No hard evidence of SRA actually had happened anywhere in North America.
	A lack of experimental studies showing that memories can be repressed and later recovered.
	Obvious decline in the mental state of the clients during therapy.
	Massive destruction of the clients' families of origin due to uncorroborated accusations of CSA and SRA.

Elements of mind control programming are often believed to include:

	A Satanic (or similar) religious cult, sometimes involved in criminal activities. Alternatively, a secret federal government agency or men's fraternal organization is involved.
	The cult contains many civic leaders: local government office holders, police, judges, doctors, Christian clergy, etc. Many members attend Christian churches on Sunday and put on Satanic robes at other times.
	The cult needs to develop robot-like behavior in children so that when they mature, they will take over the organization of the group and continue the abuse into the next generation.
	The cult tests children at a young age. Those who are have an average or low ability to dissociate are killed in ritual sacrifices; those who can readily dissociate are retained for programming
	By a highly sophisticated program of physical, emotional and sexual abuse, the children are taught to dissociate. When they are unable to handle the pain and terror, their mind drifts elsewhere to a safe place. They become able to block out the abuse. Eventually, the dissociation becomes so complete that multiple personalities are created. These alternative personalities (or alters) are a natural defense mechanism within the brain of a child when they are confronted with more abuse than they can handle. Each alter adsorbs some of the memories of the abuse. The child will eventually have a single dominant personality which is in control most of the time, and is unaware of the programming and of the presence of the alters. However, control can be transferred to an alter for intervals of time.
	These alters are programmed to perform certain specific functions. For example: return the survivor to the cult upon command for further abuse or programming commit suicide if the survivor discloses information that might threaten the safety and security of the cult disrupt therapy, through thought-stealing, mind scrambling, emotional outbursts or distancing from the therapist burn, cut or otherwise mutilate the body send status reports back to the cult, etc. Neswald et al lists a number of typical ritual abuse programs. 3
	Along with alter programming, certain triggers are established that will cause a particular alter to emerge and perform their pre-programmed function. These triggers may be a word, sound, color, picture, time, date, hand sign, etc., or a combination of events. Exorcist and fundamentalist Christian Bob Larson writes: "For example, and [sic] SRA survivor may be programmed so that every time he sees the color red a self-mutilating alter will come out and cut the body." 4
	As part of its programming, the child is required to kill animals and/or infants, and to feel guilt for the murder. This reinforces their low self-image and feelings of hopelessness and lack of control and power.
	As an adult, the survivor is unaware of the programming and SRA. They do not realize that they are suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) or Dissociative Identify Disorder (DID). Recollections of abuse are locked up in the alters' memories.
	One of her alters is recalled periodically by the cult for further abuse and programming. This often occurs on "call-back" years, at ages 27, 30, 33 etc. when the survivor feels that she must either return or kill herself. She might be recalled for an entire weekend of abuse; on Monday morning her memories are a complete blank, although her physical condition would be dreadful.
	A few adults are driven by emotional problems to seek therapy. Under hypnosis and other suggestive treatments, awareness of the alters and of the cult abuse and programming can emerge. Suicide ideation and successful suicides are relatively common among individuals recovering memory of SRA and of programming.

Foundational beliefs which are commonly held by people who believe in programming and mind control are:

	the psychological programming derived shown in some movies [e.g. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)] are possible in real life.
	that "brainwashing" techniques used during the Korean war were much more effective than they really were.
	that the CIA pilot projects in mind control (Artichoke: 1951-1953; MKULTRA: 1953-1963; MKSEARCH: 1963-1973), which used drugs, hypnosis, hallucinogens, sensory depravation etc., were not shut down in the 1970's due to lack of useable results as is generally believed. They have been continued secretly to the present time.
	that memories recovered during hypnosis and other forms of suggestive therapy are always accurate recollections of real events, no matter how bizarre or improbable they may seem

Under pressure from the Anti-Cult Movement, the American Psychological Association gave legitimacy to these beliefs in their DSM-IV manual. ₅ They described a type of dissociative disorder that can "occur in individuals who have been subjected to periods of prolonged and intensive coercive persuasion (e.g. brainwashing, thought reform, or indoctrination while captive)"

