------------------------------------------------------------------- F.A.C.T.Net, Inc. (Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network, Incorporated) a non-profit computer bulletin board and electronic library 601 16th St. #C-217 Golden, Colorado 80401 USA BBS 303 530-1942 FAX 303 530-2950 Office 303 473-0111 This document is part of an electronic lending library and preservational electronic archive. F.A.C.T.Net does not sell documents, it only lends them according to the terms of your library cardholder agreement with F.A.C.T.Net, Inc. ------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 PROFESSIONAL PROFILE: Arnold Markowitz Arnold Markowitz (B.S., Empire State College of the State University of New York, M.S.W., Yeshiva University), was appointed to head the first clinical psychotherapy service devoted exclusively to cult-related problems in any social service agency in the country. It was in 1980, in the wake of the Jonestown disaster, that the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, sensing a disproportionate involvement of Jewish youth in cults, set up a task force in part to assist affected families. They asked Mr. Markowitz to head it up. He invited a few ex-cult members to a meeting, and when a local newspaper reported the convo- cation prominently, Mr. Markowitz was inundated by calls from ex- members, parents, spouses, and others seeking help and guidance. Soon, the Cult Clinic and Hotline (as the new entity was named) of the New York Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services added a research component (AFP committee member Dr. Mark Sirkin) and a consultant psychiatrist (Dr. David Halperin, also an AFF committee member). Mr. Markowitz has guided the clinic ever since, all the while maintaining various positions within the JBFCS agency. He is currently Director of Brooklyn Adolescent Services, concentrating on individual, group, and family psychotherapy in the area of substance abuse. During the decade of the Cult Clinic's operation, Mr. Markowitz has been impressed by the general growth in our understanding of cultic processes and our confidence in our ability to help families communicate and successfully encourage members to leave cults in a non-coercive way. He says that the decline in coercive deprogramming during the period -- something which the Cult Clinic always abjured -- and the rise of exit counseling, is a clear measure of this maturing of approaches to cult involvement. Mr. Markowitz found that adapting traditional psychotherapy techniques, and providing information about cultism generally and the particular cult in question, is sufficient to prepare the ground for successful voluntary exit counseling. The key here for Mr. Markowitz has been first assessing the family dynamics that may have played a role in the cult involvement. Not all families try exit counseling, but of those that do, most are successful, although it is an indication of the work that still must be done in the typical case that most of Mr. Markowitz's clinical time is spent not with family members preparing to persuade a relative to leave a cult but in post-cult therapy. Happily, Mr. Markowitz has been able to bring his insights and experience to the AFF Family Guidelines Study Group as well as the Victim Assistance and Social Work committees. He is also co-author of "Residential Treatment: The Potential for Cultic Evolution," forthcoming in the Cultic Studies Journal. 2 PROFESSIONAL PROFILE: Ralph S. Smith Ralph S. Smith, Jr. (M.D., Northwestern University, M.B.A., University of Charleston), is in the vanguard of a small but growing group of psychiatrists who are no longer silent about the harm that they see being done by cults, not only ~o individuals and their families but to society in general. Dr. Smith, aCharleston, WV, native, has traveled far from his roots for his education and military service, but has returned to establish the Charlesto~ Psychiatric Group, offering, join fly with his wife, Teresa D. Smith, Ph.D., and his sister, Rosemary L. Smith, Psy.D. (both licensed psycholo- gists), and a fellow psychiatrist, office therapy, hospital care, psychological testing, stress management, and assessments for attorneys. Dr. Smith' s military service took him, in the early 1970s, to the position of Major in the U.S. Air Force Medical Corps and staff psychiatrist at the USAF hospital at Clark Air Base in the Philippines. Before completing his duties, he became Chief of Psychiatric Inpatient and Consultation Services and Consultant with the child guidance clinics, ending as director of the psychiatric teaching program for Philippine military psychiatrists and resident psychiatrists at the USAF hospital. Since 1974, Dr. Smith has been in private practice in adult, child, and forensic psychiatry, as well as a clinical professor at West Virginia University's Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry. In dealing with the great spectrum of psychiatric ills, he has been faced with the one issue that organized psychiatry has seemed most reluctant to consider, so long as it is, in Dr. Smith's words, "subsumed under religion." But the inclusion of cult problems with others requiring treatment, such as depression, anxiety, phobias, alcohol and drug problems, eating disorders, and weight control, among many, seems to him both logical and necessary. Because of his continuing dedication to helping cult victims and their families, Dr. Smith has become psychiatric consultant to the Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center of Albany, OH. He is also contact person for the Cult Awareness Network in West Virginia, and receives calls for information and help from people with family members in TM, the Hare Krishnas (still active in New Vrindaban, WV), and a number of Bible-based and "no-name" cults. Education of his fellow psychiatrists, particularly those in the forensic field, is one of Dr. Smith' s objectives. Before being permitted to testify as experts, forensic psychiatrists should, he believes, have had some actual experience working with cult victims and their families. His many areas of expertise, and the energy and enthusiasm which he brings to his work, make him a valuable asset to the AFF in his position on the Standing Committee on Psy- chiatry. ================================================================= If this is a copyrighted work, you are acknowledging by receipt of this document from FACTNet that on the basis of reasonable investigation, you have not been to obtain a copy elsewhere at a fair price, and that you are and will abide by the following copyright warning. WARNING CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS: The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photo copies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified by law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. FACTNet reserves the right to refuse to accept an order for copying or other duplication, or delivery of copied or duplicated material if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law. ------------------------------------------------------------------- CARD CATALOG ENTRY DOS FILENAME OF TEXT FILE: CO0891AF.TXT DOS FILENAME OF IMAGE FILES: CO0891.TIF ADMINISTRATIVE CODE: OK SECURITY CODE: SCO DISTRIBUTION CODE: RO DESCRIPTION FOR BBS FILE LISTING: The Cult Observer, Vol. 8 No. 8, 1991. SORT TO: AFF CONTRIBUTOR: American Family Foundation (AFF) LOCATION OF ORIGINAL: American Family Foundation (AFF) NOTES: Back issues and selected reprints of the Cultic Studies Journal are available from the American Family Foundation, P.O. Box 2265, Bonita Springs, FL 33959-2265. PROFESSIONAL PROFILES | 1 Arnold Markowitz | 2 Ralph S. Smith For additional verification see the contributor of the document. This text below was produced by scanning a printed copy of the Cult Observer. Hence a few errors may have been introducted inadvertently. Please consult the printed copy if there is any question about the text. UPDATED ON: 10/13/94 UPDATED BY: FrJMc =================================================================