'Rebirthing' Therapist Testifies By JUDITH KOHLER, Associated Press Writer GOLDEN, Colo. (AP) - A therapist accused in the death of a 10-year-old during a session that was supposed to simulate the girl's ``rebirth'' testified Monday she was trying to ``bring out the rage'' of the victim. Connell Watkins and fellow psychotherapist Julie Ponder, 40, are charged with reckless child abuse resulting in the death of Candace Newmaker. Candace died of asphyxiation after the session last April. Watkins said she learned of ``holding'' therapy, in which a patient is physically held, in the mid 1970s when she was doing social work with foster children. ``I establish that I am in control and that I am the boss at that time,'' Watkins said. ``That will bring out the rage they have repressed.'' Defense lawyers say Candace's death was a tragic accident. The girl was wrapped in a flannel sheet to simulate a womb as adults pushed against her with pillows for 70 minutes. She was urged to emerge reborn to bond with her adoptive mother, Jeane Newmaker of Durham, N.C. On a videotape of the session, Candace can be heard screaming that she couldn't breathe, had vomited and defecated and wanted to die. She was later uncovered, wasn't breathing, and died the next day at a Denver hospital. The girl had been diagnosed with attachment disorder, which makes children resist forming loving relationships and frequently violent and unmanageable. Some of Watkins' former patients testified Monday that they had benefited from her treatment. Beth Thomas, 18, a freshman at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, testified that her family took her to Watkins when she was a child because she had been self-destructive and sometimes banged her head on walls. ``She would stop me. She did it in a very loving way,'' Thomas said. ``I am here today because of Connell.'' Deb Hage testified that she had five adopted children with attachment disorder and all were treated by Watkins. She said she has participated in two or three rebirthing sessions and had the therapy herself, and that she considers it safe. ``I put my own children into her care. That's absolutely sacred,'' she said. Clinical psychologist Bill Goble testified that holding patients during therapy is not dangerous and does not violate the code of ethics of the American Psychological Association.
