Showing posts with label PTSD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PTSD. Show all posts

Friday, September 9, 2011

DailyDDoSe™ Interventions for Patients with Ritual Abuse, Mind Control, and Dissociative Diosrders

Neurofeedback and Other Interventions for Patients with Ritual Abuse, Mind Control, and Dissociative Disorders

by Susan Ford, BA, BCIAC-EEG, Tryon, North Carolina

Introduction
A Review of the History of Mind Control Technologies
History of Official Involvement in Mind Control Research in the United States
Documentation of Mind Control by Colin Ross, MD
Concise Definition of Ritual Abuse-Based Mind Control
Recognizing Mind Control in an Adult Client
Conclusion

Abstract: Ritual Abuse and Mind Control are often misunderstood in professional circles and as a result patients diagnosed with DID caused by ritual abuse and mind control often have trouble finding proper care. This is at least partly the result of the controversy that has dogged this field. By means of legal processes the entire field of study has been called into question, and clinicians specializing in the remediation of DID have been discredited. Mental health specialists have been accused of excessive zeal in unearthing presumptive early childhood trauma, and the malleability of memory has been used to discredit such clinical reports wholesale.

It is therefore appropriate to review the basis for the existence of systematic, deliberate early childhood abuse, and for other mind control techniques of considerable reach. The need for secrecy with respect to such techniques by perpetrators, and the natural skepticism that nearly everyone else brings to the topic, makes it exceedingly difficult to document and prove the full scope of such troubling activities.

The significance for neurofeedback practitioners  and other mental health professionals, is that they should be prepared to see cases of this kind in their offices from time to time. Neurofeedback has been successfully used to help stabilize victims of this abuse, but until their mind control programming is dismantled they are still at risk. Although clinical progress can be made with the usual methods, these people may ultimately be refractory to even the best interventions aiming at trauma recovery. Professionals treating victims need to be aware of the signs and symptoms in order to avoid further harm. Information from Mind Control. An Introduction (Oglevie 2004) will help to inform mental health professionals of the signs and symptoms of mind control in their clients. Referral to experts in trauma recovery may be appropriate in conjunction with neurofeedback.

 Introduction

In view of the notoriety and controversy surrounding the subject of mind control, it is appropriate to begin with a review of the evidence for the historical existence of techniques of gaining external and systematic control of the mind and actions of another. This is the underlying rationale that can explain the subjection of even very young children to unbelievable terror. In addition to the information shared in this article, an extensive resource listing is included that will begin to authenticate this subject matter, which for years now has often been publicly discredited and clinically misunderstood. Despite years of carefully guarding the secret of its existence by those both centrally and peripherally involved, the evidence of this attempt to gain control of the human mind is becoming more available, and methods of helping the victims of mind control are emerging. This article is an attempt to provide the information professionals will need to recognize the signs and symptoms of this abuse.

A Review of the History of Mind Control Technologies

Beginning in the late 1980's hundred’s, if not thousands of victims of a heinous form of early childhood abuse known as ritual trauma, satanic ritual abuse, and/or mind control began flooding mental hospitals and the offices of mental health professionals. The problem became so prevalent that in certain areas of the country special dissociative disorders units were created in hospitals and the staff became quite familiar with this form of abuse through their exposure to victims, most of whom were also suffering from DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) DSM-IV 300.14

In 1988, in an effort to educate professionals and public alike with their findings on this subject, the Los Angeles Commission For Women formed the Task Force on Ritual Abuse and a group of professionals from the field of medicine, mental health, education, law enforcement, prosecution, and religion, served together with adult survivors and created a report entitled: Ritual Abuse, Definitions, Glossary, The Use of Mind Control (Ritual Abuse Task Force, Los Angeles County Commission For Women, 1991). Upon learning of this abuse, many other professionals began to engage with this work clinically so that victims could receive proper treatment. This author was a member (often peripherally) of the Los Angeles County Commission for Women when the Ritual Abuse Task Force put its report together.

Myra Riddell, LCSW, Chair of the Task Force on Ritual Abuse states in her introduction, "Ritual abuse is a serious and growing problem in our community and our nation. Ritual abuse is not a new problem, but society is only just beginning to recognize the gravity and scope of this problem. We are all in need of education on this issue. Parents need to be educated about the hallmarks of this abuse occurring in preschools and day care centers. Many professionals are seeing victims of ritual abuse and not yet recognizing the patterns of this abuse. The concept of ritual abuse, that groups of adults would terrorize and torture children in order to control them, is frightening and controversial, raising for all of us problems of denial and fear of the consequences of such information.

