3010 St. Joseph Blvd., Suite 201
Lachine, QC H8S 2P4
Tel: 514-634-3358
shamai@hourglass.net

Introduction

With its emphasis on bringing together parts of an individual into wholeness, psychosynthesis, as a transpersonal psychology, can be an effective therapeutic method for working with clients who are dissociative (Currim, 2004). Since a diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder (DID) is common among persons who report ritual abuse and associated mind control (RA/MC), or other types of extreme abuse (Becker, Karriker, Overkamp & Rutz, 2008), it is reasonable to assume that psychosynthesis is also a viable option for working with this population.

Every day children are abused in extreme ways, traumatizing their very existence and tearing at the core of group consciousness. While three million reports of child abuse are made every year in the United States, experts estimate that the actual number of incidents of abuse and neglect is three times greater than reported (Childhelp, 2006). We have no way of knowing how many adults have been tortured as children in covert crimes involving RA/MC, nor do we know how many children are current victims. For a long time, RA/MC victims have kept their secrets hidden, even from themselves. As Herman (1992) writes, "In order to escape accountability for his crimes, the perpetrator does everything in his power to promote forgetting. Secrecy and silence are the perpetrator’s first line of defense” (p. 8).

Survivors who had developed dissociative skills as a reaction to severe trauma began to surface in the 1980’s and their numbers multiplied in the 1990’s. While their courage has not yet extinguished these crimes against humanity, the fact that they are telling their stories is making it harder for perpetrators to continue their covert operations. The time has come to expose the truth, to let people know about survivors, thousands of them all over the world, who are willing to speak out about the atrocities which hurt them so terribly.

Many trauma survivors talk about the transpersonal experiences they encountered throughout their abuse which kept their spirits alive and gave them hope that truth would prevail. On the 2007 Extreme Abuse Survey (EAS) 75 percent of 994 respondents who answered the related question said that they have a spiritual belief system; 53 percent of 982 who answered the related question do not take part in an organized religion (Rutz, Becker, Overkamp & Karriker, 2008). This difference in response rate suggests that an undetermined number of respondents are separating the spiritual from the religious aspects of their belief systems. Regardless of beliefs, many persons with DID have spiritual issues related to the question, “Why did this happen to me?”

Using data from the EAS, this article includes a statistical analysis that compares the effectiveness of 19 spiritually-related healing methods rated by survey participants who report a connection to their spiritual selves with effectiveness ratings by participants who do not report such a connection. In this article I will discuss findings from my dissertation research related to modes of therapy for dissociative clients. This discussion exposes readers to types of extreme abuse that some might think could not possibly exist and fills an innocent void with truth. It shows how the connection to spirit can be indicative of a positive outcome in the healing process.

Related Literature

Dissociation

Dissociation is a method of coping with and surviving overwhelming traumatic severe childhood sexual and/or physical abuse which can be chronic. Child autohypnosis creates altered states, or personalities, to contain the pain, anger and memories. Persons with DID are courageous, intelligent, creative, socially skilled, talented people whose dissociative abilities allow them to survive traumatic abuse. Some of the symptoms of DID include lack of appropriate emotional response, memory loss, lost time, not knowing what has been said or done, feeling dream-like, a sense of watching oneself speak or act, dizziness, headaches, numbness in body parts, feeling disjointed, spontaneous trance states, not remembering childhood or major life events, hearing voices or thoughts that don’t seem to belong to the person, unexplained items in one’s possession, drastic and rapid changes in mood and behaviors, addictions, eating disorders, disruptive sleep patterns, suicide attempts, self destructive behaviors, displays of hypervigilence, and denial of behaviour observed by others.

According to Heidbreder (1993), James (1890) wrote that psychology should study mental life and that dissociation provided this key information. James believed that all people had 'selves' which had different functions, desires, and activities. He often referred to examples such as the social self, the spiritual self, and the family self. What unified all these selves, which he stated were often in conflict, was the feeling of ownership in regard to the stream of consciousness. To him, cases of dissociation proved this belief, yet were abnormal because the stream of consciousness was affected. James explained that normal people have a stream of consciousness that links together the memories and separate parts of the self. In those affected by dissociation, the different streams of consciousness do not span across these different parts. James wrote that in order for the states of personality to change so thoroughly, so abruptly, and with different memories, that the well-organized association paths in the brain must change and develop along with the altered states. He proposed that this physiologically affected neurological path model explained how different alters (altered states) could be present at the same events, or be unaware of events that were occurring to other alters.

