Cusack Counselling Therapy

SAINT JOHN – Donnie Snook may have been the victim of sexual abuse as a child, but that experience cannot serve on its own as an excuse or determining factor that led to the former youth ministry leader’s own heinous crimes, court heard from an expert in criminal behaviour and risk assessment on Friday.  

Dr. Mary Ann Campbell was called to the stand during the second day of Snook’s sentencing hearing, having written the convicted sex offender’s psychological assessment for the court.

Campbell, an associate professor at the University of New Brunswick Saint John and a licensed psychologist, spent 12 hours interviewing and administering tests on Snook.

“When sexual abuse does occur, it can influence a person’s understanding of relationships, of sexual intimacy, and how they perceive other people that they may be sexually drawn to. But there is no direct correlation where we can say being sexually victimized causes sexual offending behaviour,” Campbell said, after informing the court Snook has reportedly been sexually abused as a child.

It would be learned later in the day Snook’s abuse occurred when he was 10 years old, reportedly at the hands of a Salvation Army Lieutenant, who is now under investigation in Newfoundland.

In response to questions from Crown Prosecutor Karen Lee Lamrock, Campbell said between three and 12 per cent of those who are sexually abused as children grow into adults who commit the same crimes, and that rate jumps when dealing with males who were abused as children by other adult males.

“They tend to have the highest risk of continuing to engage in sexual offending behaviour, but again, it’s only a minority of these individuals.

“There are always other factors that come into play that also contribute to that dynamic. It would never just be the abuse itself.”

In Snook’s case, Campbell said other factors of his personality likely played a significant role in his development into a sexual predator.

“A secondary factor that appears to contribute to Mr. Snook’s sexual behaviour is his poor coping skills to manage loneliness and interpersonal losses. He acknowledged that he feels better while sexually offending, though he recognized that he tends to regret his behaviour after the fact.”

Snook also lacked, or failed to seek out, support and other factors that may have lowered his chance of becoming an abuser himself.

“People who have better coping skills, good support around them – who have access to treatment in particular – they tend to do much better with the experience, with less of a long-term impact on their life,” Campbell said, adding that suffering in silence after abuse, something Snook claims to have done, negates the chances of recovery.

Nancy Cusack is a Saint John-based counselling therapist who has worked with child victims of sexual abuse in the past, though has no ties to Snook’s case or any of his victims. She echoed that abuse as a child doesn’t necessarily lead to abusing as an adult.

“I believe in a lot of choice. If you’ve had something bad happen to you, and you’ve been able to process it and realize what’s happened, you should be able to make a choice whether you’re going to do that or not do that.

“You have the power of responsibility as well,” said Cusack, adding getting proper help, talking about the abuse, and trying to make sense of it are crucial in going on to lead a normal life.

Snook, to the appal of victim’s families in the courtroom, acknowledged his failure to make these responsible choices on Friday during his own statement to the court, even encouraging victims of abuse to seek help rather than remaining quiet.

Campbell said her interview with Snook led to her to believe he struggled with the experience of being abused for most of his life, tying up mental resources he could have used to deal with the inappropriate sexual urges he began feeling as he grew older.

Campbell’s pre-sentence report places Snook in the high end of the “moderate” range, in terms of his risk to reoffend, despite defence lawyer Dennis Boyle’s claims that his client was looking forward to rehabilitation.

His sexual attraction to young boys, at this stage, isn’t likely to ever go away, Campbell said, even if Snook can learn to control and cope with his deviant urges.

“It’s a part of his sexual orientation,” she said.

