This book was written to meet the need of therapists: a succinct, thorough, practical, clear, down-to-earth handbook to which a therapist can refer as needed. Many, if not most, therapists have encountered a victim of complex mind control and ritual abuse, and most therapists feel deskilled in this work. Working with such clients is a challenge for therapists, given the extreme and prolonged nature of the clients’ trauma, the severity of their dissociative disorders, the complexity of the mind control they have experienced, and the reality of organised perpetrator groups who follow up on their victims. Every therapist needs to know the basics of this work.
Chapter 1 defines and explains dissociation, ritual abuse, and mind control. It lists indicators which suggest a client may be a victim, and recommends developing ‘reflective belief (or possibly) disbelief’ rather than maintaining ‘therapeutic neutrality’. Chapter 2, The therapeutic relationship, describes victims’ training to not form bonds, the parental nature of the therapeutic bond with such clients, and practical ways to relate to someone dealing with internal multiplicity. Chapter 3, The life of a mind control survivor, describes victims’ planned experiences from infancy all the way through adulthood. Chapter 4, Engineered personality systems, describes the most common forms of training or programming, and the ‘jobs’ of inner parts of the victim. Chapter 5, Stabilisation and internal safety, explains the way in which some parts punish the victim for disloyalty by creating destabilising symptoms. Chapter 6, Working with the personality system, describes internal hierarchies and how to work with them. Chapter 7, Present-day physical safety, looks at the ongoing torture and harassment of many victims by perpetrator groups, and describes the training of various parts to return to the perpetrators, report to them, and be available for further abuse. Chapter 8, Working through the traumatic memories, gives guidelines regarding how to help a client work through the numerous traumatic training memories. Chapter 9, Confronting the spiritual issues in ritual abuse, describes the perpetrators’ spiritual/moral abuse and simulation of spiritual entities. It discusses the question of demonic possession, and looks at the real spiritual issues which victims and therapists must deal with. Chapter 10, Healing for our clients and ourselves, discusses victims’ emotional healing, grieving, developing self-esteem and integration, and therapists’ intimidation and vicarious traumatisation.
Alison Miller is a retired clinical psychologist, who practised in Victoria, BC, Canada for over forty years, and specialised in work with survivors of ritual abuse and mind control for the last twenty-five years. She is the author of two previous books on that subject, and has contributed to various edited collections and journals.
Susan Pease Banitt, LCSW, psychotherapist and consultant specialising in trauma and extreme abuse, sought-after speaker, and award-winning author –
‘Alison Miller’s latest book, Demystifying Mind Control and Ritual Abuse, is a tour de force in advanced psychotherapy for the most difficult of clients, those who have been subjected to torture since before birth and throughout their childhood in order to create compliant slaves without walls. She is a knowledgeable, tough, and compassionate guide who takes a clear-eyed look at what it really takes for therapists to do this work and gives us the tools to do so. She calmly addresses a topic that most find unbearable to acknowledge, that children can and are routinely used to serve the darkest desires of humanity. She lays out many practical tips; each chapter could almost be its own book. Any therapist who finds themselves confounded and feeling deskilled by a victim of organized abuse that is cult related, ritually abused and/or mind controlled will find helpful tips and resources in these pages. This book should be required reading for all therapists.’
Valerie Sinason PhD, founder and patron, Clinic for Dissociative Studies, and author of The Orpheus Project –
‘Having worked in this difficult field for several decades, Alison Miller has found a further way of passing on her knowledge of mind control and ritual abuse. What’s more, she does so in the most honed, processed way. This is a handbook which is easy to read despite the fearfulness of its subject. It is filled with wise information culled from decades of experience. It will aid the newcomer and the experienced clinician alike.’
Ellen Lacter, PhD, psychologist, USA –
‘Demystifying Mind Control and Ritual Abuse: A Manual for Therapists delivers just what Dr. Miller promises – a book for therapists “who need a succinct, practical, down-to-earth guide for this challenging work.” She describes the strategies that mind control abusers apply to victims, beginning in infancy, to induce dissociated identities to form, to manipulate them, and to then set them up against each other for long-term, often lifetime control. These abusers hope to prevent victims from ever consciously accessing their memories, from being able to receive the help of a psychotherapist, and from ever defying and escaping their mental controls. Then Dr. Miller offers step-by-step therapeutic guidance in troubleshooting all of these obstacles so that survivors may discover their own minds and exercise agency over their own lives. This is a wonderful reference book to help psychotherapists navigate this toughest-of-all courses of psychotherapy.’
Neil Brick, editor and conference coordinator for SMARTNews at https://ritualabuse.us –
‘Dr. Alison Miller’s new book, Demystifying Mind Control and Ritual Abuse: A Training Manual for Therapists, is the most comprehensive book written to date on this topic. Dr. Miller discusses all of the techniques needed to help survivors of these crimes. Her book is easy to read and understand. It explains ways to work with trauma survivors in a compassionate, respectful, and comprehensive manner. Her many years of experience and research provide a unique guide into helping mind control and ritual abuse survivors. I have been proud to work with Dr. Miller in both Survivorship (survivorship.org) and SMART (ritualabuse.us). Every time I attend one of her workshops or webinars or read one of her books, I learn more about our field, myself, and ways to help other survivors.’