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The Survivorship Trafficking and Extreme Abuse Online Conference 2024 Presentations
Conference Videos and PowerPoints from Dr. Randy Noblitt, Dr. Lynn Brunet, Patricia Quinn, Dr. Rainer Kurz and Neil Brick
Conference Speakers
Clinicians can contribute to the well being of extreme abuse
survivors directly by providing competent professional services. We can
also assist by training graduate students who will become future
clinicians. Folz and colleagues (2023) found deficits in trauma-informed
training in their sample of 193 APA-accredited clinical psychology
programs. Only 5% required a course relevant to trauma-informed care,
resulting in only 8% of graduates receiving such formal training. We
will discuss opportunities for being a college or university guest
speaker, adjunct faculty and core faculty member. Participants will also
discuss leading topics and trends in the contemporary trauma and
dissociation literature.
Randy Noblitt is a professor of Clinical Psychology at Alliant
International University, Los Angeles and a licensed psychologist in
Texas. He has evaluated and treated extreme abuse survivors clinically
since 1979. He has authored three editions of the book Cult and Ritual
Abuse with Pam Noblitt (1995, 2000, 2014). Together they also edited
Ritual Abuse in the 21st Century (2008) and they have authored a recent
book, Navigating Social Security Disability Programs: A Handbook for
Clinicians and Advocates (2020). https://ritualabuse.us/smart/randy-noblitt/
Tackling Complex Trauma Assessment Problems with Cybernetic Big 5 Theory Dr. Rainer Hermann Kurz
This presentation draws on contemporary personality assessment theory
to illustrate opportunities and risks when using psychometric
questionnaires in situations where extreme abuse has been alleged.
DeYoung (2015) outlined a comprehensive ‘Cybernetic Big 5 Theory’ that
revolves around the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality that
psychologists converged on (e.g. Digman, 1990). Digman (1997) found that
Conscientiousness, Agreeableness and Low Neuroticism form a meta-factor
‘Alpha’ whereas Extraversion and Openness form a meta-factor ‘Beta’.
DeYoung refers to these as Stability and Plasticity respectively and
associates them with serotonergic and dopaminergic systems. Furthermore,
DeYoung differentiates two Aspects for each of the Big 5. Johnson
(2014) developed public domain versions of the ‘gold standard’ Big 5
personality questionnaire NEO which can be used free-of-charge: https://drj.virtualave.net/IPIP/index.html
The application of NEO IPIP and NEO-PI-3 to challenge poor assessment
practice in a case of alleged organized child sexual abuse/exploitation
will be illustrated including item level nuances (Stewart et al.,
2022). Another case study will illustrate results of a multi-tool
assessment of a self-identified survivor of extreme abuse using the Big 5
as an organizing framework in line with Bainbridge et al. (2022). A
third case study will illustrate the use of Great 8 Totals (Kurz, 2014)
as a proxy for the General Factor of Personality (Musek, 2008),
conceptually the opposite of the general factor of psychopathology
(Forbes et al., 2021), to challenge misleading results on the Millon
MCMI questionnaire. The presentation shows how Cybernetic Big 5 Theory
can help to overcome complex psychological assessment practice problems.
Rainer Kurz is a Chartered Psychologist based in
London. Since 1990 Rainer has worked in Research & Development roles
for leading test publishers. His PhD dissertation was on enhancing the
validity and utility of ability testing. Rainer developed 50+
psychometric tests and authored more than 100 publications. He is a
Consultant Editor for Test Reviews at the Psychometric Testing Centre
(PTC) of the BPS. Rainer has been investigating complex trauma
assessment problems since 2012. He presented 30+ posters on trauma,
dissociation and healing at international peer-reviewed conferences that
are available here: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rainer_Kurz2
Ritual Abuse, Sex Trafficking and Mind Control Neil Brick
This presentation will explain how ritual abuse, mind control, and
different suggestive techniques work to control sex trafficking
survivors (Karriker, 2008). The presenter will describe different
historical examples of how mind control and ritual abuse have been used.
Legal cases will also be discussed from various parts of the world
(McGonigle, 1999; New York Times, 1988). Research studies, like the
Extreme Abuse Survivors Survey, will be presented, as well as examples
of different cults and their techniques (Hassan, 2018).
Mental health diagnoses, like Dissociative Identity Disorder and Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder, and their origins in sex trafficking
survivors will be explained. The presenter will discuss his personal
experiences of being in a cult as a child experiencing torture, sexual
abuse, and mind control techniques. The forced development of these
diagnoses and their symptoms will be connected to how they are used to
control sex trafficking survivors. Ways to expose and prevent ritual
abuse, mind control, and sex trafficking will be discussed. Finally,
there will be a discussion of the future of advocacy efforts to stop
ritual abuse, sex trafficking, and mind control.
Masonic Ritual Abuse: Its Characteristics, Prevalence and Expression in Western Art and Culture. Dr. Lynn Brunet
This presentation will examine the subject of Masonic ritual abuse.
Based on the presenter’s personal experience and accumulated art
historical research over the last two decades it asks a series of
questions about its prevalence, how it is similar and different to other
forms of ritual abuse, how it is expressed in art and culture and what
its implications are for us today. Freemasonry is sometimes described as
the ‘cult of the establishment’ and there is a great deal of material
available about it and its rituals that can enable research into its
practices, which is not necessarily the case for other cults.
The research, to date, suggests that the children of Freemasons are
particularly vulnerable to abuse, but while they might be struggling
internally with something inexplicably profound, disturbing or
terrifying, they may not necessarily appear at a therapist’s office as
many of them are encouraged by their abusers to express their trauma in
creative ways. Driven to obsessively release the effects of the trauma,
this can become a lifelong way of coping, resulting in the creation of
cultural artefacts that are imbued with the traces of cruel ritual
practices without the creators themselves being consciously aware of
their source.
Uses of Art Therapy, Sensory Awareness and EMDR in Treating Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) Patricia Quinn
This presentation will describe the fluid uses of art therapy,
Sensory Awareness and EMDR in treating Dissociative Identity Disorder
(DID). The didactic portion will entail justification for using each
modality, the benefit if the client being able to choose a treatment
modality themselves, and examples of their clinical use with two clients
with very different levels of access to memories of their past trauma.
This effective, responsive healing approach will be useful for all
counselors and therapists working in a variety of settings. The general
descriptions of client responses may contain triggering content. The
presentation contains a calming experiential that combines a body-based
relaxation and use of art to counter-act traumatic memory.
None of the material on this page, on linked pages or at the conference is meant as therapy, or to take the place of therapy.