(Copyright (c) 2013 Telegraph-Journal (New Brunswick))

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William Glasser, M.D. (May 11, 1925 – August 23, 2013^[1]) was an American psychiatrist.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he was the developer of reality therapy and choice theory. His ideas, which focus on personal choice, personal responsibility and personal transformation, are considered controversial by mainstream psychiatrists, who focus instead on classifying psychiatric syndromes, and who often prescribe psychotropic medications to treat mental disorders. Glasser was also notable for applying his theories to broader social issues, such as education, management, and marriage, to name a few. Glasser notably deviated from conventional psychiatrists by warning the general public about the potential detriments caused by the profession of psychiatry in its traditional form because of the common goal to diagnose a patient with a mental illness and prescribe medications to treat the particular illness when, in fact, the patient may simply be acting out of unhappiness, not a brain disorder. Glasser advocated the consideration of mental health as a public health issue.

Does EMDR really work?

Approximately 20 controlled studies have investigated the effects of EMDR. These studies have consistently found that EMDR effectively decreases/eliminates the symptoms of post traumatic stress for the majority of clients. Clients often report improvement in other associated symptoms such as anxiety. The current treatment guidelines of the American Psychiatric Association and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies designate EMDR as an effective treatment for post traumatic stress. EMDR was also found effective by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense, the United Kingdom Department of Health, the Israeli National Council for Mental Health, and many other international health and governmental agencies. Research has also shown that EMDR can be an efficient and rapid treatment.

What is EMDR?
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is an integrative psychotherapy approach that has been extensively researched and proven effective for the treatment of trauma. EMDR is a set of standardized protocols that incorporates elements from many different treatment approaches. To date, EMDR has helped millions of people of all ages relieve many types of psychological stress.

How does EMDR work?
No one knows how any form of psychotherapy works neurobiologically or in the brain. However, we do know that when a person is very upset, their brain cannot process information as it does ordinarily. One moment becomes “frozen in time,” and remembering a trauma may feel as bad as going through it the first time because the images, sounds, smells, and feelings haven’t changed. Such memories have a lasting negative effect that interferes with the way a person sees the world and the way they relate to other people.

EMDR seems to have a direct effect on the way that the brain processes information. Normal information processing is resumed, so following a successful EMDR session, a person no longer relives the images, sounds, and feelings when the event is brought to mind. You still remember what happened, but it is less upsetting. Many types of therapy have similar goals. However, EMDR appears to be similar to what occurs naturally during dreaming or REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Therefore, EMDR can be thought of as a physiologically based therapy that helps a person see disturbing material in a new and less distressing way.

A great article  regarding reality therapy and children.  click here to read more.

Click Here  for 10 steps  to manage ADHD.

Here is a list of  EMDR Therapists in New Brunswick.

“In order to be officially diagnosed with PTSD it is necessary to have experienced a major trauma. However, recent research has also revealed that other, less dramatic life experiences can cause even more symptoms of PTSD than major traumas. Many of these disturbing life experiences take place throughout childhood and can include hurtful experiences with parents or peers. The negative impact on the person’s sense of self takes place since, just as with diagnosed PTSD, “unprocessed memories” are running the show.

This happens because the experience was so disturbing that it disrupted the information processing system of the brain. One of the functions of this system is to take disturbing experiences to mental adaptation. So if something happens to us that is disturbing, the processing system “digests” the experience and the appropriate connections are made, while the reactions that are no longer useful — such as the negative self-talk, emotions and physical sensations — are let go.

However, if an experience is too disturbing, it disrupts the system, causing the memory to be stored with the negative emotions, physical sensations and beliefs. Current experiences must link with the memory networks in our brain to be interpreted. If there is an unprocessed memory, the negative emotions and sensations can emerge and color our perception of this current situation. In short, the past is present.

That’s where EMDR therapy can help. While EMDR cannot remove a problem caused by genetics or organic injury, the research indicates that even in these cases negative life experiences can exacerbate problems. When a person is held back from doing things he or she would like to do by feelings of insecurity, anxiety, fear, or unremitting sadness, or is pushed into doing things that are not useful — such as overreacting to people or situations — the reason can generally be found in the memory networks. Many times the problems are unprocessed memories from the past that are poisoning the present.”