Another reviewer discusses this under "TMI", and I'm not sure other reviewers understand the issue, unfortunately I know far too many who do. To put a topical spin on this, I'm going to mention the "Satanic Panic" referenced in the last "Stranger Things" series. The panic that Dungeons and Dragons was introducing children to witchcraft and Satanic ritual was only the start. There was another converging phenomenon, of therapists recovering memories of their patients' childhood under hypnosis. It would start with sexual abuse, but there were also several extreme cases where therapists continued hypnosis sessions until the patients started remembering being part of Satanic rituals as children, where other children were sacrificed in Black Masses. This became part of several lawsuits and unfortunately not all the parents were declared innocent right away. There was several years of recovering their reputations as well as having sentences overturned. However sad, there were also many cases that did not rise to such extremes. These were later categorized under "False Memory Syndrome". The therapists were very motivated to find reasons for patients adult dysfunctions in childhood, the patients eager to please therapists and have them solve all their psychological problems. The two motives converge and patients start vaguely remembering abuse, even without hypnotism these false memories can bubble up. And, of course, the patient is alienated from parents, and has to turn to their therapist, and the mental health system generally as kind of "substitute parents". The power rush for the therapist is intense, the patient turns to them for replacing the parent figures who have problably been with them their whole life. This is a serious problem, that continues to go on, in a country that has a generally substandard mental health care system, with many substandard therapists and inadequate therapist education. Does Joan have one of these therapists? Is she being misled about her parents? There's no way of knowing from this documentary, or probably any documentary. Is it a real problem that under-recognized? Absolutely. Tragically.
Review of Joan Baez I Am a Noise
