Jean-Marie Abgrall (born 12 April 1950) is a French psychiatrist, criminologist, specialist in forensic medicine, cult consultant, graduate in criminal law and anti-cultist. He has been an expert witness and has been consulted in the investigations of cults. Abgrall is known as a proponent of brainwashing theories.
Jean-Marie Abgrall | |
|---|---|
| Born | 12 April 1950 Toulon, France |
| Occupation(s) | Psychiatrist, author, cult consultant |
| Known for | Brainwashing theories |
Early life
editAbgrall was born 12 April 1950, in Toulon, France.[1] In his youth, he was active in the AMORC Rosicrucian order, as well as a related organization, the Renewed Order of the Temple.[2][3] Between 1989 and 1994, he was a member of the Green Party in France.[2]
Career
editHe is a psychiatrist in private practice.[4] He has been an expert witness when it comes to cults.[2] Describing his opinion on cults, he stated in a television interview that, “Notwithstanding what they claim, cults are not religious movements but rather criminal movements organized by gurus who use brainwashing techniques to manipulate their victims."[5] He was a member of the board of MILS, though resigned in May 2004.[5]
Various sects, including the Aumism movement and the Raelian Movement, have opposed Abgrall.[6] For his opposition to them, he was attacked by some groups, including the Church of Scientology, who in one instance called the secretary of the Greens and told them Abgrall was a secret service agent.[2] In 1996, the French government set up an observatory body to investigate cults and sects, the Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France. Abgrall was a "key actor" in these investigations, preparing official reports in France and Belgium, and was an active anti-cult movement spokesperson in the European media, in particular television.[2][7]
In the 90s, Abgrall was appointed as an expert in the French investigation of the Order of the Solar Temple cult; his involvement was subject to some criticism, as the Renewed Order of the Temple group (that Abgrall had attended meetings of) had counted among its membership Luc Jouret, one of the leaders of the cult.[2][8] He never personally undertook any field work related to the group, though often discussed it on television.[8]
The families of many victims of the Solar Temple (including skier Jean Vuarnet) had believed that the official investigation was botched, and launched a class action lawsuit against the investigating authorities of the second massacre in the Vercors, for what they perceived as relying too heavily on brainwashing theories and ignoring evidence that suggested foul play at the scene. They appealed the result of this several times from 2003–2006, but the case was declined. During this period, Abgrall had published two books (La mécanique des sectes and Les sectes de l'apocalypse: gourous de l'an 2000) in which he revealed confidential information about the case; Alain Leclerc, the lawyer of some of the victim's families, succeeded in getting Abgrall disqualified as a witness in the trial as a result.[5] As a result of the publication of the books he was indicted for "violation of professional secrecy".[9]
Leclerc further demanded an investigation into his finances, which was initially blocked by the courts twice, but was eventually granted. This resulted in a scandal: it was revealed that, in 1996, Landmark Worldwide (a company that had been designated a cult in the Guyard Report list of cults), displeased by their designation, contacted Abgrall to audit the organization and have their designation removed. Abgrall wrote a report on the organization arguing that they were not a cult, arguing that they were a "harmless organization", though did conclude by recognizing that the group may have had some warning signs. They were removed from the list; from the period of 2001 to 2002 Abgrall had been paid €45,699.49 by Landmark. Abgrall complained in 2004 when interviewed by Le Parisien that this had only been revealed to block his involvement in the OTS trial, and that he had no conflict of interest as he "wrote an unfavorable report and paid my taxes."[5][9]
Soon after this, he appeared to testify in the trial of Néo-Phare, a controversial sect.[5]
Works
editAbgrall is the author of several books, including La mécanique des sectes and Les sectes de l'apocalypse: gourous de l'an 2000. Susan J. Palmer retrospectively criticized the arguments the books made about the OTS, judging them a "psychological interpretation" that, given later evidence, was "premature" and "incompatible" with the facts.[5]
Reception
editDick Anthony and Thomas Robbins have written that in their view, Abgrall's theories of brainwashing are pseudoscientific, and so unsuitable for use as a basis for legal judgments in cases involving cult membership. They qualify Abgrall as the "leading psychiatric consultant to government agencies and legislative bodies concerned with controlling and suppressing non-traditional religions", noting that Abgrall's brainwashing theory has served as the primary psychiatric rationale for anti-cult laws, governmental rulings, and legal cases brought against alleged cults in Europe. Abgrall has also influenced former communist countries through the dissemination of official governmental reports from France and Belgium that he helped produce.[10]
According to Dick Anthony, Abgrall emerged as a key "cult expert" in France, because he was the first psychiatrist in France willing to embrace brainwashing theories. He describes Abgrall's theories as "essentially identical to the pseudoscientific theory that was developed first by the American CIA, as a propaganda device to combat communism, and second as an ideological device for use by the American anti-cult movement to rationalize efforts at persecution and control of minority religious groups".[8]
Bibliography
edit- —— (1997). La mécanique des sectes (in French). Paris: France loisirs. ISBN 2-7441-0833-2.
