None taken Nina. I just know a lot of people that he did help because he let me sit in on a lot his group meetings while I was doing research.
Dr. Picchioni .... In Texas
by Wild_Thing 40 Replies latest jw friends
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MegaDude
Hi Nina,
Your opinion of Dr. Picchioni as far as child abuse issues could be right on target. I wouldn't know. I have met quite a few therapists in my job, as well as having Dr. Picchioni for a marriage counselor when I was married to a JW.
I am a firm believer now that you have to find the therapist that is right for you. Just because someone has a Ph.D. in psychology doesn't mean they are qualified to give you life advice or are a good therapist for you. I have met a number of psychotherapists in my job and more than half of them were what I would consider "whacked" or having emotional problems equal to that of their patients. I'm glad Chris found somebody that has done well for him.
Dr. P. is not a psychologist fulltime. He is or was a tenured professor of history and religion at North Texas College, I believe, and practiced psychology as a secondary profession.
It's my understanding he treated a JW elder and worked within the man's JW religious preference, and the man spread very positive news about a psychologist who was JW-friendly. Word about him spread like wildfire in the JW community. Since the Writing Dpt. at Bethel (as opposed to the Service Dpt) was becoming more mental health friendly with some of their Awake articles, JW's began flocking to this man to get help for their many problems by the hundreds. I do mean hundreds. They came from all over the United States to stay there and get help. Dr. P. established a program at a mental health hospital and scores of JWs were staying there at any one-time getting help. The JW program made huge amounts of money because there are so many screwed-up JWs. And so unofficially Dr. P. became the best known JW-approved psychologist. He was never approved of by Bethel, but the positive word of mouth spread about by the JW religious community at large.
Dr. P. worked with two JW counselors that I know of, Sam Stanton (San Antonio, Kerrville) and David Sublet up in Dallas. This was smart. By having JW's work for him it gave his mental health program more of a JW approved appearance.
The program at Charter Mental Health Hospital was marketed to the JWs by having free talks for JWs to come and listen to. Dr. P. and one of his fellow JW counselors would travel to different cities and give talks about mental health to JWs. I thought these talks were quite good. You should have seen the sad looking bunch of JW folks that came there to listen to them. The very definition of emotionally broken people. I thought Dr. P. did a good job at some of these talks and stressed self-empowerment and education. If anything, here was a bunch of cult members listening to a talk by a non-JW mental health counselor and taking his "worldy" non-JW advice.
Of course the Service Department at Bethel was not going to let anyone give the JWs advice about mental health and forfeit any control. It is my understanding, from different JWs who should know, that after the Service Department got wind of Dr. P. and the JW mental health program, they set out to destroy it. They had help in the form of a local Texas district overseer who was anti-psychiatric help. Negative comments began being published about getting psychiatric help. Word spread in the JW community and the smearing began.
Then I know there was a big lawsuit. A young JW lady who was staying at Grapevine Charter Hospital hung herself in her room. I remember sitting three chairs away from her in a group session that I attended just to learn more about mental health issues. The case was about whether she had been medicated properly, and perhaps should have been on suicide watch? I don't know all the details. I do remember she was a young and pretty woman, with children, with serious emotional issues. Anyway, there was a huge settlement, Dr. P. separated from Charter and the program fell apart and is no more. It is my understanding the negative smear from the Service Department combined with the suicide/lawsuit put the nail in the JW mental health program at Charter Hospital.
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Dr. Picchioni was a very very positive experience in two of my sisters' lives, especially my youngest. He was very kind to her, gave her excellent advice and helped her outside the therapist environment to get her into a college. I saw my youngest sister blossom under his care, recover from being almost helpless emotionally, pull up her bootstraps and get her life back together whereas she was an emotional carwreck before. She finished college and is an outstanding pediatric nurse today. She is doing quite well today and I'm darn proud of her. Dr. P. was instrumental in helping her.
