{"id":680,"date":"2012-10-22T17:34:03","date_gmt":"2012-10-22T17:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/?p=680"},"modified":"2016-01-26T00:21:09","modified_gmt":"2016-01-26T00:21:09","slug":"fear-of-closets-get-that-child-to-a-therapist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/?p=680","title":{"rendered":"‘Fear of closets’? Get that child to a therapist!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Oct. 22, 2012<\/p>\n

In the Dark Ages of social science \u2013 the 1980s, give or take a few years — unfounded concepts were treated as received truth: satanic ritual abuse (later recast as sadistic ritual abuse), multiple personality disorder (later, dissociative identity disorder), repressed memory syndrome.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve found no better example of the era\u2019s overreaching ignorance than the chart at right.<\/p>\n

On what possible grounds did California clinical psychologist Catherine Gould determine that satanic ritual abuse was indicated by a child\u2019s \u201cRefusal to eat red or brown food\u201d or \u201cFear of closets and small spaces\u201d or \u201cPreoccupation with cleanliness\u201d? Did this crazy quilt of symptoms come to her in a hallucination.<\/p>\n

Regardless, Gould\u2019s list, widely photocopied, contributed to parental panics at day cares across the country. After all, she was \u201ca\u00a0licensed psychologist<\/a>\u00a0specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of adult and child victims of ritual abuse\u201d!<\/p>\n

So just how reliable an authority was Catherine Gould? Well, it was she who first claimed the Los Angeles County Ritual Abuse Task Force was being\u00a0poisoned with diazinon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Later, according to the Associated Press, \u201cShe said her blurred vision and failed memory weren’t psychosomatic, but she admitted she never visited a doctor to be tested for the pesticide.\u201d
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Eating Problems<\/strong>
\nRefusal to eat red or brown food
\nFear that food is poisoned
\nBingeing, gorging, vomiting, anorexia<\/p>\n

Problems Associated with Doctors<\/strong>
\nFear of doctors
\nFear of injections, blood tests
\nFear of removing clothes<\/p>\n

Toiletting\/Bathroom Problems<\/strong>
\nBathroom avoidance, toileting accidents
\nPreoccupation with cleanliness
\nPreoccupation with urine and feces
\nIngestion of urine and feces<\/p>\n

Family Problems<\/strong>
\nFear of death of parents, siblings, pets
\nSeparation anxiety
\nAvoidance of physical contact
\nThreatens or attacks parents, siblings<\/p>\n

Sexual Problems<\/strong>
\nAge-inappropriate sexual knowledge
\nFear of touch
\nExcessive masturbation
\nSexually provocative behavior
\nVaginal or anal pain
\nRelaxed anal sphincter,enlarged vaginal opening
\nVenereal disease<\/p>\n

Emotional Problems<\/strong>
\nRapid mood swings
\nResistance to authority
\nHyperactivity, poor attention span
\nAnxiety
\nPoor self-esteem
\nWithdrawal
\nRegression and babyish speech
\nFlat affect
\nNightmares, night terrors
\nLearning disorders
\n<\/div><\/div>\n

Problems Associated with Confinement<\/strong>
\nFear of closets and small spaces
\nFear of being tied up, ties up others<\/p>\n

Problems Associated with Colors<\/strong>
\nFear of colors red and black
\nPreoccupation with color black<\/p>\n

Problems Associated with Death<\/strong>
\nFear of dying, preoccupation with death
\nPlay and Peer Problems
\nDestroys toys
\nDeath, mutilation, confinement themes in play
\nInability to engage in fantasy play<\/p>\n

Problems Associated with Supernatural<\/strong>
\nFear of ghosts, monsters, witches, devils
\nPreoccupation with wands, spirits, magic potions, curses, crucifixes
\nOdd songs and chants
\nPreoccupation with occult symbols
\nFear of attending church<\/p>\n

Other Fears and Strange Beliefs<\/strong>
\nImaginary friends
\nFear of police, strangers, bad people
\nFear of violent films
\nFear of aggressive animals
\nFear of cemeteries, mortuaries, churches
\nFear of something foreign inside body, e.g. bomb, devil’s heart<\/p>\n

Downloaded Oct. 22, 2012 from http:\/\/www.prism.gatech.edu\/~kquach6\/common.html
\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oct. 22, 2012 In the Dark Ages of social science \u2013 the 1980s, give or take a few years — unfounded concepts were treated as received truth: satanic ritual abuse (later recast as sadistic ritual abuse), multiple personality disorder (later, dissociative identity disorder), repressed memory syndrome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=680"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1871,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions\/1871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}