Despite detailed evidence of ritual abuse coming from child victims and their families, from adult victims, and from the professionals working with them, and despite the remarkable consistency of these reports both nationally and internationally, society at large resists believing that ritual abuse really occurs. There remains the mistaken belief that satanic and other cult activity is isolated and rare." (Los Angeles County Commission For Women, 1991)

History of Official Involvement in Mind Control Research in the United States

In 2000, Psychiatrist Colin A. Ross, MD published another in a series of books on the treatment of dissociative disorders, ritual abuse and mind control, entitled BLUEBIRD; Deliberate Creation of Multiple Personality By Psychiatrists which is based on 15,000 pages of documents (regarding mind control projects), obtained from the CIA through the Freedom of Information Act (Ross, 2000). This book documents the involvement of the intelligence agencies in the research of mind control techniques, and renders obvious the continuing effort to diminish the significance of the work, and to suggest that such research is no longer being pursued, and is therefore only of passing historical interest. Anyone knowledgeable about the power of neurofeedback to effect state change, and to produce learning of new states will find it difficult to believe that the intelligence agencies have lost interest in these methods.

 Since World War II, the United States government, led by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), searched covertly for ways to control human behavior and human minds (John Marks, 1979). At the end of the war, with the Nuremberg trials barely finished, the United States government began immigrating to the U.S. hundreds of German and Austrian scientists under the project code-named "Paperclip" (Linda Hunt, 1945-1990). Ever since then the U.S. government has successfully promoted the view that Paperclip was a short-term, harmless operation (Linda Hunt, 1945-1990). But through the Freedom of Information Act, thousands of pages of CIA classified mind control projects now document the abuse of thousands of human beings in the course of Project Paperclip and its successors. CIA programs were not only an extension of the OSS quest for a "truth drug," but during the Cold War they led the way in effective means to control the mind.

Early research in this country was spearheaded by a Dr. Green (Greenbaum in German), who was recruited to serve in the US Army and to teach psychiatrists the mind control techniques he had developed. He also taught in England, and on a number of U.S. Air Force bases. "Their experiments with children raised in various environments demonstrated that certain types of trauma focused on wounding specific aspects of the intrapsychic world." (Oglevie, 2004). "Recognizing that each child is unique, early researchers into mind control were able to make some identification of the specific traumas during the various developmental states in the life of the child that would cause sufficient wounding, and of the specific nurturing experiences during those same developmental states that were necessary to prevent trauma-induced schizophrenia, narcissistic personality disorder, psychopathic personality, as well as other mental disorders." (Oglevie, 2004).  Dr. Green taught these doctors about the human brain and mind, techniques to create alternate personalities in children, and how to install a program system in a child. The only papers published were studies of animals, and not the studies that were actually performed on humans.

The bad news is that together these doctors programmed 1000's of children. The good news is that Dr. Green had the foresight to realize what this technology could to do humanity and apparently taught a deliberately flawed method of mind control. It is said that in 1976, at 60 years of age, he committed suicide rather than comply with requests to teach how to "fix the programming flaws." Many of these doctors’ mind control victims have been successfully deprogrammed and now live to tell what happened. Regardless of whether this is the case, it is clear from the modern neurofeedback perspective that minor traumatic brain injury can in principle disrupt such installed constructs and allow the surfacing of phenomenology that was to remain hidden from the subject. Similarly, a new traumatizing event can have the effect of kindling the recovery of a prior trauma. In this manner, programmed individuals are coming randomly into contact with their prior histories.

Documentation of Mind Control by Colin Ross, MD

In his latest book, psychiatrist Colin Ross, MD [who is a psychiatrist specializing in dissociative disorders which include multiple personality disorder] states, "The major goal of the Cold War mind control programs was to create dissociative symptoms and disorders, including full multiple personality disorder. The capabilities postulated in the first Manchurian Candidate are fact, not fiction, and were created by the CIA in the 1950's under BLUEBIRD and ARTICHOKE mind control programs. Experiments with LSD, sensory deprivation, electro-convulsive treatment, brain electrode implants and hypnosis were designed to create amnesia, depersonalization, changes in identity and altered sates of consciousness." (Ross, 2000)