Stout (2001) describes dissociation as a normal function of the mind and a universal human reaction to extreme fear or pain, allowing us to disconnect emotional content from conscious awareness and giving us a better chance of survival. The person viewing an ongoing traumatic event becomes the spectator, which prevents the chance of becoming overwhelmed. It is adaptive, and seen as a survival function. The problem begins when this adaptive behaviour becomes a lifelong disconnection from the self and old terrors reoccur within the present life. Similarly, Firman and Gila (1997) remind us that dissociation, a creative mode of mental functioning, can be useful in such things as focusing on an important task and only becomes problematic when it is unconscious and chronic.

Firman and Gila (2002) believe that no one has escaped from some level of debilitating primal wounding in their lives, which involves a breaking of the empathic relationship by which we know ourselves as intrinsically valuable human beings rather than as nonpersons or objects. To use the terms of Buber (1958), in these moments, we feel ourselves to be ‘It’s’ rather than ‘Thou’s,’ (Firman, 2002, p.27). This experience creates feelings of isolation and abandonment, disintegration and loss of identity, humiliation and low self-worth, toxic shame and guilt, feelings of being overwhelmed and trapped, or anxiety and depression/despair. Using this model, the greater the wounding, the more dissociated and polarized the parts of the self can become as the entire personality system responds to the wound. Firman and Gila (2002) refer to this state as a painful, self-destructive synthesis that embodies the higher unconscious qualities with the pain of the lower unconscious.

Transpersonal Psychotherapy

The transpersonal model is seen as one in which the therapist and client work together in the ways most appropriate to their particular roles with the therapist modeling a process of learning and service. The therapist is no longer the expert who provides information and competency, but rather provides a learning-to-cope model with transparency, acknowledging and sharing their own efforts. The transpersonal perspective means that conflicts of the ego can be transcended. Boorstein (1996) describes psychosynthesis as having goals that include both traditional (symptom relief, behaviour change) as well as those aimed at the transpersonal level (conceptual framework, psychological potential, assumption of responsibility, life experience as learning, altered states, dangers of attachment, identification/disidentification, heightened mindful awareness, modeling and service). Boorstein writes,

"Psychosynthesis therapists work with both interpersonal and transpersonal problems. Because the full range of pathologies and positive human possibilities is the appropriate concern of the transpersonal therapist, he/she is interested in and supportive of psychological work being done across the entire spectrum. (p. 12)"

Assagioli (2000) distinguishes between personal psychosynthesis which involves the development of a well-integrated, effective personality and spiritual psychosynthesis which leads to the realization of one’s higher nature. He conceptualizes that in practical psychosynthesis, or the actual construction of the new personality, individuals need to use the available energies (forces released by the analysis and disintegration of the unconscious complexes and latent tendencies which exist on the psychological levels), develop aspects of the personality which are deficient or inadequate (evocation, autosuggestion, creative affirmation, methodical training, i.e., memory, imagination and/or will) and coordinate/subordinate psychological energies and functions and create a firm organization of the personality.

Cortright (1997) reminds us that consciousness is multidimensional and that human beings have valid urges toward spiritual seeking, expressed as a search for wholeness through deepening individual, social, and transcendent awareness. Assagioli (2000) calls this “the conscious and planned reconstruction or re-creation of the personality, through the cooperation and the interplay of patient and therapist” (p.5). Walsh and Vaughan (1993) speak of “experiences in which the sense of identity or self extends beyond (trans-) the individual or personal to encompass wider aspects of humankind, life, psyche, and cosmos,” (quoted in Boorstein, 1996, p. 17). This can be seen in a personal ‘aha’ moment when the world that we knew seems to expand and we are suddenly capable of a greater understanding and ability. Rowan (1993) sees the transpersonal as everyday life, which includes inner voices, intuition, creativity, and peak experiences.

