#pseudopsychology

[lierdumoa]

Are people aware that calling someone "anal" as an insult implying they are overly perfectionistic is actually a shortened version of the longer term "anal retentive"?

Are people aware that the concept originated in Freudian psychoanalytic theory?

Freud theorized that there existed an "anal stage" of psychosexual development in which a person derived pleasure from either the retention or expulsion of feces.

[creature-wizard]

hi!! i saw ur take on DID programming being a conspiracy theory, and i'd like a further elaboration if that's fine with you. i'm just curious and a bit confused, since i've met numerous systems claiming to be victims of programming

Sure! It's kind of a long story, but I'll try and summarize things as best as I can.

So, back in the early 20th century, mystical types were looking at hypnosis, trancework, and even drugs as a way to retrieve memories of past lives. The idea that you could retrieve lost memories made it way into ufology communities, where people tried to remember alien abductions. It also got into actual psychology, with therapists attempting to help patients retrieve lost early life memories. There was never any real evidence that these practices actually worked the way these people thought they did, and today we know that you can get people to confabulate memories of just about anything under the right circumstances. (If you need evidence, I can show you some very obvious examples here and here.)

Edit to add: In 1952, the book The Manchurian Candidate came out. It was basically a political thriller about a guy who'd been captured by Russians and brainwashed into being their secret assassin, complete with special triggers to activate his programming and everything. This had everything to do with the US painting communism as something subversive that people were sinisterly brainwashed into. In 1962, a film adaptation was released to theaters.

In the 1950s, Dr. Cornelia Wilbur started treating her patient Shirley Mason for seeming DID. (Which, Mason did not actually have.) Dr. Wilbur was extremely irresponsible and unprofessional in general, and very notably gave Mason sodium pentothal to help her remember. (Yikes!) Dr. Wilbur would push the baseless myth that DID could only be caused by severe childhood abuse (such as SA), and push drugs and hypnosis as methods for finding said abuse if the patients didn't seem to remember it. The 1973 book Sybil was based on Wilbur and Mason.

In the 1970s, radio host, notorious prankster, and platformer of weird fringe content Long John Nebel apparently started using hypnosis on his wife, Candy Jones to try and figure out the reason for her mental health issues. Supposedly, he helped her "remember" being a CIA agent, whose alter Arlene had been trained as a spy. The 1976 book The Control of Candy Jones describes what they supposedly uncovered. Also, here's an article that talks about some of their claims, and the context around what happened.

Also in the 1970s, Dr. Lawrence Pazder (who was inspired by Sybil) attempted to find the source of his patient Michelle Smith's issues by helping her remember supposedly lost memories. Under his coaching, Smith "remembered" being abused by a Satanic cult. They didn't use hypnosis as most of us know it, but Smith was putting herself into a kind of trance. Now like, this whole book is extremely discredited. They made a lot of claims that were very easy to check, and each time somebody checked said claims, it turned out they were full of shit. Like just for one example, her school yearbook picture from the year she was supposedly being tortured by the cult doesn't show any sign of the abuses she claims she was suffering, which would have been very, very obvious.

Then in 1988, Mark Philips used hypnosis on Cathy O'Brien to help her "remember" being a mind-controlled slave for the New World Order under the CIA program Project Monarch. They published what O'Brien supposedly remembered in the 1995 book Trance-Formation of America. O'Brien claimed that she and her daughter were tortured to induce DID, with the alters being programmed to carry out specific tasks for the CIA/NWO. The whole thing was an extremely racist crock of pure conspiracy theory bullshit; it claimed, for example, that the NWO was letting Mexicans ruin America and shipping white women off to Saudi Arabia as sex slaves.

In 1994, Fritz Springmeier used hypnosis on Cisco Wheeler to supposedly uncover her memories as a member of the NWO/Illuminati. In their three books published across the mid to late 90's, Springmeier and Wheeler gave an incredibly elaborate narrative around alter programming, incorporating elements from just about every other conspiracy theory you can name. They claimed alter programming was an ancient practice developed by pagan priests, and used in modern times by a global cult that intended to enthrone the Antichrist in the year 2000. The pair of them made so many claims that are absolutely beyond ludicrous, and I posted a sample of them over here.

Basically everyone who claims that alter programming is a real thing these days is downstream of Springmeier and Wheeler, whether they realize it or not. One reason we know this is that a lot of them cite a blogger who calls herself Svali, or cite people who cite Svali (such as Dr. Alison Miller and Dr. Ellen Lacter). Svali first popped up in the early 2000s claiming to be a former Illuminati/NWO programmer. She described the same kind of Illuminati and the same kind of practices as Springmeier and Wheeler. If you need examples, here she is claiming that color, metal, and jewel programming are things. And here she is claiming Disney moves are made for Illuminati programming.