While the major medical schools and universities were teaching their graduate students that multiple personality disorder was rare, the psychiatrists participating in the CIA mind control projects were busy learning how to create controlled dissociation in their experimental subjects. The goal of course was complete control of the mind of these subjects for their purposes. Multiple personality disorder is now classified by the American Psychiatric Association as dissociative identity disorder and resides in the DSM-IV as DID 300.14. Ross goes on to state, "Experiments to create Manchurian Candidate ‘super spies’ must be understood in their social and historical context, which is one of pervasive, systematic mind control experimentation, not by a few isolated renegade doctors, but by the leaders of psychiatry and the major medical schools." Mind control experiments were interwoven with radiation experiments, and research on chemical and biological weapons. The mind control work was funded by the CIA, Army, Navy and Air Force, and concurrently by other agencies including the Public Health Service, and the non-governmental Scottish Rite Foundation." Ross goes on, "Mind control contractors with Top Secret clearance included the American Psychological Association, Past Presidents of the American Psychiatric Association and the Society for Biological Psychiatry, and psychiatrists who have received awards from the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association."

One such example that Ross writes about is Dr. Louis Jolyon West. While Dr. West’s curriculum vitae doesn’t mention that he received Top Secret clearance from the CIA as the contractor on MKULTRA Subproject 43, CIA documents show that grants were given to Dr. West for studies entitled, "Psychophysiological Studies of Hypnosis and Suggestibility" and "Studies of Dissociative States." Further, "Dr. Lois Jolyon West was cleared at Top Secret for his work on MKULTRA.

West's numerous connections to the mind control network illustrate how the network is maintained---not through any central conspiracy, but by an interlocking network of academic relationships, grants, conferences, and military appointments. Some doctors in the network were not funded directly by the CIA or military, but their work was of direct relevance to mind control, non-lethal weapons development, creation of controlled dissociation and the building of Manchurian Candidates." Further, "Dr. West devoted four decades to study, writing and experimentation on dissociation, hypnosis, Communist mind control, hallucinogens, sensory deprivation, and methods of social influence; he concluded that the methods used by destructive cults result in the creation of new identities and dissociative states. The same methods, when applied to experimental subjects under BLUEBIRD, ARTICHOKE and MKULTRA, also resulted in the creation of amnesia, new identities and dissociated states. This was the Manchurian Candidate program."(Ross, 2000)

Other grants were received for use in EEG experiments. From 1950-1957 Canadian Psychiatrist, Ewen Cameron (past president of the Quebec, Canadian, American and World Psychiatric Associations) received $60,353.33 for Research Studies on EEG and Electrophysiology. (Ross, 2000). Cameron was subsequently successfully sued by victims of his experiments, and they recovered damages in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. "In one of the MKULTRA Subproject 61 documents, Dr. Harold Wolff, Professor of Medicine at Cornell, defines the historical context for the CIA’s interest in mind control in general, which is also the context and motive for military funding of brain electrode implant experiments: The investigations of the highest integrative functions are fundamentally aimed at increasing our understanding of the functions of the human cerebral hemispheres in overall adaptive behavior. They arose out of our laboratory and clinical experience during the past twenty years, and especially out of our interest in the phenomena exhibited by men exposed to extremely threatening life situations; and they were initiated during the period when we were investigating the untoward effects of Communist police procedures. (Ross, 2004)

Brain Electrode Implant Research was also done by Jose Delgado -Yale, Office of Naval Research, Neil Burch, Army Intelligence, Robert Health-Tulane, MKULTRA, Mark Sweet & Frank Irvin-Harvard, and the CIA. (Ross, 2000.pg 344 appendix)

A CIA memorandum for MKULTRA Subproject 142 describes the use of animals for delivery of biological and chemical weapons, and the control of animals through stimulation of brain electrodes. The goal was clear, to control the mind and behavior and to create dissociation, through a combinations of drugs, sensory isolation, hypnosis, brain electrode implants, electric shock and beaming different kinds of energy at the brain. The ability to create limited, controlled amnesia through a variety of methods was a primary goal of the mind control programs. (Ross, 2004)

 Often survivors report the use of EEG Technologies and Electroshock as Part of Their Abuse

In addition to intentional childhood torture, there was deliberate use of other methods of mind control, at times involving EEG technologies and electroshock as described in the scenario below:

 "Electra, step forward now! Electra, this is your master, do what you are commanded!" She heard her name being barked from a distant place and reluctantly obeyed, fearful of the consequences of disobedience. Her body felt like it was sinking into the mattress of the hospital bed, it was so heavy. She flexed her wrist slightly and felt the familiar restraint tying her arm to the stainless steel rail. The rest of her arm refused her summons to move anchored as it was to the bed by the drugs flowing through the IV inserted into the top of her left hand.

