Dissociated Survivor | A website for survivours of RA, DID and Childhood Assault

In light of difficult trigger days at month end, I have presented my usual article today, Oct 20, for those of you who would like to have a game plan of protection.

• If you feel you can’t cope alone on that day, it’s okay to ask a friend or significant other to be with you. Tell these people what you are up against and they will rally around you. Asking is hard, but the reward is worth it.

• Listen to your instincts. If you need to isolate to get through and it’s not just old programming, then be alone. But take precautions- Have friends, therapists, hotlines and need crisis phone numbers handy. Have email addresses handy. Make sure you write down their numbers in advance. Make a list with the heading “Support Phone Numbers—When I Need Help” or similar. Trying to meander through a telephone book when you are anxious and scared is too difficult. Make the day as easy for you as possible. Now is the time to look ahead.

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Persons Who Report Ritual Abuse

(Click on the above link to open the presentation in a new window)

This PowerPoint is based on Dr. Alison Miller’s presentation on Differential Diagnosis and Treatment of Persons Who Report Ritual Abuse at the 2009 conference of the International Society for the Study of Dissociation. Though geared towards therapists, survivors can also benefit from working through these slides.

In the diagnosis section, Dr. Miller presents data from the Extreme Abuse Survey which tracked the differences in therapist’s experiences with ritual Abuse/mind control) survivors vs. other extreme abuse survivors.  She also lists markers by which a therapist can identify a client who has been subjected to mind control.

Following the three-stage model of treatment, Dr. Miller identifies common mistakes that therapists make with clients who have experienced ritual abuse or mind control, and suggests alternatives.

Take the time to see first hand what therapists are learning with and dealing with on a daily basis.

Another article, as there can be so many on the topic of therapists–they are after all one of the human race as we are.

Having been in therapy for the better part of twenty years I’ve seen many different approaches from therapists, doctors and mental health workers. This is the story of how my memories of ritual assault and childhood sexual assault have been processed by different therapies along the healing spectrum. Its sister article, “A Survivor In Therapy,” is on my website, the DS, under therapy issues.

I grew up with Dissociative Identity Disorder, which is the creation of inner parts, (alters), split from the original child to deal with overwhelming emotional, physical and sexual assault. (For a more in-depth definition of Dissociative Identity Disorder or DID please refer to my article, “Dissociative Identity Disorder” on my website, the DS.)

At the age of twenty five, I ran away from my family in the East to the West coast of the country, hoping to leave my trauma and my unhappiness behind me. I quickly learned that the geographical cure did not work. I was just as suicidal, just as addicted to drugs and alcohol, still suffering from severe chronic anxiety and almost completely dysfunctional. I couldn’t sleep at night due to nightmares and night terrors. I tried to hold a business together during the day, but spent more time in the hospital than I did working.

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This article examines the different therapies I have experienced over the years.

This article was Published in Feb 2005 by The Phoenix and in Sept/Oct 2006 by Alone Together and in Feb 2007  by Survivorship

A girl- 6 years old

Curly brown hair

Frilly blue dress

In a picture frame

Bent over her task

Frustration and fear on her face

A girl- 6 years old

A porcelain china doll

Will she shatter if dropped?

In childhood, severely abused emotionally, physically and sexually, I refused to die. My perpetrators, including my own mother and father, did not mildly abuse; they subjected me to the horrors of Incest and Satanic ritual abuse on a continual basis.

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