Unwelcome Ozian is another clear case of someone who's getting their material from Springmeier and Wheeler; for example, their book Chainless Slaves not only describes the same methods and styles of alter programming; it even reproduces complete paragraphs from Springmeier and Wheeler's work. Edit to add: Unwelcome Ozian's other book, Rules of Programming, reproduces material not only from Springmeier and Wheeler's work, but also from a lot of literature on topics such as abuse, cults, and self-help in general. I have a post exposing this over here.

Basically, the whole idea of alter programming/trauma-based mind control has a long, long history of medical malpractice, pseudoscience, fraud, and conspiracy theory behind it. It just doesn't take very long to start finding it once you actually start digging. Meanwhile, real evidence just never turns up, and what we do find often just flat-out contradicts these claims. Like, many people who claim to have undergone brutal tortures or major surgeries at the hands of programmers don't have the scars to show for it. The sites, tools, and costumes for the elaborate rituals described by a lot of these people are just never found.

What's very notably missing are technical manuals for the actual programming process. I'm talking about literature that fully describes the actual procedures in full, step-by-step detail, rather than the vague, suggestive descriptions you find in conspiracist literature. The fact that nothing of the sort has ever turned up anywhere you might expect it to in over seventy years is pretty damning, because this isn't the kind of thing that a bunch of random, unconnected people would just independently invent on their own.

Meanwhile, what very demonstrably does exist are therapists who still believe the in the pseudoscience and misinformation pushed by Dr. Wilbur, Dr. Pazder, etc, who will push people both with and without actual DID to try and uncover repressed memories. There are websites and articles that suggest guided imagery and hypnosis for retrieving memories you think you might have suppressed. There are hypnosis videos on YouTube that will supposedly help you recover repressed memories. We have clear cases of memory confabulation within the New Age movement, where people vividly "remember" traumatic events that very obviously never happened because they take place in non-existent places such as Lemuria and incorporate narratives from the pseudoscientific and racist ancient astronaut hypothesis.

So, hopefully this should answer things. I tried to keep this post as short as possible, but there's just a lot of history and context here. The very, very short version of this is that there are a lot of misled people who've unknowingly run afoul of 20th century conspiracy theories and psychiatric quackery.

[alienbloodheart]

Pseudo-pathological culture

Gods, what an era we live in…

Today I wanted to talk about toxic people ‘healing’ our world. Yes, there are so many of them. I thought I’d challenge them here, because, well, fck them.

*If you believed in one of the narratives below, do not feel foolish, okay? Culture is like that, it almost forces you to participate, and making your own stand is not easy at all. This is not a shaming post, it’s a wake-the-fuck-up post.

• “Everyone brainrots/doomscrolls nowadays. It’s normal.”

No, it really is not true. I rarely do that and when I do it, it’s very intentional and limited. Thinking your brain rots, will make it rot. Do you want a rotten brain? Instead of ‘brain rotting’ go ‘satisfy your curiosity’.

*Tumblr is actually one of the few social media platforms where there is substance beyond the aesthetic.

• “You crossed my boundary so I’m cutting you off.”

First of all, most do not set a clear boundary. It’s more or less “I don’t like this right now, you’re not doing exactly what I want, so I’ll say you crossed my boundary”. Doesn’t work like that. Then, you just are controlling.

Also, most have this forest of boundaries, that often contradict each other, and are not reciprocal — you can’t have a 1000 boundaries while doing the exact same thing that hurt you to others.

Furthermore, some things are just common sense: it’s not because I did not explicitly state “lying is a personal boundary” that you can lie to me and say “but you never said lying was a personal boundary”.

• “No answer is also an answer”

The favourite adage of ghosters. Well let me break it down to you: “No answer is no fucking answer”. It’s a weak stance for cowards that want to justify their own incapacity to communicate clearly.

• “If they wanted to, they would have done so.”

Well, this one should take the prize for ignoring basic human psychology. Sometimes, people have a little bit more going on that what you see on the surface.

• “Ew, they’re love bombing! Cut them off asap!”

If declaring your feelings has become a sickness, what world are we living in? Just respect the other! If you’re not feeling the same thing, just fucking tell them that? It really is not that hard.

• “Ew, they’re trauma dumping! Cut them off asap!”

If people choose to share a vulnerability, be respectful! It’s not because you are incapable of showing your pains, that others are not allowed to be vulnerable!

• “They’re so codependent, it’s unhealthy.”

Stfu. You’re maybe just jealous of their intimate bond? If you think they’re too into each other, just look the other way? Often said by lonely bitter people.

• “Jealousy is a form of control.”

Nope, jealousy is a healthy feeling when you’re in an intimate relationship and there is a real risk of damage or loss. Excessive jealousy exists — but it is often found in the people who deny their own healthy jealousy.

