To break the story
they broke the silence
La triste sensazione è che nella lunga attesa di un'inchiesta analoga a quella del Boston Globe sulle violenze sessuali nella Chiesa cattolica, raccontata nel film "Spotlight" (presentato fuori concorso al festival di Venezia e da novembre nelle sale americane), le vittime degli abusi degli psicoanalisti in Italia debbano accontentarsi dei "Prendimi l'anima".
Abusi sessuali spacciati per eccitanti storie d'amore proibite, società-per-insabbiare e film che si ripetono a Milano, Pavia, Voghera, e in chissà quante altre città italiane grandi e piccole. Nel silenzio, quando non nell'ostilità verso le vittime-che-scrivono e che non si fanno intimorire dalle minacce legali. Abusi sessuali negati, in primo luogo verbalmente, per via di eufemismo ("sconfinamenti del setting"), che stentano ad affiorare perfino alla coscienza delle vittime e che raramente raggiungono le commissioni deontologiche e i comitati etici delle società private, degli ordini professionali, degli ospedali pubblici, presso cui gli psicoanalisti abusatori continuano tranquillamente, pericolosamente a esercitare, tutelati dalla vergogna e dai sensi di colpa delle vittime e soprattutto dall'omertà dei colleghi. Sempre lo stesso film, da Boston a PaViA, con una sola storia bella tra tante infami:
History of TELL [Therapy Exploitation Link Line]
In the spring of 1989, The Boston Globe publicized the issue of therapy exploitation by highlighting cases involving two prominent psychiatrists in the Boston area. Three women who had been exploited by other psychotherapists, and who had met one another through a mutually known psychotherapist, contacted the women whose stories had been publicized. The five women got together that July to explore the possibility of starting a networking and support group. One of these founders, a former advertising copywriter, suggested the acronym TELL to stand for Therapy Exploitation Link Line, a name that was quickly accepted by all.As a subsequent treater of one of TELL’s five founders, Boston social worker Nancy Avery agreed to call her colleagues to ask whether any of them were currently treating or had treated women who had been similarly abused and who might be interested in meeting with other victims/survivors. As a result, the first meeting, held in October of that year, drew twelve women who shared their stories, some for the first time beyond the closed doors of subsequent treatment.
With the help of additional publicity, referrals from attorneys and subsequent-treating psychotherapists, and word of mouth, attendance at TELL’s monthly meetings quickly reached 40 to 50. One of the founders agreed to host a telephone hot-line which increasingly was used by a geographically wider and wider number of victims/survivors from across the United States and Canada, some seeking to start similar groups in their own areas. Leadership of TELL meetings was shared by the founders and regular attendees.
As the needs of the attendees at TELL meetings became better identified, Boston attorney Linda Jorgenson was invited to give practical advice to those considering legal or licensing board actions. A sympathetic female psychotherapist was also included for several meetings to help clarify appropriate psychotherapeutic boundaries and to lend support.
TELL also held a number of public meetings on specific issues such as legal concerns and healing, with speakers drawn from both the victims/survivors and professional communities. Family members of victims/survivors, interested professionals, and media representatives were invited, often leading to overflow crowds.
Representatives of the various media contacted TELL seeking commentary and input from the victim’s point of view. As a result, TELL representatives appeared on national television talk shows such as Donohue and Geraldo, radio shows, were called as consultants in the Nova special entitled “My Doctor-My Lover,” and were in demand by print-media journalists, academics who wanted classroom speakers, and professional organizations that wanted to include the victim’s point of view in their educational programs. TELL participants have also served on the planning boards for conferences and lectured to medical and law students.
Some TELL representatives have become politically active, sponsoring bills and testifying at public hearings. Others have worked on committees to help draft patients’ bills of rights and to assist professional organizations and boards in developing procedures for handling complaints. Some have participated in on-going dialogue groups with members of the psychotherapy professions in an attempt to find common and understandable interests between professionals and consumers.
In 1992, The American Psychiatric Association awarded TELL its Assembly Speakers Award for its work.
By 1997, TELL ceased to hold regular public meetings in Boston. Chapters formed in other parts of the country were short-lived. Assisted for many years by an association with Advocateweb.org, today TELL exists largely as a cyberspace organization with its volunteers from across the USA, Canada, and Australia connected by internet. Thousands of victims/survivors, referred by their attorneys, subsequent treaters, and others, or who have found us through web searches, contact TELL to find the information and support they need.
From time to time, volunteers hold TELL meetings to give victims/survivors a chance to get together, further breaking the sense of isolation that each feels as a result of having been exploited. When these meetings take place, there will be a notice posted on the home page of this web site.
