Behavior: Valley of Horrors

The Rev. George von Hilsheimer, 39, a self-styled minister in the Free Religious Association, is fascinated by psychiatry. Though he has no degrees in the subject, he likes to talk about such "therapies" as electrosleep, vivid confrontation, megavitamins and hypode-sensitization. What is noteworthy about Von Hilsheimer, however, is that he has been able to try out these techniques, and others as well, during his nine years as superintendent of the Green Valley School for emotionally disturbed and delinquent children in Orange City, Fla.

If a child misbehaved, for example, Von Hilsheimer would sometimes...