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Healing the Unimaginable: Treating Ritual Abuse and Mind Control

Alison Miller

Why we're reading this: Recovery from ritual abuse, mostly thearpist-focused
[close] Recovery from ritual abuse, mostly thearpist-focused

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May 21, 2013 Bookish rated it it was amazing

Shelves: will-read-again, mental-health, dissociative-identity-disorder, ritual-abuse, non-fiction, psychology, living-with-trauma-professionals, cults

Amazing book. Nothing else like it on the market. It is aimed at counselors only - she recommends Safe Passage to Healing for survivors.

You will get little out of this unless you already know DID well. If you don't know anything about programming or mind control this may not be the place to start either. She breaks down complex and involved things into simple terms, and includes sections written by survivors and uses their words to analyze and summarize the types of actions committed by perpetra Amazing book. Nothing else like it on the market. It is aimed at counselors only - she recommends Safe Passage to Healing for survivors.

You will get little out of this unless you already know DID well. If you don't know anything about programming or mind control this may not be the place to start either. She breaks down complex and involved things into simple terms, and includes sections written by survivors and uses their words to analyze and summarize the types of actions committed by perpetrators (abusive groups/cults) and how they work in terms of structure.

Her explanation of the "traps" survivors are caught in was great, as was the section on Lies, Tricks and Indoctrination. She mentions the tricks played on young children in terms of costumes and stage magic, as well as the use of props such as the "alien spacecraft".
One real strength is the way she insists that survivors of such abuse should work out things themselves - by asking different parts (alters) each for their own recollection and perspective on the past. Since a single memory is split between several the one remembering the "alien spaceship" may be different to the one remembering the environment around it (in the case she quotes, it's parked in the car park of the building the cult uses).

She explains and gives a clear sequence for traumatic memory processing, and insists on stability beforehand, giving techniques to "put the memory aside" until later. She also explains how programming can be dealt with effectively and comments on the claims of specialist "deprogammers" (as you would expect - its not a long term solution).

She also asks for feedback on the book and any corrections too, so I expect she'll update it after a while.
This really is the kind of book that needs a hardback cover - its the sort of thing you constantly want to refer back to. And you will struggle to borrow a copy, or to get yours back if you lend it.

A quick note - secondary traumatization is pretty likely unless you skip a few parts, like that by Stella Katz. This is explained in the book. A refund is offered by Karnac books if you feel it inappropriate for your needs. And that are no gory, blood thirsty descriptions. Just true reality and horror without the drama and suspense that makes the horror genre sell. Will be boring for horror fans and probably very upsetting. ...more

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