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Testimony
as Therapy: Etta
M. Madden
This paper would examine cases in which contemporary spiritual testimonies appear to fail as therapeutic devices. In particular, former LDS member Deborah Laake's controversial Secret Ceremonies: A Mormon Woman's Intimate Diary of Marriage and Beyond (1993) would be a key text. In spite of delivering what appears to be a text of "cure," a narrative in which she asserted her newly-found spiritual wholeness, Laake committed suicide in February of 2000. Other contemporary deconversion narratives would be used as counterpoints for illustrative purposes. I will suggest the failure of the healing is not so much the fault of the writing subject as the result of the audiences (imagined readers, actual readers, therapists, etc). In short, the writing subject's lack of a supportive community contributes largely to the failure of the narrative for her. Nonetheless, the deconversion narratives can be powerful curative texts for some audiences--those who see the writer's painful isolation and the necessity of a support community.
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