Bennett G. Braun (August 7, 1940 – March 20, 2024) was an American psychiatrist known for his promotion of the concept of multiple personality disorder (now called "dissociative identity disorder") and involvement in promoting the "

Satanic Panic The Satanic panic is a moral panic consisting of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse (SRA, sometimes known as ritual abuse, ritualistic abuse, organized abuse, or sadistic ritual abuse) starting in North America in the 19 ...

", a

moral panic A moral panic is a widespread feeling of fear that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society. It is "the process of arousing social concern over an issue", usually perpetuated by moral e ...

around a discredited

conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

that led to thousands of people being wrongfully medically treated or investigated for nonexistent crimes. Braun was a co-founder of the

International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation The International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD) is a controversial nonprofit professional organization of health professionals and individuals who are interested in advancing the scientific and societal understandings o ...

and founded the Dissociative Disorders Program at the

Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center Rush University Medical Center (Rush) is an academic medical center in the Illinois Medical District neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. It is the hospital for the Rush University System for Health, which includes Rush Oak Park Hospital and Rush ...

. Widely accepted as an expert in his field, he was a member of the

DSM-III-R The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' (''DSM''; latest edition: ''DSM-5-TR'', published in March 2022) is a publication by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for the classification of mental disorders using a co ...

advisory committee on

dissociative disorders Dissociative disorders (DDs) are a range of conditions characterized by significant disruptions or fragmentation "in the normal integration of consciousness, memory, identity, emotion, perception, body representation, motor control, and behavior. ...

. In addition, in the 1980s, Braun claimed that multiple personality disorder patients can exhibit significantly different health conditions unique to each distinct personality, such as patients requiring several different eyeglasses prescriptions for each personality, and one personality having a disease such as lazy eye,

hypertension Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is a Chronic condition, long-term Disease, medical condition in which the blood pressure in the artery, arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms i ...

color blindness Color blindness, color vision deficiency (CVD) or color deficiency is the decreased ability to color vision, see color or differences in color. The severity of color blindness ranges from mostly unnoticeable to full absence of color percept ...

, or

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

while another personality doesn't. He said ''“If the mind can do this in tearing down body tissue, I think it suggests the same potential for healing.”''

Satanic ritual abuse theory

In the 1980s, Braun became a leading proponent of the

satanic ritual abuse The Satanic panic is a moral panic consisting of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse (SRA, sometimes known as ritual abuse, ritualistic abuse, organized abuse, or sadistic ritual abuse) starting in North America in the 19 ...

theory, and appeared on TV promoting it. According to this theory, thousands of children were being subjected to organized acts of

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease deity, gods, a human ruler, public or jurisdictional demands for justice by capital punishment, an authoritative/prie ...

cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is also well document ...

and

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using physical force, or by taking advantage of another. It often consists of a persistent pattern of sexual assaults. The offender is re ...

throughout America, in elaborate ceremonies performed by Satan-worshippers. The Satanic Panic lost momentum in the 1990s, as it became clear that the accusations did not stand up to investigation, and that the phenomenon had been a

. A 1994 article in the ''New York Times'' stated that extensive investigation had shown that not one case of organized cult abuse was capable of being substantiated by investigating police, out of 12,000 documented accusations nationwide. In 1993, Braun was sued by former patient Patricia Burgus, who accused Braun of falsely convincing her that she had engaged in satanic rituals, cannibalism, and infanticide. The case resulted in a settlement of $10.6 million. The case made national headline news. Braun subsequently sued his malpractice insurer for settling without his permission. Braun's medical license was suspended for two years by the

State of Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

in 1999, with the suspension to be followed by a five-year period of probation that would have stopped him from treating multiple personality disorder patients for seven years in total. Braun was expelled from both the Illinois Psychiatric Society and

American Psychiatric Association The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 39,200 members who are in ...

in 2000. Braun moved to

Butte, Montana Butte ( ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers , and, according to the 2 ...

, and in 2003 the

State of Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of ...

granted Braun a medical license, allowing Braun to resume the practice of medicine in that state. In 2004, another former patient of Braun's, Elizabeth Gale, filed a lawsuit against Braun and another doctor, alleging that they and their colleagues convinced Gale "that her family indoctrinated her as a child so she would make babies for sacrifice in a satanic cult." The settlement in the malpractice suit amounted to $7.5 million. Braun continued to treat patients in his clinic until 2016, when he partially retired but continued to treat a limited number of patients at his home in Butte. Montana. He relinquished his controlled substances prescribing powers in 2017, before renewing his medical license in 2018. In January 2021, Braun's Montana medical license was revoked for unprofessional conduct.State of Montana Board of Medical Examiners (January 22, 2021). Final Order in the Matter of Bennett Brau

/ref> The decision of the state of Montana to license Braun in 2003 in spite of the previous events elsewhere, elicited legal action and criticism.

Death

Braun died in

Lauderhill, Florida Lauderhill is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is a principal city of the Fort Lauderdale metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 74,482. Etymology The development that eventually came to be k ...

, on March 20, 2024, at the age of 83.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Braun, Bennett American psychiatrists 2024 deaths 1940 births Satanic ritual abuse hysteria in the United States American conspiracy theorists