Ritual Abuse/Mind Control

As defined in the Dictionary of Psychology, ritual abuse is “a method of control of people of all ages consisting of physical, sexual and psychological mistreatment through the use of rituals” (Corsini, 1999, p. 848); however, there is no consensus in the professional or survivor communities for this or any other definition of this term. A more comprehensive definition is in a 1989 report, “The Ritual Abuse Task Force of the L.A. County Commission for Women”:

Ritual Abuse usually involves repeated abuse over an extended period of time. The physical abuse is severe, sometimes including torture and killing. The sexual abuse is usually painful, humiliating, intended as a means of gaining dominance over the victim. The psychological abuse is devastating and involves the use of ritual indoctrination. It includes mind control techniques which convey to the victim a profound terror of the cult members and of the evil spirits they believe cult members can command. Both during and after the abuse, most victims are in a state of terror, mind control and dissociation. (Oksana, 1994, Pg. 36)

Lacter and Lehmann (2008) define trauma-based mind control programming as

Systematic torture that blocks the victim’s capacity for conscious processing (through pain, terror, drugs, illusion, sensory deprivation, sensory over-stimulation, oxygen deprivation, cold, heat, spinning, brain stimulation, and often, near-death), and then employs suggestion and/or classical and operant conditioning (consistent with well-established behavioral modification principles) to implant thoughts, directives, and perceptions in the unconscious mind, often in newly-formed trauma-induced dissociated identities that force the victim to do, feel, think, or perceive things for the purposes of the programmer. The objective is for the victim to follow directives with no conscious awareness, including execution of acts in clear violation of the victim’s volition, moral principles, and spiritual convictions. (p. 88)

A 2008 review of peer-reviewed academic, medical and psychological journals yielded only one study (Shaffer & Cozolino, 1992) in which researchers directly interviewed a group of ritually abused adults (N=20) about the nature and sequelae of their abuse and no studies specifically addressing mind control programming. Shaffer and Cozolino had interviewed 19 women and one man, all of whom reported that they had witnessed the murder of animals, infants, children and/or adults. The majority reported severe and sadistic forms of abuse by multiple perpetrators. Several survivors experienced religious/spiritual conflicts stating that “the most destructive aspect of the ritualistic abuse had been the negative effects that it had on their spiritual selves” (p. 190). The majority said they believed in a higher power, but only half of that subgroup was involved in an organized religion.

"To study psychological trauma is to come face to face both with human vulnerability in the natural world and with the capacity for evil in human nature,” Herman (1992) writes. “To study psychological trauma means bearing witness to horrible events” (pp. 7-8). In 2007, more than 2000 participants from at least 40 countries representing six continents responded to three online surveys in English and German that were designed to explore commonalities reported by self-described survivors of RA/MC and other types of torture. They are the (1) the Extreme Abuse Survey (EAS) for adult survivors; (2) the Professional-Extreme Abuse Survey (P-EAS) for therapists, counselors, clergy and other professionals who have worked with at least one survivor; and (3) the Child-Extreme Abuse Survey (C-EAS) for caregivers of children who disclose RA/MC. Copies of the surveys and frequencies of responses to all 768 questions are online at http://extreme-abuse-survey.net.

Karriker (2008), with input from her co-researchers, lists 10 findings from the Extreme Abuse Survey helpful to understanding RA/MC. They are (1) RA/MC is a global phenomenon. (2) A diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder is common for persons who report histories of RA/MC. (84% of EAS respondents who answered that they have been diagnosed with DID [N=655] reported that they are survivors of RA/MC). (3) Ritual abuse (RA) is not limited to SRA, i.e., satanic ritual abuse, sadistic abuse, satanist abuse. (4) RA is reported to involve mind control techniques. (5) Some extreme abuse survivors report that they were used in government-sponsored mind control experimentation. (6) RA/MC is reported to be involved in organized “known” crime. (7) RA/MC is reported to be involved in clergy abuse. (8) The most often reported memories of extreme abuse are similar across all surveys. They include sexual and physical abuse from multiple perpetrators and being threatened with death if victim ever talked about the abuse. (9) The most often reported possible aftereffects of extreme abuse are similar across all surveys. They include posttraumatic stress disorder, sleep problems, and unusual fears. (10) In rating the effectiveness of healing methods, therapists tend to favor stabilization techniques; survivors are more open to alternative ways to cope with indoctrinated belief systems.

