Ritual Abuse and Mind Control

'Although my father wrote about dissociation and multiple personality, it wasn't until Valerie Sinason asked me to do some filming for a survivor of ritual abuse that the penny really dropped. We had been filming the locations where much of the abuse had occurred and the woman asked me "Do you believe me?" And I realized that I did. This book of papers from a pioneering conference of survivors and therapists stands as a testament to the courage of those willing to come forward to name and identify the horrors of organized abuse practiced on children in our society. Every therapist should read it.'- Sir Richard Bowlby'This book, and the remarkable conference it documents, has brought together an impressive group of experts, professional and experiential, to discuss one of the most controversial issues in the fields of trauma and mental health. Attachment theory can definitely throw new light on a topic that some sceptics might prefer be left in the dark altogether.'- John Read, Professor of Clinical Psychology, the University of Auckland'All books written by mental health professionals require intelligence, compassion, and sensitivity from their authors, but few demand courage. The contributors to this impressive and chilling collection of essays deserve our deepest thanks for their bravery in exploring and exposing the most ugly underbelly of human psychology. In sensitive and measured prose, these cutting-edge colleagues have managed to help us understand that extreme abuse, mind control, torture, and other forms of multi-perpetrator assault do exist, and that to deny the personal testimony of survivors, as well the growing body of clinical and forensic evidence, represents a horrific attack. The editors and authors of this collection share their moving psychotherapeutic work in a modest manner, helping all contemporary workers to develop a greater appreciation of the important work that demands our respect and our attention. I recommend this book as necessary reading for all who care about human dignity.'- Professor Brett Kahr, Centre for Child Mental Health, London