Houston Chronicle, March 8, 1995

A federal lawsuit has been filed by Lynn Carl seeking $18 million from psychologist Judith Peterson, Spring Shadows Glen and at least 23 other mental health practitioners and businesses, most of them in Houston. Carl said that she spent more than $2 million on mental health treatment after therapists convinced her she was a Satan worshiper ritually abused since childhood. Carl claims that she was hypnotized. According to Carl, when she told her therapists she did not believe any such events had happened, she was told that her memories had been repressed in order to deal with the abuse. She said she was told that her personality had fragmented into different ones in order to cope with the ritual murder, cannibalism and torture. Even though she had no memory of abusing her own children, Carl claims that therapists forced her to report herself to the police as a child abuser. Carl believes that her mental state deteriorated during her two years of treatment. She is now divorced and not allowed to see her children. Lynn Carl's attorney is Skip Simpson of Dallas.