In response to the EAS, a survivor of RA/MC, who is also a highly-respected researcher and clinical psychologist, sent the following in an email to the researchers:

Tortured by the silence and self-hatred and trying to find some redeeming value in your own life after having your life threatened every moment creates an indefinable terror. Being buried alive with bugs or dead animals and later being rescued by the same torturer who is now your savior. Being brainwashed that you are one of them because you have had to kill an animal to save yourself or a sibling. Wrapped in paper and buried alive to later be thrown in a pond so that you can demonstrate how much you want to live. And, being raped and then forced to deliver and bury your own child when you are but a child is impossible to process. Repeated medical tests and intrusive treatments that the professionals can document but not explain contribute to a complete and utter hopelessness. Who do you trust and what is real? Then, someone writes about and asks about those same experiences that haunt your life. All those ghosts that have terrorized your life and prevented a connection with another human being are suddenly documented in a survey. To learn that there are others with the same existence is bittersweet. It’s something that you’ve never wished on anyone else, but are relieved to learn that the insanity is not just in your mind. Unfortunately, the greater the numbers of strangers who have lived this tortured existence, the more validity there is that this atrocity occurs. This, the world needs to know.” (Rutz et al., pp. 63-64)

Relevant EAS Data

At my request, the EAS research team shared unpublished data and a statistical analysis from two selected groups who responded to the EAS Healing Methods section: survivors who report a spiritual belief system (N = 745; 75 percent of 994 EAS respondents who answered the related question) and survivors who report no spiritual belief system (N = 169; 17 percent). The other responses were “don’t know” or “not applicable.

The researchers compared frequencies of responses for each group on 19 spiritually-related therapeutic methods (See Table 1). Results show that the following items were rated significantly higher in effectiveness by spiritual survivors than by non-spiritual survivors: Creative Writing. Journaling, Music Therapy, Personal Prayer/Meditation, Spiritual Guidance/Counseling, Supportive Friends, Other Methods.

Table 1. A comparison of effectiveness of selected healing methods rated by EAS survivors who report a spiritual belief system (N = 745) who have used the method (n) with EAS survivors report a spiritual belief system (N = 169) who have used the method (n) and do not report a spiritual belief system.

Method	Spiritual (n, %n)	Non-Spiritual (n, %n)	Z-Value*	Spiritual Rank	Non-Spiritual Rank
Individual Psychotherapy/Counseling	668 76	140 69	1.705	1	1
Supportive Friends	643 69	124 59	2.147*	2	2
Personal Prayer/Meditation	647 68	63 27	6.383*	3	18
Creative Writing	563 66	106 54	2.312*	4	6
Other Methods	310 64	63 46	2.503*	5	7
Journaling	625 63	124 53	2.152*	6	5
Art Therapy	486 58	97 56	0.354	7	3
Abreactive Work	350 58	52 42	1.936	8	12
Drawing/Painting	558 58	110 55	0.298	9	4
Spiritual Guidance/Counseling	528 56	47 19	4.680*	10	19
Grounding Techniques	471 54	76 45	1.434	11	8
Self Care/Self Soothing Techniques	568 54	107 44	1.852	12	10
Music Therapy	314 53	66 32	3.020*	13	16
Physical Exercise	589 51	99 43	1.210	14	9
Supportive Family Members	461 49	78 40	1.361	15	14
Left/Right Handwriting Techniques	382 42	54 43	0.012	16	11
Reading Survivor Stories	613 42	123 41	0.095	17	13
Dance Therapy	239 40	47 38	0.076	18	15
Psychodrama	227 34	46 30	0.286	19	17

*Significant at 95% 2-Tail Confidence Level

Psychotherapeutic Techniques with DID

In my dissertation research (Currim, 2004), I developed a questionnaire for clinicians who work with dissociative clients. I hypothesized that transpersonal therapy would be shown to be a viable, and perhaps ideal tool when dealing with people who are living at the extremes of the dissociative continuum as well as within the normal dissociate patterns of everyday living. Psychosynthesis therapists who responded to the questionnaire related back to their belief that we are all in a state of perfection and are just finding our way back to that perfect state. They did not refer to dissociation as a pathological state and choose not to use the DSM IV diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder. They showed more awareness than other participants for the idea of the transpersonal, or beyond the sense realm, and used the term ‘super conscious’ to refer to the state of being that is perfection, and which guides us to that state.