"There, you see the patterns changing on the screen, that’s Electra’s brain wave, even though she is not yet conscious I can tell she has taken executive control of the body." He was talking to someone else demonstrating his "project" to another admirer. "How do you recognize this pattern over the other three you have shown me?" "It’s simple, look at this, this, and this." The other man obviously did not know what he was looking for, even though he made noises like he understood.

"Electra, open your eyes, now!" Why did he have to be so impatient? Even her eyelids felt like lead. She inventoried her body quickly to determine what it had already endured and its state of being. The body had not been sexually used, not yet at least, nor was the skin bruised or bleeding. Electrodes were clamped to the big toes of each foot, the thumbs, and taped to the back of her neck. That explained the cramp running down the spine and why the others alternate personalities had been submerged. Her task was to make electric shock "normal".

 "Electra, I know you can hear me, open your eyes." The wires taped to her head led to the familiar machine sitting on the cart next to her bed. She could hear the familiar song as it displayed the electrical impulses from her brain onto the screen so they could be examined. A second cart held the electric shock generator which a quick glance through the slit between her eyelids showed was set only at the number five, she allowed herself to breathe in quietly, a shock at five was well within her tolerance for pain although she deliberately thrashed as if she were in agony whenever he shocked her at that level. No other personality could tolerate more than a level four. She reluctantly opened her eyes slowly, squinting into the bright light shining down on her face from overhead. "Yes, master", she whispered.

 "This is Dr. Neophyte from Australia; he has come all this way to purchase one of our machines, but he insisted that I demonstrate it for him first. So you will be a good girl and cooperate, won’t you?" The threat was barely veiled. She blinked her eyes twice to signal "yes". "Good, now go to each of the places you have practiced and hold it until I give you permission to go to the next." Fear first, she remembered, so she quickly remembered the vision she had first seen when the pattern had peaked and the doctor had been so pleased. She had rehearsed it watching the screen herself until he was satisfied with the intensity displayed. "Excellent, hold that." She could hear him explaining what the peaks and valleys on each of the frequencies represented. She braced herself for the inevitable surge of electricity, but this time it did not come.

 "Next." Serenity had been a much harder challenge for a girl used to surges of shock, but she had found the place in the elation that accompanied the end of a torture session and now went into that scenario. "Next." Serious concentration was easy, just multiply fractions one after the other. She could hear the tone in the visiting physician’s voice change as he watched the patterns change on the screen. "Next." Depression was easily reached; all she had to do was contemplate her future, an unending series of demonstrations for future customers who all wanted to see the product before they laid down the money. At least she didn’t have to do the sex stuff with the customers as well, that was Kitten’s task. Usually that happened before the "demonstration" as the drugs used took several hours to wear off and most of the buyers were not willing to either wait or use a drugged girl’s body.

 When at last the show as completed, she heard the visiting doctor ask about the "deep Theta" state which allowed mind-control to be installed. That near death state genuinely frightened her and the programmer had promised he would never take her there again if she would cooperate with the demonstrations. Not that she believed that or fully trusted his word, but she had not gone there for more than twenty demonstrations. Through the slits of her eyes she watched as he turned the dial up to seven on the shock machine her absolute limit. She steeled herself for the inevitable. Liquid fire surged through her body and she did not have to pretend to jerk and thrash, her tortured muscles and nerves did it for her.

 "That’s not it." She barely heard his voice as he glanced at the screen and frowned. The electrical surge was far stronger this time. As she was losing consciousness, she heard the words "There, that’s what we are looking for." The dial had been turned to nine. The visiting doctor bought both machines.

Concise Definition of Ritual Abuse-Based Mind Control

"Ritual abuse is a brutal form of abuse of children, adolescents, and adults, consisting of physical, sexual and psychological abuse, and involving the use of rituals. Ritual does not necessarily mean satanic. However, most survivors state that they were ritually abuse as part of satanic worship for the purpose of indoctrinating them into satanic beliefs and practices. Ritual abuse rarely consists of a single episode. It 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, sadistic, and humiliating, intended as a means of gaining dominance over the victim. The psychological abuse is devastating and involves the use of ritual/indoctrination, which includes mind control techniques and mind altering drugs, and ritual/intimidation which conveys 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 in which disclosure is extremely difficult." (Los Angeles County Commission For Women, 1991)

Recognizing Mind Control in an Adult Client

Stephen Oglevie, a retired law enforcement chaplain has gathered extensive knowledge in the removal of mind control programming through his 15-year journey and in-depth work with over 350 mind control victims. In Mind Control; An Introduction, he lists the following indicators that may aid in the recognition and proper assessment of an adult client who may harbor mind control programming (Oglevie, 2004). (A word of caution to victims of this abuse regarding the following information). Victims may report some or all of the following:

Recognizing Programming in an Adult Client

The following are indicators that may aid in a proper assessment of an adult client who may contain mind control programming. My experience has been that all who survive childhood ritual/medical/spiritual abuse also contain mind control programming.

