"Rebirthing"

Lifestyle Relationships
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My first post in TCR.

http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/smile.gif

Anyway Muzna’s topic on late term abortions reminded me of another controversial topic regarding babies/young children that I read about a while back in a UK paper - “Rebirthing”. What I read was particularly shocking and the following story from Canada explains one such “Rebirthing” case a couple of years ago.

http://tanadineen.com/COLUMNIST/Columns/A%20warm%20deadly%20blanket.htm

“A warm, deadly blanket”

*Last week Jeane Newmaker let her child die because she wanted a cure for a “rocky” mother-daughter relationship. She had sought professional help for Candace who came to be seen as suffering, not only from depression and attention deficit disorder, but also from a newly fashionable ailment called “attachment disorder.” A two-week intensive therapy program was supposed to cure it - to repair the damaged bonds.

Candace’s $7,000US treatment included a “Rebirthing” session. The 10-year old was encased in a blanket and pillow cases. Pressure was then applied in a ritualistic manner that supposedly simulates labour contractions. She was supposed to wriggle her way out of the twisted cloth as if she were emerging from the vagina. Rather than work her way free, she screamed that she was suffocating, to which the therapists reportedly responded: “You want to die? OK, then die. Go ahead and die right now.” For almost 25 minutes the mother watched on video, as she listened to her daughter’s screams. Then she and the therapists waited another 20 minutes in silence before unwrapping the girl’s unconscious body. Candace died the next day in hospital.*

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Unbelieveable.

4

and these are civilized, educated ppl??

*Pyaar karna jurm hai to
Jurm hum say hogaya *

5

Can they do it??

werent doctors supposed to save lives??

http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/frown.gif

6

Did you read the abortion thread?

7

my Allah…

http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/teary.gif

http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/teary2.gif

kafiroun ke’ dil pathar ke hotay hein…

[This message has been edited by Cute_Boy (edited June 07, 2002).]

8

Finale to this case:

Rebirthing team convicted: Two therapists face mandatory terms of 16 to 48 years in jail

Two Evergreen therapists sobbed as they were led to jail in handcuffs Friday night after a jury found them guilty in the rebirthing death of 10-year-old Candace Newmaker. An emotional Jefferson County District Court jury took about five hours to convict Connell Watkins and Julie Ponder of child abuse resulting in death.

… “Wait!” yelled Watkins, holding off a Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputy so she could hug her daughter, Teka Cooil, who screamed, “No!” as her mother was taken away. Ponder removed her necklace and her purse and hugged her boyfriend while supporters cried.

On the other side of the courtroom, Candace’s grandmother, Mary Davis, wept with joy. Friday was a year and a day after Candace died following the experimental therapy. “Justice for Candace,” Davis said.

…Watkins, 54, and Ponder, 40, face a mandatory 16 to 48 years in prison when they are sentenced by Judge Jane Tidball on June 18.

… “I don’t think Candace Newmaker died because of their ignorance,” said sheriff’s investigator Diane Obbema. “I believe she was killed because of their arrogance.”

In closing arguments Friday morning, defense attorneys for Watkins and Ponder characterized them as caring therapists who are willing to take on the troubled children traditional practices can’t reach.

Prosecutors painted them as “monsters” who replied with callousness to the cries of a little girl who was slowly suffocating.

“This was done as therapy,” said Joan Heller, Ponder’s lawyer. “This was done with all the best intentions. Something went wrong, and we don’t know what went wrong.”

Not so, said prosecutor Laura Dunbar, pointing directly at the two women seated at the defense table. “Candace Newmaker died a slow, agonizing and torturous death, and these two defendants caused it,” Dunbar said.

The jury also had two other conviction choices: criminally negligent child abuse resulting in death, punishable by a possible four to 16 years, and child abuse resulting in bodily injury, which is a misdemeanor.

Jensen scoffed at the therapists’ “witchcraft” and the use of “psychodrama,” essentially play-acting an abuser’s role so the child may bring up repressed feelings.

“They tell you it’s psychodrama,” Jensen said, rolling his eyes. “If that is drama, it has to be a Greek tragedy.”

http://tanadineen.com/COLUMNIST/Columns/CandaceLawAddendum.html

If I’m dreaming, never let me wake. If I’m awake, never let me sleep.

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Inshallah Allah will never let it happen again...

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Yes I saw that on tv. It is a very sick thing that they did to this child. I can not imagine what they were thinking.
Brenda

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst!!!

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This is SICK!
I never knew about this!

Is it progress when a cannibal uses a knife and fork?

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So many atrocities carried out in the name of "healing".

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There are some REALLY SICK people in this world!

http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/disgust.gif

Umer, the Pakistani Brain of Austria

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Yes this is a sick practice, and there was some justice in this particular case. But the fact remains that "Rebirthing" continues to be allowed as a 'medical treatment'in hospitals across North America and elsewhere. Why after it has been shown to be such a barbaric and inhumane treatment that has killed innocent young children?

15

Sheesh.

What about the mother? (I havent read teh article provided by the links--just skimmed thru the posts)

16

Rebirthing can and is carried out without these dangerous procedures and has I believe helped people to get over problems of different types. As usual, some people give a bad name to the whole practise.

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Shirin,

Can you please give an example of a successful procedure. I'm curious to know what types of problems are treated with this and how they are eliminated.

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I'm not an expert but I'll try and explain.

BTW, if you do an internet search with the word rebithing you will get a number of different types of sites. Some of them are obviously sects and dangerous, some are therapeutic centres.

Rebithing is basically a method to bring a person to the beginning of life. It can be done in many ways, but usually involves "containment" as in wrapping in a warm blanket or in arms, water, to imitate birth and (not always, depends upon the the age etc. of the person) skin to skin contact and respiration.

Rebirthing is used for several types of problems.

Symbolically it helps us to "start again", making choices that we may not have understood we had. Some people have told me it helped them discard the "garbage" in their lives

Some psycologists utilise the method to help people bring out long buried traumas. This needs an expert who can guide the person. A friend of mine swears by it - she was a really nervous and uptight type, but after learing the respiration techniques etc she is much calmer and happier. She still uses them frequently.

In my work with mothers and babies, I find that some problems can be eased in the early months if mother and baby get into the bathtub together, and try and "re live" the first moments of life. Babies tend to have more problems (crying, sucking problems, etc) if the birth has been traumatic or attchment to the breast has been delayed and many a problem of attachment to the breast has been resolved by the bathtub method. In this case unless specifically required the mother needs to help other than organizaion and some information. This is a very simple application of the technique. For those who are wondering, the mother is told never to get the baby's face under the water, although the body should be covered as far as possible. Obviously with different ages and problems the procedures can vary.

Hope this helps.

[This message has been edited by Shirin (edited June 14, 2002).]