His style works like this, which you may or may not find helpful. He listens to your problem, throws out a variety of suggestions to see how you think, gives you a plan of action. He is not interested in your past and dissecting it over numerous sessions. His style was let me hear your problem, how it is today, and I'll give you advice on how to fix it.
My only concern is some people really do need to revisit their past and work out the issues that came from it. If you do, Dr. P. is not for you in my opinion.
He is referred to as the Divorce Counselor or something like that because I understand most people he counsels do end up getting divorced. In my own case I feel he gave us good advice. He identified very quickly I wanted no part of the JWs. He laid it out that my wife intended to be a JW and wanted to stay in the Organization. He came up with a novel approach to solve this conflict which I'm not going to go into because I believe he still works with some JWs today and I think he's good for them.
Would my wife and I have divorced eventually anyway? I don't know. I would say probably yes. I did not want the marriage to destruct but I didn't see a way to stop it from happening. I know I would handle things a lot differently than I did when I was freshly separated from the JWs and angry as hell about the lies I had discovered. A seething angry man does not a good husband make. Nor does he always make rational decisions. I heard through someone else that Dr. P. wept when he heard we split up.
Wildfire, if you're considering seeing Dr. P. in a professional way you'll have to evaluate him for yourself. Like Chris, he may not be the therapist for you. You also may have ethical problems with a psychologist who will work within the confines of a religious cult. However, he has worked with numerous Jehovah's Witnesses and read their literature so understands them thoroughly. I do know he has helped some JWs and non-JWs.
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frankiespeakin
Biker,
That would be Bob Cambell, he was an elder in the Mira Mesa Congregation that meet in Poway. I was an elder there years ago. The JW's came from all over to see him,,BTW he was all for makeing a convicted childmolester a MS. I was the only elder who fought it and after I left they made the molester a MS. We were talking one day and he said the WT would call him for information in dealing with multiple personalities,,that seemed to be his specialty,, he said that the WT Ok'd the counting time, and bible studies for all the different personalities that were studies with, after I mentioned to him that in CT they DF'd only certain personalities of someone with multibles that committed fornication.
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cruzanheart
I'm glad he helped you and your families, Megadude & Jade. Chris got so angry at his session with Dr. P that he let loose with a couple of, um, "choice" words, which prompted the doctor to say, "you're not like any Jehovah's Witness I've ever treated!"
What a nice compliment!
Nina
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Valis
What about Doctor Pinchingoni of Texas?
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Big Tex
I'm truly glad he helped you Jade. I mean that from the bottom of my heart
As a result, I will withhold my feelings regarding this person as well as the subsequent Charter Suburban fiasco.
Chris
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Jade
Thanks Chris I appreciate your comments but this is a discussion board and you are certainly entitled to your opinions and feelings so don't hold back because of me. I was only stating my experience and opinion of Dr.P.
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wednesday
I saw Dr P myself and what I saw was he was encouraging the JWS that he treated to think for themselves and often he tried to plant little ideas about "maybe the elders are wrong" in the Pt's minds. (good for him) The nurses were also hearing abuse stories regarding elders That is what I saw. And , as far a abuse issues, i have this too, I agree with Chris and Nina- he was not good. I had being seeing a PHD myself and just went to him b/c it was supposedly JW sanctioned( which they deny of course) . He was not qualified to do child abuse issues. This message was relayed to the HLC. The seminars seemed to be helpful, but if u are starving, any food looks good.
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wednesday
I
think Sublett is still an elder, and I think he's still in that line of work... but I'm not 100% on either of those things though. I'll try to find out the latest for you.
That is what I heard too, both he and his wife , a nurse, both involved.
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Big Tex
No Jade it's okay.
I'm a weird guy, outside the norm. I do better to keep my big mouth shut. When I speak up, especially around normal people, I inevitably sound stupid and I always regret it. My timing is perfect ... always wrong.
Damn, I just do not know how normal people stand being around me. I do not deserve the patience shown me.
I'm sorry. I'll bow out now. The blackness closes in.
I shouldn't have said anything. See? My timing is always perfectly wrong.