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Getting Out : Inside Out
Is Zerby Insane? | from anovagrrl - Tuesday, January 28, 2003
accessed 4643 times This is for anyone who may be wondering whether it's possible to get Zerby committed to a psychiatric hospital. Insanity isn’t a medical term, but it is generally understood to mean people with a serious, persistent mental illness such as the schizophrenias, bipolar disease and major depression. These brain diseases are classified as psychotic and mood disorders. They are thought to stem from neurochemical imbalances that produce symptoms such as paranoia, hallucinations, delusions, suicidal preoccupation, and disorganized behavior. Serious brain diseases tend to be highly disabling conditions, frequently requiring hospitalization.
When symptoms are under control, people with major brain diseases can tell right from wrong. They are usually able to control their behavior, which might seem bizaar to “normals,” but not particularly dangerous. Sometimes the person’s symptoms will become uncontrolled and florid, such that his/her thoughts and behavior appear very disorganized. Such people may present a real danger to themselves and others. In the United States, this is about the only condition under which family members can “do something,” i.e., get their loved one involuntarily committed to a hospital.
While in an actively psychotic state, people with brain diseases have been known to commit a murder. They sometimes use alcohol and drugs in an attempt to control their symptoms. Like the rest of us, they are more likely to be violent when using drugs and alcohol. Later—-when symptoms are in remission—-they realize that what they did was wrong. If they do not also have a character pathology, they will feel very, very bad about their actions. In that regard, a person with a major brain disease has a conscience just like "normals."
There are also less serious brain diseases, many of which stem from trauma. For example, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and clinical depression are frequently seen in abuse survivors. PTSD is an anxiety disorder, and the inability to regulate anxiety can be disabling.
Many traumatized people learn to cope with anxiety by “spacing out”—they disassociate their mind from their bodies. Disassociation is how they learned to cope with the abuse. It’s not unusual for traumatized people to escape into alternate realities when they are feeling especially anxious. They also can be paranoid, hallucinate, and have delusional beliefs. It is not unusual for them to use alcohol and drugs to control their anxiety and related symptoms.
A very long time ago I met Faithy. What a space cadet. Back then, people liked to say her spacey-ness was evidence of her “deep” spirituality. Given her history of abuse by Daddy, her spacey-ness was more likely evidence of disassociation.
I remember her as having that “deer caught in the headlights” expression so common in abused women. It does not surprise me that Faithy reportedly developed a drinking problem. In clinical studies of women diagnosed with drug or alcohol addiction, more than 90% also have a history of sexual abuse (SA) and/or domestic violence (DV). This does not mean women with a history of SA or DV will become addicts. It does, however, suggest that they are at higher risk than others for problems related to substance abuse.
People with less disabling diseases such as PTSD, clinical depression and anxiety disorders can usually tell right from wrong. Their symptoms don’t usually become so acute that they totally lose their grip on reality. They may believe in some strange things and act weird, but they are also saavy enough to deny their delusional beliefs and hide their strange behavior if questioned by authorities.
People with a history of trauma and the poor ability to regulate anxiety may also develop character pathology. The inability to empathize with others is the most common character pathology seen in abuse perpetrators. In terms of moral theology, we’d say they have a poorly formed conscience.
Intellectually, they know right from wrong, but they don’t feel anything when they hurt others—or they don’t care. They may feel bad if they get caught, but that’s only because they’ve lost face or will have to answer for their behavior—not because they can identify with the pain they’ve caused another person.
In my opinion, Berg had both a character pathology (also known as personality disorder) and a major brain disease. Hyper-sexuality is often a symptom of bipolar disorder (also known as manic depression). As much as this man reportedly banged about and was preoccupied with sex, he could very well have been in a manic state.
He also displayed a fairly high level of thought disorganization in some of his accounts of visionary episodes. I’m thinking in particular about the stuff I’ve read on his visits from goddesses. There are times he repeats himself ad nauseum, barely makes sense, or goes off on a tangent that is only loosely connected to his original premise. This is called “flight of ideas,” and it’s typical of bipolar disorder.
A large part of Zerby’s role as Berg’s secretary seemed to entail bringing some organization and rationality to his rants. For this reason, I don’t think her brain is as seriously disordered as was Berg’s. In her current writing, she seems to be extremely anxious and paranoid, which is typical in abuse victims.
