Psychologist: Girl with Low I.Q. Had 'Less Trauma' From Sexual Abuse

A psychologist hired by the Los Angeles Unified School District during a lawsuit last year argued that a mentally disabled 9-year-old-girl who was repeatedly sexually abused at school by an older boy would suffer less trauma than someone with a normal I.Q. Try to restrain your screaming until we get to the end of this.

The 9-year-old girl was abused five times by the older boy during an after school program. He also hit and kicked her before each assault. Dr. Stan Katz, a Beverly Hills-based psychologist and “personality expert” who’s appeared on a variety of trashy reality shows, was hired by LAUSD to testify last year during a lawsuit brought by the girl’s family against the district, one in which she was eventually awarded $1.4 million. Southern California public radio station KPCC examined the court records recently and found this hideous exchange between Katz and David Ring, the attorney for the girl’s family. From KPCC:

At trial, Ring asked Katz what he meant when he had testified that the girl’s mental disability “acts as a protective factor.” According to the court transcript, Katz answered, “There’s a relationship between intelligence and depression. What happens is the more you think about things, you can ruminate, you can focus on things, you can look at the complexities of the matter and become more depressed.”

Following up, Ring asked, “So because she may be less intelligent than a general education student, she’s going to suffer less depression because of it?” Katz replied, “Very possible, yes.”

Katz didn’t deny that the girl had suffered, and he said she would require therapy to deal with the trauma.

KPCC’s Karen Foshay spoke to two other psychologists who told her that Katz’s claim was odious bunk. Or, as she puts it, “there is no science to support his assertion about the protective factor.”

Katz has appeared on several reality shows, most prominently the short-lived Denise Richards vehicle It’s Complicated and a 2001 show called The Test. He previously testified in Michael Jackson’s 2005 sexual abuse trial, saying that he didn’t think the alleged victims were fabricating their stories. (Curiously, though, in a conversation with the Santa Barbara sheriff’s office, reported by the Smoking Gun he also said that Jackson was “not a pedophile,” just a “regressed 10-year-old.”) According to KPCC, he’s consulting on another LAUSD sexual abuse case, in which a music teacher is accused of showering naked with his students.