A former St. Paul woman claims the head of an eating disorder clinic in Missouri used hypnosis to plant disturbing memories in her head so he could continue treating her and bill her insurer.

Among the memories Lisa Marie Nasseff claims were planted: That she had been a member of a St. Paul satanic cult that sacrificed an infant and ate its flesh, that she had been sexually abused and that she possessed as many as 20 distinct personalities.

Nasseff, 41, has worked in public relations and now lives in Mendota Heights. Last month, she filed a malpractice suit against Castlewood Treatment Center of St. Louis, along with its clinical co-director, Mark Schwartz, alleging that none of the troubling memories Schwartz claimed to have recovered under hypnosis were true.

Schwartz did not return a call for comment.

Nasseff declined comment through her attorney, Kenneth Vuylsteke of St. Louis. In an interview, the lawyer claimed she was one of several women who went to the clinic seeking treatment for eating disorders and wound up being told their pasts were littered with traumatic events they had no memory of – and only came back through hypnosis.

“They were wondering how they could all be members of a cult. How could they forget that? They didn’t have multiple personalities. They had an eating disorder,” said Vuylsteke.

He claimed that the “memories” were actually ideas Schwartz had planted in them while under hypnosis, and that the suggestions were intended to make the women believe they were worse off than they really were.

“They can milk them for their unlimited insurance coverage,” he said. “This is a problem that people in Minnesota have because they have such good insurance coverage.”

Vuylsteke said Nasseff was insured by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. After a landmark 2001 legal settlement in the case of a woman with an eating disorder who killed herself, the insurer began covering lengthy residential and in-patient treatment for patients with such disorders.

Nasseff’s suit, filed in St. Louis County Circuit Court last month, claims that as result of Schwartz’s alleged “negligent and careless therapy,” she has incurred $650,000 in medical bills.

A spokesman for the insurer did not immediately return a call for comment today.

The suit claims the alleged malpractice has caused the woman “great physical pain and suffering and mental pain and anguish,” and will continue to do so, the suit alleges.

According to records in state court in Dakota County, Nasseff has battled anorexia and bulimia since at least 1986. In July 1988, Nasseff’s mother filed a petition in Dakota County for judicial commitment, attesting that her daughter was mentally ill, had been hospitalized at least three times, had been in therapy and needed to be committed after she exhibited “suicidal ideation.”

A judge signed an order July 19, 1988, saying the woman should continue in-patient treatment in an eating-disorder treatment program at United Hospital in St. Paul.

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder in which people have an abnormal fear of gaining weight, even when they weigh less than what is considered healthy for their age and height.

Bulimia is a condition in which a person overeats and then uses methods such as vomiting or laxatives to prevent weight gain. It is not unusual for people who are anorexic to also be bulimic.

Vuylsteke said that over the next few years, Nasseff sought treatment for her disorders, and in July 2007, she entered Castlewood’s center, on the Meramec River in the hills just west of St. Louis.

She stayed there until March 19, 2008, except for a week she spent at another treatment center in New Orleans in early 2008, the suit contends.

She went back to Castlewood on May 13, 2009, and stayed through Dec. 10, 2009. The suit says Nasseff continued to get psychological counseling and therapy from the staff through Oct. 3, 2010.

Nasseff’s suit alleges Schwartz hypnotized her “at a time when she was under the influence of various psychotropic medications,” and that during the sessions, he “directly caused or contributed to cause the creation, reinforcement, or increase in plaintiff’s mind, of false memories.”

Those false memories included that she had suffered physical and sexual abuse, that she’d been raped several times, that she’d suffered satanic ritual abuse and that she was a member of a satanic cult in St. Paul that “perpetuated various criminal and horrific acts of abuse.”

Also, “plaintiff was caused to believe that she had multiple personalities at one time, totally 20 separate personalities,” the suit claims.

“The more traumatic the abuse is, the longer your treatment is going to be,” Vuylsteke said.

The Missouri Department of Mental Health has licensed Castlewood for residential treatment, partial hospitalization and “intensive outpatient treatment” since 2000. It was also accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities in 2010.

The treatment center’s website says staff members “understand that eating disorder symptoms are accompanied by an underlying problem. … Sometimes the client doesn’t know exactly what the problem is.”

Schwartz’s biography on the website says he earned his doctorate in psychology and mental health from The Johns Hopkins University, that he is a licensed psychologist and an adjunct professor at St. Louis University School of Medicine.

“Over the past 30 years, Dr. Schwartz has achieved international recognition for his contributions in a variety of clinical arenas, including the treatment of intimacy disorders, marital and sexual dysfunction, sexual compulsivity, sexual trauma and eating disorders,” the online bio notes.

The lawsuit alleges that after Nasseff left Castlewood, Schwartz called her in October 2010 and told her that if she didn’t return, “she would most assuredly die from her eating disorder.”

A year later, after Nasseff began talking to a lawyer about suing, Schwartz allegedly left a message on the woman’s phone, telling her that if she went to court, “all her ‘memories’ of satanic ritual abuse, multiple rapes, membership in a satanic cult and her perpetration of various criminal and horrific acts of abuse would be revealed,” the suit contends.

Over this time, Schwartz “persuaded and convinced plaintiff to become increasingly isolated from her family and friends by leading her to believe…(they) were involved in a satanic cult and that they had been and would continue to sexually abuse her and force her to engage in criminal acts and horrific abuse of others,” the suit alleges.

Maricella Miranda contributed to this report. David Hanners can be reached at 612-338-6516.