Ricky reports that Zerby put a lot of energy into trying to control Berg’s drinking. It’s not unusual for people with bipolar to also be alcoholic. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what came first, the grandiose mood swings or the addiction. Whatever the case, Zerby has some deeply-ingrained control issues as a consequence of living with a highly volatile alcoholic. It’s interesting that she’s sensitive enough to criticism of her behavior as a “control freak” that she felt the need to defend herself on that score.
Berg’s character disorder seems narcissistic to me. Sex perpetrators are frequently narcissists, because it’s all about what they want and need, and they lack the ability to identify with the feelings of their victims. People who lack empathy aren’t necessarily insane, but they are often criminals.
Narcissists are also highly sensitive to criticism. They have a grandiose sense of self-importance—“I’m God’s end-time prophet”—and the rules that apply to other people don’t apply to them. Because they’re “special” and above the rules that apply to others, they can exploit and victimize others with little compunction. There is a high frequency of character disorders diagnosed in prison populations.
At the end of his life, Berg appears to have become increasingly demented. His brain disease may have progressed as a consequence of alcoholism and/or aging and/or HIV. I have read in one source that Berg died of AIDS-related infection. For those who think Zerby may be +HIV, there is a real possibility of Zerby developing dementia.
To date, I've seen no evidence that Zerby has a major brain disease. Her history suggests evidence of serious character pathology. Prisons are the treatment centers of choice for people with behavioral health issues like hers.
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Reader's comments on this article Add a new comment on this article |  from Oddman
Sunday, February 20, 2005 - 01:24
(Agree/Disagree?)
I don't think anyone should EVER even suggest, that Zerby may be insane. She isn't. She's successfully manipulated tens of thousands to give her a cushy life. Despite the many errors and hilarious reasoning, the letters were planned and well edited. Everytime the cult hits a roadblock, new doctrine, explanations and excuses are printed immediately. Everytime Berg came up with some bizarre new "revelation", Zerby made it convincing enough for the weak minds. After Berg died, Zerby and her PRNBCC (perverted radical new belief concoting comittee) kept it up, though they seem to have lost the edge. Berg was most likely insane, but Zerby is not. She should be arrested, judged, convicted, and locked up. It would be interesting though, to see if she will keep up the act to keep her following and "queen" status, or would she feign insanity in order to skirt jail time.
(reply to this comment)
| | | |  From Lance
Sunday, February 20, 2005, 05:27
(Agree/Disagree?)
Yet Bush can sometimes also seem intelligent. But he is in fact a total moron. (actually, come to think of it, when is Bush ever NOT a moron?)
Perhaps intelligence in Zerbys case is more defined by who she surround herself with?
Hitler and Stalin are completely different from zerby.
They can't be rightly compared to each other.
You should compare her with cultist leaders and within the realm that she belongs. Even though I would be more then happy to compare her with hitler, stalin or kim jong ill.(reply to this comment) |
| | from Anthony
Wednesday, January 29, 2003 - 19:09
(Agree/Disagree?)
Umm, I hope they don't ever use the "I was sick" excuse, or more commonly know as the "insanity plea" in court as a way of explaining what they did to us. And how was Zerby abuse, who was/is her abuser(s), and what was the nature of the abuse? I don’t like the title of this article…not that anyone cares.
Regards,
Anthony
(reply to this comment)
| | | | from The systemite boss
Wednesday, January 29, 2003 - 06:47
(Agree/Disagree?)
Thanks for posting an interesting piece. Could you tell me what your source was for the information about Berg dying of an AIDS related illness?
It makes sense to me that he was ill with HIV as i wouldn't imagine that he would have stopped FFing if he hadn't had direct evidence that HIV could infect heterosexuals. Given his opinion of homosexuality, i would have imagined that he would have gone along with other homophobes and painted HIV and AIDS as 'Homosexual Diseases' and 'God's punishment' as a number of other people did in the 1980's and terrifyingly still do today.
His being infected would have changed these opinions very quickly, hence the ban and his apparent descent into dementia.
(reply to this comment)
| From anovagrrrl
Wednesday, January 29, 2003, 09:00
(Agree/Disagree?)