The most frequently chosen therapeutic techniques from a list of 48 were (1)“I keep aware of my feelings and the reactions of my clients” (96%); and (2) “I make sure my client is grounded enough to leave my office before allowing them to leave” (91%). These findings affirm two important attributes of a good therapist: (1) being present, conscious and alert; and (2) making sure that the client is safe.

‘Creating a safe container for clients to do their work’ was endorsed by several therapists as was ‘Supporting adaptive dependency and adaptive autonomy’. Fostering a sense of centered self seemed to be very important for therapists to keep in mind, as well as helping clients to take steps towards personality integration, although the majority of therapists made a point to say that integration is not the main focus of therapy. While some of the therapists reported training in the Energy Psychologies, very few were actually aware, at the level of intuition, of the energy fields around them at the time of the therapeutic relationship. While a wide margin of the respondents had some form of transpersonal training, many were not aware of, or did not respond to the questions on the Higher Self or Higher Conscious or Soul Realization. The final results show that the diversified and eclectic backgrounds of the respondents were what they believed were needed by clients. The main focus of therapy for participants was on concrete, on the actual ‘can do’ forms of therapy, rather than on abstract forms.

Conclusions

Pain and dysfunction inevitably result from the denial or distortion of reality. A person who seeks psychotherapy may be suffering from a distortion of reality, not only at the interpersonal but also at the metaphysical level. Emotions, thoughts, impulses, images, and sensations are the contents of consciousness. We witness them and we are aware of their existence. Likewise, the body, the self-image, and the self-concept are all constructs that we observe, but our core sense of personal existence, the "I,” is located in awareness itself, not in its content. Awareness is the ground of conscious life, the background or field in which all elements exist, different from thoughts, sensations, or images. It is to this state that transpersonal psychology addresses itself.

Therapy is meant to resolve issues such as shame, guilt, apathy, grief, fear, desire, anger, and pride and to bring us to our level of courage, willingness, acceptance, reason, love, joy, peace, and eventual enlightenment. Hawkins (2002) tells us that what we need to reach awareness is a desire to change, discipline and focus to act with constant and universal forgiveness and gentleness, compassion to everything including our own self and thoughts, willingness to hold desires in abeyance and surrender of the personal will to the Higher Good or Higher Consciousness. It is to these levels of consciousness that the most abuse has been perpetrated, in an attempt to annihilate the self and create many splintered selves with individual purposes. Herman (1992) observes that the ordinary response to atrocities is to banish them from consciousness, they are so unspeakable. However, denial does not work because

Remembering and telling the truth about terrible events are prerequisites both for the restoration of the social order and for the healing of individual victims. The conflict between the will to deny horrible events and the will to proclaim them aloud is the central dialectic of psychological trauma. (p.1)

We now have data from three international surveys that give voice, visibility, and validation to survivors of extreme abuse that are in the realm of crimes against humanity. Survivors coming forward with their accounts of abuse and torture so extreme that it is difficult to hold in our consciousness, give us the opportunity to understand the multi-dimensional abilities of the mind to protect itself. Dissociation is the current term for the ability of the psyche, or central ‘I’, to project itself into space and allow parts/interjects/alters/subpersonalities to step forward and take charge of the being. This ability to disconnect emotional content from conscious awareness is what gives these crime victims a better chance for survival.

As early as the late 1800’s, William James spoke to the ability of the physiologically affected neurological pathways in the brain that change and develop along with the altered states, explaining how different alters can be present at the same events, or be unaware of events that are occurring to other alters. Today’s researchers remind us that we all come through some form of debilitating primal wounding, which involves a breaking of the empathic relationship. This needs to be addressed in order to become the whole, self aware beings we are meant to be.

With the information obtained by the EAS team, we now have data to support a common thread running through the stories of survivors, through their own admissions, and the observations of their caretakers, across boundaries of language and nationality. The studies show that counseling/therapy has proven to be the most effective tool for healing from this extreme abuse, with therapists tending to favor stabilization techniques and survivors more open to alternative ways. Those with a spiritual belief system prefer creative writing, journaling, music therapy, personal prayer/meditation, spiritual guidance/counseling, supportive friends, and other methods as their choice of healing modalities. Therapists must learn to be in a grounded presence and to prepare a safe place where survivors can tell their stories.