These indicators may be credited to other non-ritual abuse sources, but the more of these that are true of your client the greater the possibility that you are working with a programmed client.

Client constantly wears black, red, orange or purple clothing.

Client assigns numbers to names, dates, months, and years that are between 1 and 9. Client reports number series run through their minds repeatedly that seemly have no correlation to anything in their lives.

Client is very sensitive to light. Squinting or asking that the office lights be turned down or off are evidences of this sensitivity.

Client reports experiencing physical pain that a medical exam cannot verify and which does not respond to medical treatment.

Client is repeatedly hospitalized near major ritual days and/or birthdays.

Client cuts arms, legs, face, neck, or torso with a razor blade, knife, broken glass, or scissors. There is a strong correlation between significant progress in therapy and the incidence of cutting.

Client burns arms, legs, face, neck, or torso with a curling iron, matches, hot knife blade, boiling water, car cigarette lighter, or stove burner. There is often a strong correlation between significant progress in therapy and the incidence of burning.

Client’s artwork contains repeated images of fire, blood, knives, cages, rape, needles, separated body parts, watching eyes, hooded figures, and sacrifices.

Client’s poetry contains repeated themes of being placed in dark holes, and/or being buried; references to snakes, spiders, dead babies, rats placed in the hole/coffin with them; themes of hopelessness, despair, there is no way out, no one will ever find "me".

Client reports repeated dreams of blood, death, violent sexual experiences, faces with staring eyes, painted faces, being caged or seeing others caged, breathing underwater or in space, or being an animal.

Client reports flashes of awareness, typically lasting less than one second, of something bizarre. Typical "visions" include staring faces, painted faces, animal heads on human bodies, blood covering some object, strange looking knives, amulets or stones in jewelry, dead human bodies, people in black robes, and fires in the darkness. This awareness is like the feeling of almost "touching" something or of something almost "touching" the client.

Client reports experiencing terror when seeing seemingly innocent objects or animals. These have included mirrors, keys, knives, forks, spoons, jewels, and clipboards, black suits and white lab coats. Animals include rabbits, puppies, kittens, dolphins, and lions.

Client experiences pain when coming in contact with water in its various forms, such as rain, snow, ice, fog, or steam. A typical response is that it feels like being burned with acid or fire. Bathing is impossible and showers can be endured for only a few minutes.

Client experiences tremendous fear upon hearing certain sounds. These may include but are not limited to; a telephone ring, their name being called, a knock on the door, a door opening or closing, a siren, a toilet flush, a car back-fire, the low muffled growl of a dog, the cry of a cat, or the hiss of a snake.

Client is fascinated with the German Third Reich, the swastika symbol, and concentration camps, or conversely is very fearful of these things. The combinations of red and black clothing may also serve as indicators.

Client repeatedly makes the following statements during the therapy sessions or by the telephone following a therapy session: "It’s all just a bad dream." "I made it all up." "I’m lying to you." "I must be crazy." "I’m a bad girl / boy to be telling you this." "I must be a very bad girl/boy to be here." "I deserve to be punished." "I am really in trouble now." These are typical programmed denial/punishment phrases.

Client cannot drink water. They report that it tastes like urine, blood, feces, or semen. Since water flushes drugs from the body, often the programming includes aversion to water.

Client suddenly looses the ability to speak while disclosing information during therapy session.

Client suddenly looses the ability to hear while the therapist is talking, particularly when validating or confirming the information presented by the client.(Oglevie, 2004).

Permission is denied by Stephen Oglevie for these 19 Signs and Symptoms to be copied in any form.

For your client’s safety, please do not share this material with them

August 2004

Conclusion

Neurofeedback can be a great adjunct to therapy for victims of mind control. Training at the temporal, posterior, occipital and frontal areas of the brain will help to stabilize the victim. It is possible to reduce the dissociative episodes by inhibiting 0-9 Hz at different cortical sites. Panic and anxiety can be greatly reduced by inhibiting 14-30 Hz. And generalized up-training at 12-15 Hz. or lower can help stabilize the victim. It has been this author’s experience that neurofeedback greatly enhances the overall cognitive function, stabilizes emotional states, and reduces the need for hospitalizations.