- —— (December 1999). Soul Snatchers: The Mechanics of Cults. Translated by Seberry, Alice. Algora Publishing. ISBN 1-892941-04-X.
- —— (1998). Les charlatans de la santé. Documents Payot (in French). Paris: Payot & Rivages. ISBN 2-228-89194-0.
- —— (2001). Healing Or Stealing?: Medical Charlatans in the New Age. Algora Publishing. ISBN 1-892941-51-1.
- —— (1999). Les sectes de l'apocalypse: gourous de l'an 2000 (in French). Paris: Calmann-Lévy. ISBN 2-7021-2954-4.
- —— (2003). Tous manipulés, tous manipulateurs (in French). Paris: First ed. ISBN 2-87691-743-2.
References
edit- ^ Chemineau, Sophie (12 February 2003). "Tous manipulés, tous manipulateurs" [All manipulated, all manipulators]. Metro (in French). Paris. ISSN 1632-0832.
- ^ a b c d e f Coignard, Sophie; Deloire, Christophe (17 September 1999). "L'impuissance publique" [Public powerlessness]. Le Point (in French). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
- ^ Broussard, Philippe (24 December 1999). "L'enquête sur le Temple solaire révèle le monde des sociétés secrètes" [Solar Temple investigation reveals world of secret societies]. Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 26 December 2018.
- ^ Richardson, James T.; Introvigne, Massimo (June 2001). ""Brainwashing" Theories in European Parliamentary and Administrative Reports on "Cults" and "Sects"". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 40 (2): 143–168. doi:10.1111/0021-8294.00046. ISSN 0021-8294. JSTOR 1387941.
- ^ a b c d e f Palmer, Susan J. (2011). "Néo-Phare: The First Application of the About-Picard Law". The New Heretics of France: Minority Religions, la République, and the Government-Sponsored "War on Sects". Oxford University Press. pp. 161–168, footnote 64. ISBN 978-0-19-973521-1.
- ^ "Procès Raël contre Jean-Marie Abgrall" [Raël v. Jean-Marie Abgrall]. prevensectes.com (in French). Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2007.
- ^ Shupe, Anson D.; Darnell, Susan E. (2006). Agents of Discord: Deprogramming, Pseudo-Science, And the American Anticult Movement. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7658-0323-8.
- ^ a b c Anthony, Dick (1999). "Pseudoscience and Minority Religions: An Evaluation of the Brainwashing Theories of Jean-Marie Abgrall". Social Justice Research. 12 (4): 421–456. doi:10.1023/A:1022081411463. S2CID 140454555.
- ^ a b Vézard, Frédéric (28 May 2004). "L'embarrassant rapport de l'expert antisectes" [The embarrassing report of the anti-cult expert]. Le Parisien (in French). Retrieved 27 August 2024.
- ^ Anthony, Dick; Robbins, Thomas (2004). "Pseudoscience versus Minority Religions". In Richardson, James T. (ed.). Regulating Religion: Case Studies from Around the Globe. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-306-47887-1.