From: snorthc@nswc.navy.mil (Stephen Northcutt)
Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts
Subject: Re: MA as therapy for abuse
Date: 29 Jul 92 12:15:37 GMT
Organization: NAVAL SURFACE WARFARE CENTER

BZZZZT wrong, nice try though :-)  And though your subject line
was not supported by your statements, I think there is serious
promise in your premise.  Lets take it from the top:

Larry Cuy writes:
>Perhaps it is a sign of the times but it seems to me that if the
>truth be know there are alot of people in martial arts that took
>up this activity as a productive way to heal abuse as a child.

OK true, since there are/were/and will be lots of abused kids ergo
there will be abused kids and formerly abused kids (now adults) in MA.

>Whether the proportion of those that engage or seek MA that have
>been abused is greater than that of the general population remains
>to be seen. 
No NO NO, it doesn't remain to be seen at all.  Let us see where
we might be able to find nice high density concentrations of abused
folk.
	- Special Education classes, which are mostly male BTW and
have a very high percentage of abused folk.
	- Homeless shelters, prisons, juvie detent centers, again
mostly male and a very high percentage of abused folk.

So how can we find abused/formerly abused women, try the moms of
the above lists and another great hunting ground is the list of
females convicted for either drugs or DWI.  I've never pursued
this but weight loss clinics might be fertile hunting ground.

I know I know, now that I have sounded like a smarty pants your
gonna say, list your sources.  Hey, I walk this walk, I work with
these population groups except special ed and my wife is department
head at the high school for special ed.  I also do MA :-)  And the first
observation I would make is that the population groups don't tend to
intersect, I don't expect much argument on this count.  The second
point though is once you have worked with  some abused cases, it is
usually really easy to spot.  And at least in commercial MA, which I
have been involved in for a long time, there just aren't a lot of
abused folk.  $$$ is part of it.  

> What is your impression of this gathered from people in MA that you
> know well enough to make any sort of judgment?
??? that they are hurting and trying to heal

I hope I don't have to eat these words, this is a bit pre=mature
for an announcement, but I hope to be able to open a doj* in
F-burg VA focused on kids at risk (that is NOT a commercial doj*)
I have the place *I think* and now I have to get insurance, so if
you have a source be a pal and drop me a line.  The best price so
far is $800 a year for $500K liability which ain't a whole lot!
I hope to kick off in Sept.

Now to try to deal with your subject line 
> MA as therapy for abuse
Certainly MA adds structure to ones life, this is a good thing.
Certainly MA allows one to release anger and stress, also good.
And MA helps build/re-build self esteem (I think the general politeness
and courtesy found on this list is largely a result of these things).

MA certainly does not help someone deal with the root problem though,
remember and deal with the (probably) repressed memories.  So I think
it fits in much better in the later stages of recovery. 
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Stephen Northcutt (snorthc@relay.nswc.navy.mil)     Networks Program Manager