When using neurofeedback for victims of mind control it is best to proceed cautiously, as they may have programs in place to cause self-harm or at worst suicide if the programs are tampered with. Professionals who lack the knowledge of the signs and symptoms of mind control could end up not helping very much, or even harming a victim.

 Neurofeedback can be used successfully with victims of mind control but it is best combined with the removal of mind control programming. In particular, it would seem that alpha-theta training should be very helpful here, but this could also be problematic if the existence of programming has not been recognized. The eyes-open training, often referred to as "SMR-beta" training should be extensively relied upon, with the objective of stabilizing the nervous system. It is important that the client feel safe with the clinician, and this means feeling accepted. Ultimately it is not necessary for the clinician to fully understand the subject of mind control or the subjective experience of their client in order to be of help. The fact that neurofeedback targets the physiological dimension makes it unnecessary for the clinician to reach clarity on these matters at the outset. Rather, the clinician must recognize that the survivor is a victim of trauma and progress can only be made with at least a provisional acceptance of that state as a starting point of therapy.

 Further information

The author plans to present further information regarding this subject jointly with Steven Oglevie at private seminars. For further information contact this author at  sueford@earthlink.net.

References

Hunt L., (1991) Secret Agenda. The United States Government, Nazi Scientists, and Project Paperclip. 1945 to 1990. St. Martin's Press, NY

Los Angeles County Commission for Women: Report of the Ritual Abuse Task Force, 1991. Ritual Abuse: Definitions, Glossary, The Use of Mind Control. 383 Hall of Administration, 500 W. Temple, Los Angeles, CA 90012. (213) 974-1455

Marks, J. (1988) The Search For the Manchurian Candidate. The CIA and Mind Control. The Story of the Agency’s Secret Efforts To Control Human Behavior. W. W. Norton, NY

Oglevie, Stephen E., (2004) MIND CONTROL, An Introduction.

Ross, C. A. MD, (2000) BLUEBIRD. Deliberate Creation of Multiple Personality by Psychiatrists. Manitou Communications. Inc.

http://home.earthlink.net/~reflectionsoflight/sue_ford.htm

Don't color me evil just yet, though I despise Project Monarch, there is a point where the victims become the perpetrators.

I have been prey on more than one occasion, and let me tell ya, it really sucks.

I am trained to work with clients who have experienced trauma, and have worked in crisis response [RESPOND] for the state, and several private agencies in multiple counties.

TRUST ME, if you're in a crisis, I just may be your very best friend.

SO who do you want? All the fake ElyssaD's? Some Project Monarch alumni who run amok in the crisis centers strategically placed to cover-up and control the eritualistic abuse that occurs in the foster care, military and mental heath facilities SOC-alled "systems of care?" or do you want someone who is capable, willing and able to help someone ride out a traumatic episode?

SOmeone who SO desperately needs someone like ME on their side.

Just food for thought,

That's the mini DailyDDoSe™ for now.

Just me,

e

@ElyssaD™

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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

NYCVoices Article: “Good Fences” Make Uncaring Neighbors || Elyssa D. Durant, Ed.M.

“Good Fences” Make Uncaring Neighbors
On your own with mental illness is an enormous challenge
Elyssa D. Durant, Ed.M.
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What must my neighbors think? I am up all night and I sleep all day. I can only write with one pen and I often leave my keys in the door. I am noisy and loud and to make matters worse, I'm from New York. I listen to one song on the radio over and over again.
I take everything I own with me when I leave, and carry it back in when I get home. I am constantly tripping my own feet, and probably offend them with my politics. I am not afraid to say that President Bush looks like the Outbreak Monkey.
So my neighbors may not like me, but they don't know me. And they don't care. After being assaulted in my own home several years ago, I noticed my neighbor witnessing the event through his bedroom window. When questioned by the police regarding his failure to act, he simply told them, "Well, as far as I'm concerned, good fences make good neighbors." Well, fuck him!
Do you know how scary it is to be alone in a strange city? Afraid to leave and afraid to go home? To live in your car because it was the better option? To come home one day and find everything and I mean everything you own was gone? Your birth certificate, your social security card, your grandmother's jewelry. Where would you start? Would you know what to do? Would you ever go back? Would you ever feel safe again in your own home? Anywhere? Whom would you trust? Whom could you trust? You could trust me. Because this is who I am.
They don't know that I spend my free time volunteering at the homeless shelter or by myself. They don't know that I spent most of my twenties in constant fear and physical pain. They don't know how it feels to live with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I became a prisoner of my own making. I live in fear. Fear of fire, fear of chemicals, fear of the dark. Fear of spending the rest of my life with this damn disease.
I need a map to find my keys, and once I do, I have lost my phone. I like my car. I can see everything coming towards me, and I can always get away. I like to write in my car. With one pen, and one song playing over and over again on the radio. So as I accept the reality that I may never own property or have a place to call home, I can say with certainty that of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most!
You may not care how much I know, but you don’t know how much I care.

