72 lines
3.1 KiB
Plaintext
72 lines
3.1 KiB
Plaintext
Hospital Wards Off Satanism
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CHICAGO (AP) - At his parents' home, Mike painted his room black, decorated
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it with black candles and an altar, and put up obituaries and Satanic symbols
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on the walls.
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He began driving recklessly, drinking heavily, experimenting with marijuana
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and threatening his parents.
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That's when Mike ended up in one of the nation's first treatment programs
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aimed at weaning away disturbed teen-agers from Satanism.
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``At the time,'' said Michael Weiss, an adolescent psychologist, ``Satanism
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seemed to have, for Mike, a lot of answers that he couldn't find elsewhere. It
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gave him the sense that he could control all things.
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``Now that he can find other ways to feel good and have some sense of
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purpose ... he seems increasingly willing to put aside any Satanic
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influence,'' said Weiss of Hartgrove Hospital on Chicago's North Side.
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Mike - not his real name - is among about a half dozen youths, ranging from
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14 to 17, who've received treatment or are undergoing therapy at Hartgrove's
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Center for the Treatment of Ritualistic Deviance.
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The center, attached to the hospital's adolescent unit, began receiving
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patients in October, and referrals are trickling in as its reputation gets
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established, Weiss said.
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The in-patient treatment program lasts four to eight weeks, and involves
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individual as well as group therapy.
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Up to six patients can be treated at a time, but the capacity can be
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expanded should the need arise, Weiss said.
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Most patients are admitted voluntarily based on referrals from mental
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health workers, police and parents.
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Weiss said it's still too early to determine the success rate.
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``We didn't know what to expect ... but I'm pleased with the way things are
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right now,'' he said. ``We're certainly finding that we can work with these
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kids and their families.''
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A similar program exists at Denver's Bethesda PsychHealth.
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Hartgrove has received inquiries from hospitals in Texas, Virginia and
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Wisconsin interested in starting their own Satanism treatment programs, said
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social worker Dale Trahan.
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``I definitely see the problem as growing,'' said Trahan, who's been
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researching satanic beliefs for three years and was contracted to set up
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Hartgrove's center.
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``The factors that seem to be adding to a growth of the occult don't seem
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to be going away - a breakdown in family, an abandonment of traditional
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values, resistance towards traditional religious beliefs, and an increasing
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number of youths who feel both alienated and powerless over their lives and
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future.''
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``So many kids are feeling like they're ... not going to get their needs
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met using traditional means so they're looking for alternatives ... and there
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are many destructive alternatives'' such as street gangs, neo-Nazi groups,
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drugs and Satanism, Trahan said.
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Cynthia Kisser, executive director of the Chicago-based Cult Awareness
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Network, said there has been a marked increase in the number of young people
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involved in Satanism.
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AP-NY-03-22-90 2108EST
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(C) Copyright 1989, Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
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