I only watch Dr. Phil occasionally, but right now I have it on while I'm working, and a Never-Mo woman is accusing her ex of kidnapping and brainwashing their son to be raised as a Mormon in a small town in Utah. She's very specific in her accusations about the alleged kidnapping and brainwashing being motivated by mainly by her ex's Mormonism.

Since I'm working I'm only half-listening to the show, but I must admit the Never-Mo mom seems somewhat unhinged. (Then again, if even half of what she says is true, I can see why she'd seem unhinged.) Her current husband supports her allegations as well. The son, though, says the stepfather physically abused him for years and that his mom did nothing to stop it.

I hope someone will weigh in that actually sat and watched it. I was listening while working too and only caught what you did. Part two is going to be on Tuesday, maybe one of us will be able to go watch it!

I'll try to watch the second half tomorrow. Btw, by the end of what I saw today, the mom and her current husband did seem to have a stronger case about the kid being brainwashed than it had first appeared.

the previous afternoon's show may repeat the next morning. It's syndicated, so your market could vary, but have a look-see at the listings.

Thanks for the heads-up! I just set the DVR to record Part 1 Tuesday at 10 AM and Part 2 at 4 PM the same day.

I um, can't figure out how to work the DVR : P. And I don't always do so great with mornings but I am going to try! I think it is a very interesting case.

What's a DVR ?

Someone please! In interested in the content too!

Well I watched it. And I'm afraid I can't really tell you much more than what was already said.

I think the whole bunch of them are completely nuts.

The poor kid. He was completely stressed out by having his mom and step-father deny everything he said. He is definitely a victim of something. Whether it is the mental illness that his mother claims, or the result of the abuse that the kid claims, I don't know.

The mom is crazy. She flip-flopped all over the place about things. None of it made any sense to me. The step father looked capable of the things the boy accused him of.

But the dad was also nuts. He sat there like he was in a trance through a lot of it. It certainly seemed like the Dad gave the kid more of a normal life than what he was getting at the mom's.

But it just looked like a tragic situation all around. I don't know if I'll watch the 2nd part tomorrow or not. It was very depressing. I think the mom is right that the boy is being brainwashed by the mormons, but he may be safer with them than with mom and step-dad.

TBMs have 'another word for it'-

"training up a child" which is a tad softer than "Indoctrination".

For those who didn't see it today, the basic claim that the boy was kidnapped is a little hazy. I got the impression that Dr. Phil wasn't buying it.

Mom has total custody of the 17 yr old son. His dad has no custody, no visitation, nothing. There was no discussion about why the custody was set up this way. Dad has been out of son's life for 10 years. Mom claims that son has had a long history of mental issues: bipolar, autism, aspergers, ADD, OCD, etc.

Son shot himself in the chest (on purpose) with a gun he found in the home. Boy was rushed to hospital. He stayed there for a few days, then was transferred to a psych unit for a few days. Several days after the shooting, the mom sent the dad an email saying son almost died but is stable now.

Dad drove from Nevada to California to see the son. For reasons that nobody could explain, the psych ward discharged the boy to his father, without notifying the mother that they were doing so. She had apparently signed HIPAA papers so that the dad could get medical info about the boy but had not signed over custody.

Boy was discharged a few days before Thanksgiving and the father suggested that the boy go with him back to Nevada for Thanksgiving and meet his half sisters and other extended family. Boy wanted to go and asked his mom. Mom AGREED to this.

They showed emails from the mom to the dad, saying that it would be good for them to keep the boy longer and maybe enroll him in school there in Nevada. She sent another email telling that that the boy's behavior seems greatly improved and she thinks their mormon religion has something to do with it.

The mom claims that she found out that it was the dad's plan all along to take the boy to Nevada and keep him there forever. This really made her mad and now she is sueing everyone she can think of and making threats to the dad and his family if they don't give the kid back.

The boy doesn't want to go back to the mom because he says her husband beat him every day for 10 years. (Mom and step dad vehemently deny this.) Kid claims that they were angry that he couldn't keep his room clean and so they made him sleep in a tent in the back yard for 4 months.

The boy enrolled in school in Nevada and graduated from HS with a 3.0 GPA. He got his driver's license, has a girlfriend, and has a full-time job. He is happy and wants to stay there.

Tomorrow the boy is supposed to tell them why he shot himself.

Thanks Duffy for that summary. (And for the correction--I clearly wasn't listening carefully and thought it was Utah, not Nevada.)

The mom sounds like a piece of work, regardless of what the facts are. However, when the stepdad (I think) brought up that the reason they made the kid sleep in a tent for a few nights was because he had been violent with a younger sibling, I lost some sympathy for the kid...the accusation seemed truthful to me because the kid suddenly got quite uncomfortable and seemed defensive. His mom and stepdad's claims that he had also been using a lot of drugs and alcohol (and stealing the latter from a grocery store) also sounded legit.

However, you're right--the entire family appears screwed up...though what else would I expect from Dr. Phil?

My observation is that the mom and step-dad are being called out on abuse suffered by the son. There is a laundry list that he's calling them out on and the mom/stepdad appear to be lying. The mom WILL NOT shut up! The stepdad looks like a bully.