I can't find my source right now...duh, my bad as a researcher. I read it after doing a google search. I think it appeared in an article written by a news reporter/journalist. Originally, I thought I'd read it in a review of the Abbey Jack Neidik video "The Love Prophet," because I considered ordering the video for more details. However, I can't find it in the reviews published at the video distributor's website.
It may have appeared in one of those religious rants that pop up about Berg the false prophet. If that's the case, it may have been someone's "revealed truth" or simply me intuiting bits of related evidence after googling too long.
I put the AIDS reference in my article because I was hoping someone else might have info. (reply to this comment) |
| | from Jules
Tuesday, January 28, 2003 - 23:02
(Agree/Disagree?)
This is a very interesting article.
Have you seen Steve Kent's analysis of Berg in his paper: The Lustful Prophet?
http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/%7Eskent/Linkedfiles/lustfulprophet.htm
(reply to this comment)
| From anovagrrrl
Wednesday, January 29, 2003, 08:24
(Agree/Disagree?)
Yes, I have studied Kent's "Lustful Prophet." When I read it, I was struck by the fact that he didn't focus on the psychiatric symptoms of biploar disease, choosing instead to zero in on Berg's characterological issues.
I'm using a different analytical approach than Kent's. My "template" for the article on insanity is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Version IV, which I've seen cited elsewhere on this website.
Nevertheless, I am thinking about doing another article on Zerby where I use Kent's psychoanalytic approach, which is similar to the psychological profiling techniques employed by the FBI.
Abused women who assist their perpetrators in victimizing others (typically children) are being studied in prison populations and forensic hospitals. There aren't huge numbers of them, so the published research is limited. Nevertheless, this form of sociopathy is a fascinating topic.
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| | From Jules
Wednesday, January 29, 2003, 21:22
(Agree/Disagree?)
I know a place you can find a few thousand women who assisted perpetrators (or were perpetrators themselves).
Actually this is a question I have had for some time. In the Family, perpetrators of abuse towards children were not really gender specific. Men may have been somewhat more involved in sexual abuse, but in most of the cases I am aware of women usually knew and even solicited victims themselves, and did participate in sexual interaction with children as well. The violence was about equal, and the sadism and psychological torture was also pretty equal.
It's politically correct to portray men as the perpetrators of abuse and domestic violence and research seems to prove this to be the case in mainstream society. Why is it then that in the Family women were just as culpable as men? Was it the product of a unique environment? Were the sociological pressures responsible? Is it perhaps that the research regarding female perpetrators is inaccurate and the result of political or other forms of bias?
Given your area of specialty, I would be very interested in your opinion on this subject.(reply to this comment) |
| | From anovagrrrl
Tuesday, February 04, 2003, 13:46
(Agree/Disagree?)
I've been asking the same question, Why is that Family women were just as culpable as men? Just recently I saw a local case reported re: a woman who actively participated with her male partner in the sexual abuse of her offspring. Although these are still fairly rare occurrences in the general population, they seem to be reported with increasing frequency. To the extent there is a "trend," these cases appear to be associated with poverty, welfare reform, and the drug culture.
Women in poverty with dependent children face some very harsh economic realities about how to survive. One of the big messages they give their daughters is that in order to survive, you need a man to take care of you. Socialization of girls among this class of women involves the sexualization of relationships from very early childhood.
Poverty and economic dependency does not necessarily cause women to "turn out" their daughters, though. When drugs--particularly crack--come into the picture, inhibitions about exchanging sex for protection and financial support tend to decrease dramatically.
"Drugs made me do it" isn't a very good explanation, since not all addicts turn out their daughters, and not all women who perpetrate on their daughters are addicts.
Attachment disorder is a common psychological trait among street walkers and battered women who stay with their abusers. These women universally lack the emotional intelligence to form strong, protective bonds with their children or healthy attachments with the men and women who become their partners. People who don't know how to form healthy attachments are more easily manipulated and controlled than people who can anchor their sense of self (psychological boundaries) in solid, emotional attachments.
Attachement disorder is commonly seen in foster kids and adoptees, and it's a recent diagnostic addition to the DSM. My working hypothesis is that attachment disorders are rampant in the Family. People with an attachment disorder view the world as a scarey and distrustful place. They wall themselves off emotionally. For this reason, they fail to develop empathy, since understanding what someone else feels requires emotional engagement and connection.
