Monday, September 25, 2006

Psych 'experts' blamed for feeding voyeurism in girl kidnap case

In the beginnig there were over 400 interview requests, and this was just the start Of course, this is actually all about greed, and making money off of the case. As seen in this report.

A row has erupted among psychiatrists and therapists over Natascha Kampusch, the Austrian child kidnap victim, with a German expert accusing his colleagues of using their expertise to feed public voyeurism in the case.

Commentators in the Viennese press have also been critical of what they see as the grandstanding by the experts who are trying to nurse the 18-year-old towards resuming a "normal" life.

The peer criticism of the experts adds to the questions being raised about the media hullabaloo surrounding Ms Kampusch, who was abducted, aged 10, on her way to school in March 1998 and held captive in a suburban basement outside Vienna until last month.

Her abductor, Wolfgang Priklopil, killed himself soon after she escaped.

In a newspaper interview the grand old man of German psychiatry, Horst-Eberhard Richter, called for a moratorium on professional comment on the case. "The experts say, 'Listen to us, we know best', but it is the other way around," he said.

"This is something psychologists can learn from, not teach about. We can only learn from Natascha. The pressure of public voyeurism is leading the experts to indulge happily in revelations that go to the limits of what is legally permissible."

The head of the Sigmund Freud University in Vienna, Alfred Pritz, also criticised the way specialists involved in the case were talking to the media.

Vienna's foremost child psychiatrist, Max Friedrich, has been in charge of treating Ms Kampusch since she escaped. He and other social workers and therapists who are working with her have been widely quoted in Austrian newspapers since the escape and have appeared on TV discussion programs.

An Austrian media expert, Anneliese Rohrer, said: "The way the experts behaved was a scandal. They went on television to talk about her right away. It was like abuse."

Dietmar Ecker, Ms Kampusch's former media adviser, was sensitive to the criticism, saying: "All of those people volunteered to take part. It was a free decision. And there was huge public interest and pressure."

Dr Friedrich said Ms Kampusch was making her own decisions and was not under anyone's influence. "This woman has surprised all the experts. Natascha is behaving quite differently from other traumatised people … you could see right away that the young woman was much better than the others at defining herself. The experts should just withdraw."

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