The son seems better by being in his father's home, regardless if he's being raised Mormon. Being 17, he's better off waiting however much longer to turn 18 and tell his mom/stepdad to F-off. They seem like a bigger set of goons than his dad. I feel so bad for the kid. He looked so scared being in their presence. If the mom talks to the kid in the manner that she was talking in front of Dr. Phil, you know that it only gets WAY worse at home.

I vote he stays with the dad.

It's hard to see why custody for a 17 year old isn't the decision of the child, but I don't know if Nevada courts look at custody differently than most states. With the history & conditions his mother described her son is very susceptible to brainwashing, even false accusations. Poor kid! Absentee father finally shows up & the Mormons feed him milk before meat.

Would you rather him go back to that abusive home he's describing with his mom and stepdad. I understand the brainwashing of the church, but it seems much more stable at his dad's than vice versa. Poor kid is right.

I'm interested to hear Dr. Phils take. I know a lot of folks don't like him but I love him. Ha.

No offense taken. In most states a 17 yr old calls where he lives. It wouldn't be a surprise if the abuse is exaggerated or fabricated. If his father is a good dad, he would have checked in on his son years ago. Instead he forgot he was alive. I'll say again, poor kid!
If Dad's house is stable & loving then that's where the boy should be. I'm sorry but I don't trust tbms. They're perfectly capable of smilingly convincing the boy to lie. Mormons barely acknowledge mental illnesses & as a generality, they do not deal well with them. They think the restored gospel fixes literally everything.

That poor kid! I wanted to like his mother but the more she spoke, the less respect I had for her. And, the step-father was all smoke and mirrors. He knew the right things to say but his behavior wasn't authentic.

Instead of sympathizing or trying to be understanding of their son, the mother and step-father deny his accusations and try to bully him into submission. Abusers need a victim. I fear they don't want him back to love him but to further punish him. (They want to take him away from a place where he's happy and feels loved.) If they had been such ideal parents, as they pretend, he wouldn't have been so eager to leave in the first place. He shot himself in effort to get away from them. It doesn't get any more desperate than that.

I'm not thrilled that this kid is being raised Mormon, but it seems to be the most stable environment available to him. I perceived his father as being loving and supportive. He let his son answer for himself (never interrupting) and put a hand on his son's shoulder when he became upset. His mother constantly berated him and acted like he was ten years old. If she keeps it up, she's going to lose her son forever.

Hmm, which is better, to hug a porcupine or a hedgehog? They both sound like terrible homes to be in.

BUT the ONE BIG THING I picked up was that the mother didn't go in the room when the son shot himself. She also left the hospital after an hour or two hours (the story changed as she went along).

That did it for me.

I asked my son what I would have done. He said I would have gone in the room NO MATTER WHAT.

My son tried suicide a few times. I found him the first time. A friend texted me and said to check on him. I had to pretty much break down a door. He had cut himself up pretty bad.

MOTHERS go in when their son tries suicide. They don't let him lay there dying. AND they stay at the hospital.

I think he is better off with the dad. He is FUNCTIONING. It should be his choice.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2014 11:52AM by cl2.

Probably the worst cult for a young black teenage boy to be forced into.

http://www.drphil.com/

The mom is a whack job!

Sounds like this kid already lives with The Lesser of the Two Evils. I wasn't exposed to mormon brainwashing until after age 12, (and look how I turned out! LOL) so I have hope for him that the stability does him good.

The mother is nuts. The dad and his family saved this kid's life.

If your son has severe mental issues, why would you keep a gun around the house? That alone should be grounds for denying the mom custody.

First, the boy Andrue reminds me of one of my sons in many ways. He had to push himself to confront his mother, which appears difficult for him. But he did what he had to do. I am proud of what he has done with his life in his new home.

My family and I feel like the mother may be suffering from Manchausens by proxy, which is indicated by a person who keeps insisting that their child is sick and going from doctor to doctor, and this is done so the mother (in this case) gets attention. Did you notice how everything always came back to how it affected her? We expected Dr. Phil to bring it up.

His birth father appears to have brought him into a stable home where the family loves each other and is trying to live a good life. The fact that they are Mormon seems irrelevant to this case, and was brought up by the mom as another piece of ammunition, insisting that a cult was brainwashing him.

Finally, at the end of the program the boy mentioned in passing about his mother being familiar with filing lawsuits. Sounds like she does this a lot.

Poor kid.

+1

Very true that there are some decent cult members.

Well, I think the mom is right and the cult probably is brainwashing the kid.

However, having been in the exact same situation (mentally ill mother, raised by dad and stepmom after she couldn't handle it anymore) I STILL think the kid is in a better situation and a more stable environment.

And, if he's 17, this will all be over soon anyway, and he can just choose where he wants to live. My money is on the mormons. They may be batshit, but a bi-polar mom sucks even worse.

The kid comes across as strained and rehearsed. I think the
Mormon cult is brainwashing him.

" I must admit the Never-Mo mom seems somewhat unhinged. (Then again, if even half of what she says is true, I can see why she'd seem unhinged.)"

This program is, first and foremost, entertainment, regardless of whether the people are real. Thus they pick extreme examples for ratings and even get people to act up.

As for indoctrination, it's clear that a lot of people think that indoctrinating children is the answer to everything.