When reading up on the criteria for Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), I was struck by how much the following reminded me of FFing and Family relationships in general--"indiscriminate sociability, excessive familiarity with relative strangers or lack of selectivity in choice of attachment figures."
If you think about it, there's a marked shallowness and superficiality to the attachments among many Family members. "I really love you!" Huh? You don't even know me. Or mastrubation as a way to union with God: To most folks, mastrubation is like brushing your teeth, combing your hair, or working out--one of those things you do to take care of yourself and relieve tension. It's not on the depth continuum with meditation and tantric yoga.
Zerby's response to the young woman who reported sexual abuse was on this order: "Just pray and ask Jesus to help you forgive and forget." In her platitudes of sweetness and light, there is no evidence she understands the nature of a soul-searing wound where peace cannot exist without justice.
People call this woman "Mama"--? I think her own son has characterized her as cold and unfeeling. This woman is the Family's exemplar for nurturance?
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| | from Random Commentator
Tuesday, January 28, 2003 - 22:32
(Agree/Disagree?)
Great article. I like the way you've "brought home" some of these symptoms, applying them specifically, much appreciated. Though I think the CIA could do the world a favour and just sort Zerby out once & for all with a lobotomy. I heard they ended up doing that with Timothy Leary, God knows she's just as if not more deserving as he was.
(reply to this comment)
| From MaidenTaiwan
Wednesday, January 29, 2003, 22:47
(Agree/Disagree?)
The CIA is not in the business of performing lobotomies. The sources regarding Leary's supposed lobotomy are not very credible. I read W.H. Bowart's article "The spy who came in from the mold" and the only source he cites for this rumour is a supposed former cellmate of Leary at Folsom who says:
"Well, one day he comes back to the cell with lines on his head. They were actually very precise measurement lines.
His head was shaved and it was marked with all these careful, precise blue lines.
"I asked him what the lines were for. He told me that they were going to give him a lobotomy. They were going to
stick ice picks into his brain. He told me that it was really going to be great. They had him completely brainwashed.
He said, 'this is going to be the greatest thing. All my life I've been going through this, you get up, you get down, but now, ' he said, 'I'll be just as smart as I am, but I won't have to feel emotions any more. Wow!'"
This sounds like bullshit to me. Perhaps Leary gave his cellmate some LSD and he started seeing blue lines during a bad trip.
Anyways, I saw Tim Leary speak in 1995 about a year before he died. He was accompanied by Eileen Getty and they both talked about their dementia - his was senile dementia and hers was AIDS-related. I'm sure taking acid over 300 times helped as well. It was actually very entertaining and despite having dementia, Leary was remarkably lucid at times. Reportedly, his last words before he died were "why not?" repeated three times in response to the question of whether he wanted more morphine.
(reply to this comment) |
| | From MaidenTaiwan
Wednesday, January 29, 2003, 22:47
(Agree/Disagree?)
The CIA is not in the business of performing lobotomies. The sources regarding Leary's supposed lobotomy are not very credible. I read W.H. Bowart's article "The spy who came in from the mold" and the only source he cites for this rumour is a supposed former cellmate of Leary at Folsom who says:
"Well, one day he comes back to the cell with lines on his head. They were actually very precise measurement lines.
His head was shaved and it was marked with all these careful, precise blue lines.
"I asked him what the lines were for. He told me that they were going to give him a lobotomy. They were going to
stick ice picks into his brain. He told me that it was really going to be great. They had him completely brainwashed.
He said, 'this is going to be the greatest thing. All my life I've been going through this, you get up, you get down, but now, ' he said, 'I'll be just as smart as I am, but I won't have to feel emotions any more. Wow!'"
This sounds like bullshit to me. Perhaps Leary gave his cellmate some LSD and he started seeing blue lines during a bad trip.
Anyways, I saw Tim Leary speak in 1995 about a year before he died. He was accompanied by Eileen Getty and they both talked about their dementia - his was senile dementia and hers was AIDS-related. I'm sure taking acid over 300 times helped as well. It was actually very entertaining and despite having dementia, Leary was remarkably lucid at times. Reportedly, his last words before he died were "why not?" repeated three times in response to the question of whether he wanted more morphine.
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