Re: http://narrative.ly/healing-hasidic-masturbators-and-adulterers-with-psychiatric-drugs/

Dear Ms. Ungar-Sargon,

Thank you for a well-researched article highlighting unethical practices in the Chassidic community. Although not Chassidic myself, I have maintained a Psychology practice for over a decade in this community and have heard that such practices indeed exist. I refer specifically to those addressing religious struggles via medication and not to those addressing patient distress as a result of religious struggles. In any case, you are absolutely correct that treating religious struggles with psychotropics is both wrong and unethical, especially when coerced by others. Aside from being unethical, these practices are counterproductive. While ostensibly motivated to keeping adherents within the community, the actions of these Askanim paradoxically result in alienating people from their families and communities of origin. 

That being said, I’d like to make a general observation regarding articles of this genre, which are becoming increasingly popular. I refer to articles authored by people outside the Chassidic culture attempting to describe specific phenomena within. Too often, the focus highlights extreme manifestations of a cultural value while ignoring the contextual understanding and beneficial aspects of this very value. To illustrate this point, I’d like to elaborate on the role of the Askan within Chassidic culture.

When categorizing cultures, sociologists distinguish between individualistic and collectivistic cultures. Individualistic cultures, such as those of the United States and Western Europe, emphasize personal achievement regardless of the expense of group goals. Collectivist cultures, such as those of China and Japan, emphasize family & work group goals above individual needs or desires.

The Chassidic community, and to a great extent other streams of Orthodox Judaism, is collectivist. Group goals and responsibilities are paramount, sometimes moreso than individual desires. One can witness these collectivist values when experiencing car trouble on any major highway in the New York area and noting how many religious Jews and especially Chassidim will give of their time to assist. One can witness these collectivist values when visiting any of the major NY area hospitals and observing the devotion by the Chassidic run Bikur Cholims to provide food and company to patients. And one can witness the collectivist values by taking note of the multitude of community self-help organizations including Hatzolah, Shomrim, Chaveirim, Chesed, RCCS, Chai Lifeline, etc. These values of care and devotion to others underlie the “Askan” phenomenon; this is about one individual giving of himself to help those in need. The role of the Askan in mental health is meant to accomplish similar goals. Many who are not medically or culturally literate welcome the helping hand of someone who serves as advocate, helper, interpreter, and advisor. This is collectivism in its pure form. Collectivism gone awry leads to control, fear of rejection and other phenomena noted in your article. However, placing things in context reveal that these are lofty values taken in an unfortunate wrong direction—not misguided ones.

Similarly, Western cultural values, based on individualist tenets, can also go awry. Citizens in an individualistic culture place emphasis on the important values of individual success and responsibility. Living in such a society, however, can also give rise to untoward tendencies. For example, the social psychology concepts of diffusion of responsibility as well as the bystander effect occur more often in individualistic societies. The murder of Kitty Genovese is the classical case study for this, illustrating how living in a society that focuses so much attention on the self can lead to neglecting the pain of one’s neighbor. Similarly, sociologists confirm that the phenomenon of feeling alone and alienated from society, which Emile Durkheim referred to as anomie, can lead to depression and suicide. Durkheim argued that the movement away from cohesive societies has contributed toward this problem.

In conclusion, I wanted to express my appreciation and admiration for your ability to effectively describe a genuine problem in Chassidic culture, one that contributes to human suffering. Simultaneously, I hope that authors will attempt to broaden the scope of the discussion and help people appreciate the need to throw out the bathwater—not the baby.

Charles Chaim Neuhoff, Ph.D.