• “Polyamory is a more evolved form of being in relationships.”

Ah, yes, monogamy, the great evil of our times. Except there are many many advantages to monogamy that polyamory could never fulfill. A simple thought experiment: take 2 random points — they will always form a stable line. Take 3 random points — they will always form a triangle, most likely very unstable. It’s already difficult enough to align with 1 person. You need to have some great human insight to be able to hold that same bond with 2 (or more) people.

• “Your partner shouldn’t trigger you.”

That’s an impossible folly: everything in Life will trigger you. Ideally, your partner does trigger you; that’s how you evolve together. However, you need to be aware of the what and the how. If they trigger negative feelings and are incapable of showing self-reflection, instead blaming you — then yes, they are being toxic. If they trigger you, and then you talk about it, and you come out stronger, very normal and actually good for a relationship.

• “If they don’t serve you, cut them off!”

Well aren’t you lonely in your world? Maybe try to talk and use your words before ghosting and cutting off everyone who doesn’t do exactly what you want?

• “Eww they always send such long messages! Do they think I’m gonna read that?”

You probably do read it and then you realise you are not capable of using your words… It is impossible to express deep, true, complex feelings or thoughts in just a single line, baby. That’s why up until 50 years ago, people wrote letters. You know, the long kind of letters with pages of words? You’re just being allergic to reality.

• “I’m not being judgemental, but…”

You are being judgemental. And there is nothing wrong with that, as long as you understand your judgement is just your personal opinion you are allowed to express. Was never gonna be a Universal Truth.

• “Why do you have to be so negative? That’s really mean.”

Well, sometimes Life is not just flowers and Beauty. Some shit is messed up. Saying that stuff, as an opinion, should not be a problem. It becomes a problem when there is no balance and everything is always negative and worse than you. Like this post is negative, but I do offer roads to positivity. And I hope some people will be happy to finally see a counter to all the toxic pseudo-psychology out there ;)

Obviously, sometimes, the above really does apply. However, nowadays these things are just carelessly throw into the discussion without any form of self-reflection. It more likely tells more about you, than about the ones you are talking about.

[bernie-buddy]

Another theory I have for far right stations like "NewsMax" is that they purposefully tell stories in a way that leaves them able to put in as much "Gosh what a ridiculously stupid thing the other side is doing! Isn't that right, other people within the carefully constructed 'in-group' on this channel?"

Just basic playing into old people's desire to fit in instilled in them from their old days at school when being in the 'out-group' was socially devastating so they built defenses to try and stay out of the out-group.

[magpiecrust]

If you genuinely believe in personality types (like MBTI), five stages of grief, "empaths", other pseudopsychology, or astrology, i will fucking kill you.

[funeral]

The Szondi test and fate psychology

The Szondi test uses photography as a diagnostic method. Test takers must choose a face based on a question. The test uses 48 cards organized into six series of eight people. It’s important to mention that all of the photographs are portraits of people who suffer from mental disorders.

Szondi believed that each patient would choose a face with an expression or facial characteristics that suggested a disorder or problem similar to their own. In other words, repressed impulses would come out when the patient made certain choices based on the therapist’s questions.

Szondi’s theory argued that patients would react to the physical (genetic) traits that they shared with the image. This phenomenon is called genotropism, which stems from Szondi’s theories of fate psychology.

Full test here

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

I mentioned here that I wrote the following entry because I’m a huge nerd, so here it is.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision, Appendix B: Criteria Sets and Axes Provided for Further Study

Post-Infestation Affective Blunting Syndrome

Features The essential feature of this syndrome is a marked state of lessened facial and postural expressiveness following infestation and hostile control by an extraterrestrial known as a yeerk.  Individuals suffering from this syndrome will frequently report a normal range of emotional experiences while also exhibiting blunted or flattened affect.  It is associated with a varied degree of distress, ranging from mild to severe.  Note that distress and functioning should always be assessed through the form of clinical interviews or self-reports; clinicians’ assessments of emotional stability may not be reliable when examining these individuals.  It is also important to note that this syndrome appears to have a high rate of suicidal ideation and a concurrent low rate of suicidal intentions, an area of this syndrome that requires further study.

Associated Features Individuals who exhibit this disorder do not develop it in the absence of yeerk infestation.  Yeerk infestation is here defined as the process of hostile control of the individual’s conscious bodily functions by an extraterrestrial entity.  This syndrome appears to have similar prevalence rates across ages and genders, although more evidence is needed to determine possible demographic moderating factors.  The prognosis for this syndrome is not yet known, although all individuals studied have exhibited consistent patterns of behavior over periods lasting up to three months.  Although individuals who present with this condition may not report distress, they may experience threats to normal functioning as a result of their unusual patterns of expression.  No information currently exists as to whether it is safe for these individuals to engage in reflex-heavy activities such as driving or operating heavy machinery, and each patient should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Differential Diagnosis In DSM-IV, individuals whose presentation meets these research criteria would be diagnosed as having Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or Adjustment Disorder, conditional upon the degree of anxiety and intrusive cognition experienced by the individual.

