned the conference, as did David Letterman on his CBS program Late Show, and there was an array of other print reporters and writers from round the world. The Boston Globe did a big feature (July 1), and the New York Times published exerpts from some of the conference papers (July 7).

We begin our coverage of the congress in this issue with Wendy Grossman’s lively, impressionistic account and commentary, and several short pieces. Look for more in our next issue and for articles based on several of the most prominent presentations later.