# Don't Tie up Your Kids in Blankets and Call It Therapy!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-tie-up-your-kids-in-blankets-and-call-it-therapy/20147>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [May 21, 2000, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-tie-up-your-kids-in-blankets-and-call-it-therapy/20147 "2000-05-21T23:54:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2000, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-tie-up-your-kids-in-blankets-and-call-it-therapy/20147/1 "2000-05-21T23:54:49Z")

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Didn’t really know where to post this one. Things like this depress me…

From the AP in this morning’s paper:

> [@](#):
>
> Four persons were arrested after a 10-year-old girl suffocated while undergoing therapy intended to simulate birth…
> 
> Both ends of the sheet were twisted above the child’s head, and large pillows were placed around her head. It was supposed to represent the womb.
> 
> Connell Watkins, the center’s owner, told authorities she and three others pressed on the pillows to simulate labor contractions and encouraged (the girl) to push her way out.
> 
> The therapy is intended to enable troubled children to heal from past trauma by struggling out of the covering and becoming “reborn.”

It seems the parents of the poor girl traveled all the way from North Carolina to Colorado to participate in this “therapy” which cost $7,000.

I don’t know which is sadder:  
[ul]  
[li]that a little girl could be so screwed up that her parents thought this was a legitimate course of action;[/li][li]that there is a clinic operating such “therapies” under the guise of some kind of psychological advance or technique;or[/li][li]Someone could think that binding your child in a blanket could cost $7,000 because someone with a clipboard and a bunch of letters after his name said so.[/ul][/li]  
That poor little girl. Those poor trusting parents who let their desperation turn into stupidity. I don’t know what else to say. I hate to imagine what was going through that little girl’s mind the last 5 minutes of her life.

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**Author:** ![Sake\_Samurai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sake\_Samurai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sake_Samurai)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-tie-up-your-kids-in-blankets-and-call-it-therapy/20147/2 "2000-05-22T00:31:36Z")

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There’s no doubt what the saddest, scariest thing is. . .the sheer terror which shot through that girl’s mind when she realized she wasn’t making it out of that cocoon.

Therepy is the modern curse.

But, hey. . .at least the parents got what they deserve.

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-tie-up-your-kids-in-blankets-and-call-it-therapy/20147/3 "2000-05-22T00:34:27Z")

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this link [http://www.excite.co.uk/news/news\_story/health/reuters\_health\_20000521151517\_0.txt](http://www.excite.co.uk/news/news_story/health/reuters_health_20000521151517_0.txt) will give you the latest on the story. Don’t know how long it will be active.

Strikes me as just another example of “pop” therapy. Most of the time people just lose a little money falling for them. This time, a little girl lost her life.

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**Author:** ![billehunt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@billehunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billehunt)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-tie-up-your-kids-in-blankets-and-call-it-therapy/20147/4 "2000-05-22T04:53:33Z")

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Friggin’ Tragedy. On par with blood letting.