Notice the subtitle.. Talk about bullshit? That was NOT relebant to my article.

All it does is serve to discredit my argument. #stigma

http://www.nycvoices.org/article_1132.php

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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

BBC NEWS | Health | Asperger's stress hormone 'link'

Asperger's stress hormone 'link'

unhappy boy
Cortisol helps the brain respond to change

Children with Asperger's Syndrome may dislike change to their routine because of their different levels of the stress hormone cortisol, a study suggests.

The hormone is believed to make the brain more alert, and more able to cope with changes in the environment.

Writing in Psychoneuroendocrinology, researchers noted children with the autistic condition do not experience the normal morning "surge" of cortisol.

This may explain their need for routine and aversion to change, they suggested.

"Cortisol is one of a family of stress hormones that acts like a 'red alert' that is triggered by stressful situations allowing a person to react quickly to changes around them," said Mark Brosnan, a psychologist at Bath University.

We think this difference in stress hormone levels could be really significant in explaining why children with AS are less able to react and cope with unexpected change
Mark Brosnan
Bath University

"In most people, there is a two-fold increase in levels of this hormone within 30 minutes of waking up, with levels gradually declining during the day as part of the internal body clock.

"Our study found that the children with AS [Asperger's Syndrome] didn't have this peak, although levels of the hormone still decreased during the day as normal.

"Although these are early days, we think this difference in stress hormone levels could be really significant in explaining why children with AS are less able to react and cope with unexpected change."

Avoiding stress

People with Asperger's are usually more mildly affected than those with autism but they can nevertheless experience significant problems coping with daily life.

We have long known that anxiety is one of the key problems, and people use various coping strategies
Richard Mills
Research Autism

Often of average or above intelligence, they may perform well at school but have difficulties with communication and forming social relationships.

The team from the universities of Bath and Bristol hope their findings will improve understanding of the symptoms as a response to what the child sees as a stressful situation, rather than a behavioural problem.

Strategies can then be developed by parents, carers and teachers for avoiding situations which might cause distress.

"We have long known that anxiety is one of the key problems, and people use various coping strategies including cognitive therapy and small doses of anti-anxiety medicine," said Richard Mills, research director of Research Autism.

"We welcome these conclusions because anything that furthers our understanding of the nature of this anxiety is very helpful indeed," he added.

"We would now like to see similar work in adults."

told you so... #trauma #ptsd SPOT ON! yay me!

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Friday, January 21, 2011

Effects of Disasters: Risk and Resilience Factors - National Center for PTSD #mhsm

Effects of Disasters: Risk and Resilience Factors

 
Related Handout

A Vietnamese translation of this fact sheet is available. (PDF)

Every year, millions of people are affected by both human-caused and natural disasters. Disasters may be explosions, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornados, or fires. In a disaster, you face the danger of death or physical injury. You may also lose your home, possessions, and community. Such stressors place you at risk for emotional and physical health problems.

Stress reactions after a disaster look very much like the common reactions seen after any type of trauma. Disasters can cause a full range of mental and physical reactions. You may also react to problems that occur after the event, as well as to triggers or reminders of the trauma.

Risk factors

A number of factors make it more likely that someone will have more severe or longer- lasting stress reactions after disasters:

Severity of exposure

The amount of exposure to the disaster is highly related to risk of future mental problems. At highest risk are those that go through the disaster themselves. Next are those in close contact with victims. At lower risk of lasting impact are those who only had indirect exposure, such as news of the severe damage. Injury and life threat are the factors that lead most often to mental health problems. Studies have looked at severe natural disasters, such as the Armenian earthquake, mudslides in Mexico, and Hurricane Andrew in the US. The findings show that at least half of these survivors suffer from distress or mental health problems that need clinical care.

