Lawrence Pazder

Lawrence (Larry) Pazder (April 30, 1936 - March 5, 2004) was a Canadian psychiatrist and author. Pazder is probably best known for the book, Michelle Remembers published in 1980 that he co-wrote with his patient (and eventual wife) Michelle Smith, and for his involvement in investigations of alleged Satanic ritual abuse throughout the 1980s.

Background
Pazder, a charismatic, popular, yet controversial psychiatrist, was born in Edmonton, Alberta. Pazder completed his undergraduate medical training at the University of Alberta in 1961. He then received a diploma in tropical medicine from the University of Liverpool in 1962 and practiced medicine in West Africa from 1962 to 1964. Pazder returned to Canada in 1964 and completed his psychiatric training at McGill University in 1968. During his professional career, Pazder worked at two Victoria, British Columbia hospitals in addition to his private psychiatric practice. Pazder saw patients at his private psychiatric practice in Victoria up until his sudden and unexpected death of a heart attack in March 2004.

Pazder considered himself to be a devout Catholic and had four children with his first wife, Marylyn. They were happily married for many years until Pazder developed a relationship with his patient Michelle Smith. In Dec. 1979, Pazder and his first wife divorced (although Pazder unsuccessfully attempted to get the Catholic church to annul his first marriage) and Pazder married his former patient and co-author Smith.

Michelle Remembers and Satanic ritual abuse
Pazder was working in his private psychiatric practice in Victoria when he was treating a woman named Michelle Smith in 1976. During his treatment with Smith, Pazder used hypnosis to help Smith recover memories of alleged Satanic ritual abuse that occurred when Smith was a child in the 1950s at the hands of her mother (Virginia Proby) and others in Victoria. As Pazder believed he was on the verge of uncovering a vast Satanic conspiracy, he eventually would spend many hours at a time treating Smith. The chronicles of Pazder's therapy with Smith and the subsequent memories she recovered were detailed in the book that they co-authored Michelle Remembers. Michelle Remembers was the first published survivor account of alleged Satanic ritual abuse.

After the publication of Michelle Remembers, Pazder was considered to be an expert in the area of Satanic ritual abuse. With the sudden emergence of Satanic ritual abuse cases in the 1980s (likely due to the publication of Michelle Remembers), Pazder was called in as a consultant on high-profile Satanic ritual abuse cases such as the McMartin Preschool case. Pazder also appeared on talk shows and lectured to police agencies about Satanic ritual abuse.

Subsequent investigations into the specific claims made in Michelle Remembers and into Satanic ritual abuse in general, found no evidence to support them. Pazder himself stated in a 1990 interview with the The Mail on Sunday newspaper, that whether the events described in Michelle Remembers actually occurred was less important than Smith believing that they occurred.