Nude therapy method blasted

? A woman who trains psychotherapists testified Friday that the methods used by a Newton couple to treat the mentally ill – including forced nudity – violated recognized ethics.

“The therapist is responsible for preventing exploitation, which includes sexual intimacy,” said Bonnie Buchele, director of the Greater Kansas City Psychoanalytic Institute. “And sexual intimacy includes seeing, feeling, touching. Psychotherapy is not conducted in the nude.”

Arlan and Linda Kaufman are being tried on more than 30 federal charges – including health care fraud, forced labor and holding clients in involuntary servitude – related to the treatment of mentally ill residents at the Kaufman House Residential Treatment Center in Newton.

The Kaufmans contend their methods had therapeutic value for schizophrenic patients and that having residents act out problem behavior helped them avoid repeating it.

But because schizophrenia distorts perceptions of reality, Buchele said, such methods don’t work.

“You can’t talk patients out of these kinds of behaviors,” she said. “I only wish we could. Life would be better for everyone.”

In one video, shot by Arlan Kaufman, a woman is shown crawling around naked and barking like a dog.

“There was nothing appropriate about this tape or the behavior in this therapy session – this so-called therapy session,” Buchele said. “I can’t see the therapeutic value in that.”