Surviving Torture
mistrust in others. Only those who demonstrate over time their safety and trustworthiness will be allowed into the often small circle of those that the survivor trusts.
"Dr. Philip Berger, one of the founders of CCVT, has stated that when he began to conduct education on torture among those from the medical profession in 1977, he was met with disbelief. He was told that torture probably existed somewhere and was conducted sometime, but not to any significant degree that would require a specialized response. This denial works on many levels. Torture is a barbarous practice, one which most people would prefer to avoid. This avoidance occurs on at least three levels: denial on the part of the victim; denial on the part of the helper; and denial on the part of society as a whole. It is the extent of this denial which allows both the practice of torture and its effects to continue and endure.
If this is true about documented torture of the victims of totalitarian regimes around the world, how much more pervasive is the disbelief and denial about the ongoing torture of innocent children that occurs in occultic groups. Society often practices a complete avoidance of this topic, or a denial that it could occur, because to acknowledge it would mean leaving the "comfort zone" that most people live in.
The challenge of healing for the individual who has endured a lifetime of torture is that of: Acknowledging the feelings, including rage, which occur Acknowledging the learned helplessness that it caused Fighting the deep internal resistance to remembering, or acknowledging, what happened (not all events need to be remembered fully, but some acknowledgement of what occurred is an important part of healing and integration) Learning that the survivor is no longer helpless to change Learning that it was NOT the survivor's fault (survivors will often carry a low self image in response to torture) Learning to undo messages given under torture, and replace them with the truth Learning to overcome the fear induced by torture, to challenge old system of belief and old ways of acting Realizing that it wasn't God's fault (many survivors struggle with this at some point, asking why He allowed the torture to occur, or why THEY were the ones who had to go through it) Forgiving those who tormented the survivor (only after going through the steps above) Acknowledging the past, and then looking forward to a better now.
Torture often leaves
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