Gender and family

Almost always, women or girls suffer more negative effects than do men or boys. Disaster recovery is more stressful when children are present in the home. Women with spouses also experience more distress during recovery. Having a family member in the home who is extremely distressed is related to more stress for everyone. Marital stress has been found to increase after disasters. Also, conflicts between family members or lack of support in the home make it harder to recover from disasters.

Age

Adults who are in the age range of 40-60 are likely to be more distressed after disasters. The thinking is that if you are in that age range, you have more demands from job and family. Research on how children react to natural disasters is limited. In general, children show more severe distress after disasters than do adults. Higher stress in the parents is related to worse recovery in children.

Other factors specific to the survivor

Several factors related to a survivor's background and resources are important for recovery from disaster. Recovery is worse if you:

  • Were not functioning well before the disaster.
  • Have had no experience dealing with disasters.
  • Must deal with other stressors after the disaster.
  • Have poor self-esteem.
  • Think you are uncared for by others.
  • Think you have little control over what happens to you.
  • Lack the capacity to manage stress.

Other factors have also been found to predict worse outcomes:

  • Bereavement (death of someone close)
  • Injury to self or another family member
  • Life threat
  • Panic, horror, or feelings like that during the disaster
  • Being separated from family (especially among youth)
  • Great loss of property
  • Displacement (being forced to leave home)

Developing countries

These risk factors can be made worse if the disaster occurs in a developing country. Disasters in developing countries have more severe mental health impact than do disasters in developed countries. This is true even with less serious disasters. For example, natural disasters are generally thought to be less serious than human-caused. In developing countries, though, natural disasters have more severe effects than do human-caused disasters in developed countries.

Low or negative social support

The support of others can be both a risk and a resilience factor. Social support can weaken after disasters. This may be due to stress and the need for members of the support network to get on with their own lives. Sometimes the responses from others you rely on for support are negative. For example, someone may play down your problems, needs, or pain, or expect you to recover more quickly than is realistic. This is strongly linked to long-term distress in trauma survivors.

After a mass trauma, social conflicts, even those that have been resolved, may again be seen. Racial, religious, ethnic, social, and tribal divisions may recur as people try to gain access to much-needed resources. In families, conflicts may arise if family members went through different things in the disaster. This sets up different courses of recovery that often are not well understood among family members. Family members may also serve as distressing reminders to each other of the disaster.

Keep in mind that while millions of people have been directly affected by disasters, most of them do recover. Human nature is resilient, and most people have the ability to come back from a disaster. Plus, people sometimes report positive changes after disaster. They may re-think what is truly important and come to appreciate what they value most in life.

Resilience factors

Human resilience dictates that a large number of survivors will naturally recover from disasters over time. They will move on without having severe, long-lasting mental health issues. Certain factors increase resilience after disasters:

Social support

Social support is one of the keys to recovery after any trauma, including disaster. Social support increases well-being and limits distress after mass trauma. Being connected to others makes it easier to obtain knowledge needed for disaster recovery. Through social support, you can also find:

  • Practical help solving problems.
  • A sense of being understood and accepted.
  • Sharing of trauma experiences.
  • Some comfort that what you went through and how you responded is not "abnormal."
  • Shared tips about coping.

Coping confidence

Over and over, research has found that coping self-efficacy - "believing that you can do it" - is related to better mental health outcomes for disaster survivors. When you think that you can cope no matter what happens to you, you tend to do better after a disaster. It is not so much feeling like you can handle things in general. Rather, it is believing you can cope with the results of a disaster that has been found to help survivors to recover.

Hope

Better outcomes after disasters or mass trauma are likely if you have one or more of the following:

  • Optimism (because you can hope for the future)
  • Expecting the positive
  • Confidence that you can predict your life and yourself
  • Belief that it is very likely that things will work out as well as can reasonably be expected
  • Belief that outside sources, such as the government, are acting on your behalf with your welfare at heart
  • Belief in God
  • Positive superstitious belief, such as "I'm always lucky."
  • Practical resources, including housing, job, money

Summing it up

Disasters can cause both mental and physical reactions. Being closer to the disaster and having weak social support can lead to worse recovery. On the other hand, being connected to others and being confident that you can handle the results of the disaster make mental health problems less likely. Overall, human beings are resilient, and most survivors will recover from the disaster. For those with higher risk factors, self-care and seeking help are recommended. To learn more about coping after any kind of trauma, see Self-Care and Coping.

http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/pages/effects_of_disasters_risk_and_resilience_...

Posted via email from Whistleblower

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