	Psychologist Cory Hammond of the University of Utah has lectured on what he believes to be the Satanic techniques of mind control. He claims that a team of Nazi doctors had been conducting mind control experiments in concentration camps. They came to the US after the war to secretly continue their experiments for the CIA. They allegedly programmed and tortured children on army bases across the US. At this time, the CIA, NASA, the Mafia, Hollywood and some business leaders are part of a massive, tightly controlled Satanic network which is gearing up to rule the world. He asserts that children are programmed from age 3 to teenage years; this involves disorienting noise, flashing lights and electric shocks. He believes that alters are created to perform specific functions. Programmed is done in layers; some are: Alpha layer is general programming Beta controls sexual behavior including knowledge to make kiddy-porn Delta are assassins and are responsible for slashing Theta are psychic killers; through mental energy, they can cause another person to develop a malignant brain tumor Omega self-mutilate and commit suicide Gamma provide misinformation and create confusion Zeta has information to produce snuff films
	According to the Los Angeles County Task Force on Ritual Abuse, 2techniques used by the cult include: physical abuse: starvation, thirst, pain, drugs, exhaustion, physical isolation, sexual abuse, disorienting bright lights. emotional abuse: the creation of moods of terror, guilt, shame, emotional isolation and rage. cognitive abuse: being kept in a state of ignorance, confusion; being taught that God has abandoned them and that Satan is in control
	Dr. John D. Lovern has described spin programming, a "newly uncovered technique of systematic mind control which he uncovered during therapy with his patients". He believes that it is used by Satanic cults to simultaneously modify the programming of a number (perhaps all) of a survivor's alters. If the patient is aware of their alters, then she will report that many or all of them are feeling a common emotion (e.g. fear, depression, etc.). They will complain of dizziness and of a sense of spinning internally; parts of their body may move rhythmically. The survivors tell of starting programming at the age of three. Many methods are used: lying horizontally on a rotating table horizontal spinning about the long axis of the body (as in a barbecue) attached to a vertical rotating table (like the arms on a clock) attached to a vertical spinning pole confined upright inside a vertical spinning cylinder Dr. Lovern implies that most (perhaps all) survivors may have been exposed to long periods of spin programming.
	A person with MPD called "all of us" has described a color programming method that she believes is in standard use by Satanists worldwide. One color is associated with each alter or grouping of similar alters; it may be the clothes' color that they are visualized as wearing, or the color of the "room" that they live in. Pink are infant alters; red are Witches and sexually compliant alters; black perform rituals; purple are the supervisors; light blue protect the body; dark blue protect the cult; orange handle emergencies; yellows are spiritual alters; green alters maintain ties to the family or origin; browns are disguise alters; sliver are alters with ESP powers; gold are the senior administrators; white is the principle personality; platinum is the ultimate authority.
	Pamela J. Monday and Denny Hilgers describe many programming methods in their essay "Recognizing and Classifying Programming." Two are: "The Carousel is usually found in the center of the Double Helix. Within the carousel there are mirrors and a shadow system. There is a key in the center of the carousel. The carousel spins and moves up and down repeatedly. The function of this program is to add confusion and avoidance. The mirrors and shadows are within the carousel which help prevent further deprogramming. Often the use of special light to light up the right path through the mirrors and shadows in order to reach the key has been helpful. Spiritual Interventions can be helpful here, as three 'floating spirits' (False Prophet, Hoofed One, and Dragon) are frequently found in this program." "The Scrabble system contains letters, numbers, and mathematical exponents. This is a very detailed system, with no room for error. A sequence of numbers or letters might set off this programming. For example, if the therapist writes a series of numbers such as '31133113', '13113311', or '11331313', and the patient responds to one or all of these series of numbers, you may have the Scrabble system. There is a lot of torture and trauma associated with this program because it is so sophisticated and difficult to learn. As programming proceeds, any mistakes made by the survivor will be severely punished." 6

	"Discovery" has an enormous list of links to mind control programming web sites at: http://www.heart7.net/
	Ritual abuse and healing home page at: http://www.ra-info.org/
	MindNet Journal issues often contain information on mind control conspiracies. Back issues are available on line.
	D.C. Hammond, "The Greenbaum Speech." This is the text of a lecture given to the Fourth Annual Eastern Regional Conference on Abuse and Multiple Personality in 1992. It  was originally called "Hypnosis in MPD: Ritual Abuse." See: ftp://ftp.calweb.com/users/j/jmprice/
	Mark Phillips & Cathy O'Brien, "Mind Control: Index and Introduction," at: http://ic.net/%7Ecelano/markmain.html
	Vexen Crabtree, "Ritual Mind Control Tactics," at: http://www.dpjs.co.uk/cultcontrol.html
	Ann S. Earle, "Cult and Ritual Abuse," at: http://www.davidicke.net/mindcontrol/

Evan Harrington, "Conspiracy Theories and Paranoia: Notes from a Mind-Control Conference," This is a skeptical review of the 1995 conference sponsored by the Society for the Investigation, Treatment and Prevention of Ritual and Cult Abuse (SITPRCA), titled "Cult and Ritual Abuse, Mind Control, and Dissociation: A Multidisciplinary Dialogue." See: http://www.csicop.org/

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