"Deprogramming” ~ Deep Trouble

"Meditation," says psychiatrist Wolfgang Kretschmer, "has a good chance of eventually becoming one of the leading therapeutic techniques." More and more psychologists, psychiatrists; and doctors from institutions like Harvard and UCLA are supporting this view. Their articles are appearing in Science, Scientific American, The American Journal of Psychiatry, the Journal of Counseling Psychology; and other publications.

In Psychology Today; Dr. Daniel Goleman says meditators can better handle stress, that they feel more in control of their lives, and that they have "fewer psychological or psychosomatic problems such as colds, headaches, and sleeplessness." In the Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Dr. John Heider says spiritual disciplines like meditation, yoga, and mantras [the Hare Krsna mantra, for instance] are "as necessary to a life of growth as regular brushing is to dental hygiene."

Dr. Allan Gerson and Dr. Ronald Huff have conducted studies on the psychological effects of chanting the Hare Krsna mantra. They find chanters "are more keenly aware and have sharper mental cognitions." Also, "chanters have a clear sense of identity. They know who they are in relationship to the universe, where they're going, and how they can improve themselves and the world around them." And Gerson and Huff describe Hare Krsna meditators as "friendly, warm, and outgoing as a group, as well as individually."

Unfortunately, some parents of Hare Krsna meditators have reacted unfavorably to their new life-style. In fact, some parents have even gone so far as to break the law, by hiring professionals to abduct their legal-age children. These abductors are euphemistically called "deprogrammers," and they employ intensive psychological and even physical abuse on Hare Krsna meditators to make them renounce their new life-style.

Even more disturbing are the efforts of perhaps a dozen psychiatrists and psychologists to legitimize such illegal activity. Ignoring the previously mentioned body of scientific data, they label meditation and the chanting of Hare Krsna as "brainwashing" and "mind control." They neglect to say that worldwide there are literally millions of Krsna centers (including those in India), and that there are tens of millions of perfectly normal people who chant the Hare Krsna mantra for self improvement. In other words, with unsubstantiated claims these people are trying to take away fundamental American liberties-freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of association, and the simple freedom to live your own life as you see fit.

History offers us grim examples of similar abuses. Hitler used psychology and psychiatry as justifications for his extermination campaigns. The Soviet Union also uses these professions to repress critics and minority lifestyles. Clearly, this misuse of the psychological sciences endangers American freedom.

On the legal front, the battle is reaching its peak in New York. On October 14, a grand jury in Queens County indicted the Krsna consciousness movement and two of its members on an unprecedented charge of "illegal imprisonment by mind control." The case grew out of the attempts of two families to have their legal-age offspring removed from the Hare Krsna center in New York and "deprogrammed." When the "deprogramming"' failed and the two members-a man, twenty-two, and a woman, twenty-four-returned to the group, the frustrated parents gained the cooperation of a judge, a district attorney, and a grand jury. And they had two Hare Krsna leaders indicted.

The District Attorney's office then had the man and woman sequestered as "material witnesses" and sought to have them committed to mental institutions for "treatment." In fact, the court did commit the young man. After two weeks he was released-a court-appointed team of psychiatrists who had examined him for a week testified that he was perfectly sane and competent. However, an avid supporter of "deprogramming," psychiatrist John G. Clark, Jr., felt that the young man's ability to conceal his symptoms was "proof" of the depth of the brainwashing he had undergone. The doctor and the young man's parents urged that he be put into isolation and subjected to "stress tests" ("deprogramming") to break the alleged mind control. But the hospital psychiatrists said that such tactics would "raise serious questions about the patient's legal rights and about ethical consideration in the practice of medicine."

The hospital psychiatrists gave the young man a clean bill of health. How seriously, then, can anyone take Dr. Clark's diagnosis? Whether tests show a problem or not, whether other professionals see a problem or not, people like Dr. Clark insist that there is a problem. And, what is really frightening, Dr. Clark feels that to deal with the "problem," he should have the right to drastically interfere with another person's freedom. Before individuals like Dr. Clark involve everyone in a senseless witch-hunt, they might first submit themselves for psychological testing.

Happily the judge sensed that the attempts to commit the woman were what he called "a ploy," and he released her.