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Deadly Group Therapy in Berlin

Doctor Denounced as Charlatan

Two men are dead and one is in a coma. The psychologist whose group therapy session in Berlin ended in tragedy this weekend has admitted to administering drugs to his patients. The man is reported to be an adherent of a controversial Swiss psychotherapist who has set up a polygamous commune and questioned the incest taboo.

A group session at a doctor's house in northern Berlin left two men dead and another in a coma after their therapist gave them a dangerous cocktail of drugs.

Prosecutors say the psychologist has since admitted to giving 12 patients drugs. "The people all got different mixtures of drugs," one of the investigators told reporters. The prosecutors told reporters that the doctor had since told them which substances were administered but they would not make an official announcement until they had the toxicology report.

The doctor was arrested on Sunday evening with two counts of assault leading to death and six counts of dangerous assault, the police announced on Monday. The public prosecutor is accusing the doctor on two counts of murder, several counts of assault and drug trafficking.

Deadly Drug Cocktails

The suspect is reported to have admitted during questioning that he gave various psychoactive substances to the participants in the group therapy session. The investigators assume that the patients were given ecstasy and heroine, and also amphetamines or "magic" mushrooms.

At 3.21 p.m. on Saturday, the emergency services were called to the doctor's house in the well-to-do Berlin suburb of Hermsdorf. Five ambulances and several paramedics drove to the address, where they found the body of a 59-year-old man. Several members of the group were said to be aggressive when emergency personnel arrived and had to be restrained by police officers. A 28-year-old man was brought to hospital but died early on Sunday morning. Another man, aged 55, is in a coma.

The doctor, Garik "Garri" R., is reported to have been born in Uzbekistan. He is a registered doctor with insurance companies and is accredited to work as a psychotherapist.

'My Substances Are Not Dangerous'

The Berliner Morgenpost newspaper reported on Monday that R. had trained alternative medicine practitioners near the German city of Kassel in the 1990s. One of his former students told the newspaper that he had been a "very reliable doctor" who had always been "super correct." She said, "I cannot explain what happened in Berlin."

The suspect is an adherent of the controversial Swiss psychiatrist Samuel Widmer, who promotes the use of drugs in therapy. Widmer told the German news agency DPA that the arrested doctor had trained with him 15 years ago. He said that he himself only worked with approved substances and that he assumed that the Berlin doctor "used something different, as my substances are not dangerous."

The suspect's wife, Elke P., runs an alternative medicine practice in the same house, and she was also at the group session on Saturday. Both were to be instructors in a seminar program organized by Widmer at the Therapeutic Tantric Spiritual University in Switzerland, which specializes in psychedelic work. Widmer also heads a kind of commune in Switzerland called the "Cherry Blossom Community," which claims to include 75 adults and 60 children. Widmer lives with two women and has 11 children by them. In an interview on his own Web site, he criticized the taboo surrounding incest.

A close relative of the 28-year-old man who died on Saturday told the Tagesspiegel newspaper that the therapy session had not been a "sect meeting." The treatment involved "regular sessions during the week," and "around twice a year, group sessions like this one."

Protest at Connection with 'Charlatanism'

During the session on Saturday, drugs were administered which produced physical reactions in some of the participants, including dizziness and vomiting. Someone attending the therapy session sent an SMS message to the emergency services.

The German Association of Psychotherapists (DPtV) has now distanced itself from the 50-year-old doctor and his treatment methods. These have nothing to do with psychotherapy, Dieter Best, chairman of the DPtV, announced. "Our sympathy goes to the families of the victims. We are shocked that something like this could happen but also protest against the charlatanism that is being practised here being connected with psychotherapy."

The director of the clinic for psychiatry and psychotherapy at Berlin's Charité hospital, Andreas Heinz, said that this was an extreme breach of trust of a doctor and his patients. Speaking to the Berliner Morgenpost, he said the fact that the practice was registered with the health insurance companies could give participants the impression that this was a reliable, serious treatment. There was even the danger that a doctor could abuse his power over patients to build up a relationship of dependency.

Lazslo Pota, the vice president of the Association of German Professional Psychologists, said that this kind of use of drugs was "clearly forbidden" under German narcotics law. He said he couldn't comprehend what drove the therapist to administer these substances. Pota said the doctor should be struck off the register.

Eva Jaeggi, a well known Berlin psychoanalyst, also described what happened over the weekend as charlatanism and said it could damage the reputation of regular therapy. Speaking to the Deutschlandradio station on Monday she said, "He called himself a psychotherapist but what he did was in no way psychotherapy."

smd -- with wire reports