Many RA/MC survivors talk about the transpersonal experiences maintained throughout their abuse which kept their spirits alive and gave them hope. Assagioli’s (2000) reminder of the need for balance between personal psychosynthesis (development of a well-integrated, effective personality) and spiritual psychosynthesis (leading to the realization of one’s higher nature) reminds us that in order to heal we need to have a relationship with both.

I am indebted to the work that was done by the EAS team who not only formulated and tabulated the information gathered from thousands of respondents, but also gave us the first solid evidence that extreme trauma in the forms of RA/MC does exist. We owe them our thanks for becoming the mouthpieces for trauma survivors from around the world and for opening the doors to future healing.

REFERENCES

Assagioli, R. (2000). Psychosynthesis: A collection of basic writings. New York: Penguin.

Becker, T., Karriker, W., Overkamp, B., & Rutz, C. (2008). The Extreme Abuse Survey: Preliminary findings regarding dissociative identity disorder. In A. Sachs & G. Galton (Eds.), Forensic aspects of dissociative identity disorder (pp. 32-49). London: Karnac.

Boorstein, Seymour M.D. (1996) Transpersonal Psychotherapy (second edition), NY, State

University of New York Press

Buber, M.(1958). I and thou. Translated by R.G. Smith: New York: Charles Scribner’s.

Childhelp (2006). National child abuse statistics. Retrieved February, 2009 from http://www.childhelp.org/resources/learning-center/statistics

Corsini, R.J. (1999). The dictionary of psychology. Philadelphia: Brunner/Mazel.

Cortright, B. (1997). Psychotherapy and spirit: Theory and practice in transpersonal psychotherapy. New York: State University of New York Press.

Currim, S. (2004). The five forces: working with dissociative states. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Westbrook University (New Mexico). Available online at http://hourglass.net/tritherapy/5forces.pdf

Firman, J. & and Gila, A.(1997). The primal wound: A transpersonal view of trauma, addiction, and growth. Albany, NY, SUNY.

Firman, J. & Gila, A. (2002). Psychosynthesis: A psychology of the spirit. Albany, SUNY.

Hawkins, D. R. (2002). Power vs. force: The hidden determinants of human behaviour. CA: Hay House.

Heidbreder, E. (1993). Seven psychologies. New York: Century Company.

Herman, J.L. (1992). Trauma and recovery: The aftermath of violence-from domestic abuse to political terror. New York: Basic Books

James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology: New York: Cosimo Books.

Karriker, W. (2008, November). Understanding ritual abuse: A comparison of findings from three online surveys. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and dissociation, Chicago, IL.

Lacter, E.P. & Lehmann, K. (2008) Guidelines to differential diagnosis between Schizophrenia and Ritual Abuse/Mind Control Traumatic Stress. In R. Noblitt and P.P. Noblitt (Eds.), Ritual abuse in the twenty first century. Psychological, forensic, social, and political considerations (pp. 85-154). Bandon, OR: Robert D. Reed

Oksana, C. (1994). Safe passage to healing. New York: HarperCollins.

Rowan, John (1993) The Transpersonal: Psychotherapy and Counselling, NY, Routledge

Rutz, C., Becker, T., Overkamp, B., & Karriker, W. (2008). Exploring commonalities reported by adult survivors of extreme abuse: A preliminary empirical study. In R. Noblitt & P.P. Noblitt (Eds.), Ritual abuse in the twenty-first century: Psychological, forensic, social, and political considerations (pp. 31-84). Bandon, OR: Robert D. Reed.

Shaffer, R.E., & Cozolino, L.J. (1992). Adults who report childhood ritualistic abuse. Journal of Psychology & Theology, 20(3), 188-193.

Stout, Martha Ph.D. (2001) The Myth of Sanity: Divided Consciousness and the Promise of

Awareness , NY, Penguin Books

Walsh, R. & Vaughan, F. (1993). Paths beyond ego: The transpersonal vision. New York: Tarcher.