This condition exhibits similar symptoms to Depersonalization Disorder but appears to be more acute in onset and to involve briefer intervals of dissociation.  Although certain symptoms mimic the negative symptomatology of Schizophrenia, individuals with this syndrome will typically not demonstrate the marked degree of disorganized behavior that Schizophrenia produces, and do not report experiencing psychosis.

This diagnosis should not be made in the absence of a (self-reported) experience of yeerk infestation and the individual’s belief that the source of the dysfunction arises from the experience of hostile control.  It is not clear at this time whether or not voluntary human-controllers experience these symptoms under certain circumstances.  More research is also needed to clarify the need for a minimum age of diagnosis.

Prevalence The prevalence of this disorder is not yet known.  However, there were approximately 200,000 human-controllers under control of the Yeerk Empire as of March of 2000, and between 40% and 50% of humans surveyed after deinfestation have demonstrated some of the criteria.

Research Criteria

Infestation by one or more yeerks which lasted for a period longer than 12 hours.

Three or more of the following symptoms:

Periods of dissociation, including depersonalization and derealization episodes

Blunted affect or unusual emotional expression which does not match self-reported emotionality

Selective periods of waxy catatonia or other selective lack of movement

Repeated motions of self-stimulation, including at times when socially unacceptable or not entirely within the individual’s conscious control

Intrusive cognitions which specifically relate to themes of loss of personal control and disconnection from one’s body

Delayed or minimal speech production

Blurred or difficult speech production in the absence of aphasia or other speech impairment

Marked impairment to bodily reflexes (flinching, blinking, stimulus orienting, etc.)

All symptoms occurred after such time as the yeerk exited the individual but were absent before the time of infestation according to retroactive self-report.

The symptoms are not directly attributable to brain damage which occurred as a result of forceful ejection of the yeerk or consumption of artificial maple-ginger flavor in the form of oatmeal while infested.

[Disclaimer 1: this would technically be an Appendix entry, not a proper diagnostic entry, so the formatting reflects that.  Disclaimer 2: the DSM-IV-TR is available in its entirety online, but anyone who doesn’t have a relevant degree should NOT attempt to diagnose themselves or their friends based on anything they read there.  I’m not qualified to use it, you’re (probably) not qualified to use it, and anyone with a Bachelor’s in psych is not qualified to use it.  Please please please contact a counselor if you have any concerns rather than going looking for yourself.]

[creature-wizard]

Should I be concerned if a friend of mine seems to keep obliquely referencing ramcoa/ritual abuse and like. clams up entirely when alice in wonderland or wizard of oz are brought up too much? I don't think they're lying but I'm worried because it maps pretty neatly onto the conspiracy stuff i see you post about and idk what to do

Yes, you should absolutely be concerned. There are people out there on the Internet pushing the kind of conspiracy theories and pseudoscience that were originally put out there by far right conspiracy theorists such as Cathy O'Brien and Fritz Springmeier in abuse recovery spaces, DID spaces, and even some spirituality spaces, and some therapists still believe in this stuff and try to push it on their patients.

I also agree it's unlikely your friend is lying; it's far more likely that they're simply misled. This whole thing is essentially designed to prime people (who may or may not actually have DID) into confabulating memories of events that never actually took place.

(For anyone who isn't already aware - confabulated memories are very real; we can observe them among people who "remember" past lives in places that never existed. This isn't to say that these people were never abused in some way; just that stuff like giving people DID on purpose, using movies to program the alters, and stuff like color programming, metal programming, etc. aren't real things.)

As to what you might do, it depends heavily on what kind of headspace your friend is in. You could try reading through the #deradicalization tag and see if anything looks helpful, and you might check out The Debunking Handbook 2020.

For anyone reading this who isn't aware: The term "Ritual Abuse, Mind Control & Organized Abuse", or RAMCOA, is not an innocent catch-all term for religious abuse, institutional abuse, sex trafficking, etc. It was coined by conspiracy theorists in order to repackage Satanic Ritual Abuse/Satanic Panic/Project Monarch alter programming conspiracy theories into something they could pass off as legitimate science/research. Essentially, it's a Trojan horse for far right bullshit. For more information, see Cathy O'Brien - The First Project Monarch "Survivor" and Fritz Springmeier and Cisco Wheeler: Two Of The Most Dangerous Conspiracy Theorists Most People Have Never Heard Of.