The “Psychiatric Reprisal” (aka “Totalitarian Psychiatry”) in the communist Soviet Union, China (and in Modern America)

The Psychiatric Reprisal

From The Psychiatric Reprisal

What it is

This was a practice first identified as being used in the former Soviet Union. Targets of this practice were misdiagnosed as mentally ill, many were placed in state run psychiatric facilities.

Thousands upon thousands of individuals were targeted and systemically eliminated this way before the practice was brought to light and drew international attention.

The primary targets of this practice were dissidents, activists, those who tried to exercise their rights, or who wrote or published items that the state did not approve of. Those practicing freedom of religion. Also those who practiced minority or ethnic rights.

The practice was brought to the attention of the United Nations in 1969, and brought some condemnation in 1974, but this did little to change what was happening. The practice continued. It was only in 1991 when change was happening on the world stage, that the issue was again examined in more depth and the practice seems to have diminished.

Russia is not the only country to have used this practice. The practice was also heavily used in China as well. They also used this as a way of dealing with political dissidence.

What was interesting about the research into this practice is the idea that a whole field of professionals can become corrupted and misguided in their views. Believing that any form of dissidence is a mental illness.

She could not sleep that night, and became increasingly worried during subsequent months as more instructions from Moscow appeared on her desk. They were unusual, and what was worse, they confirmed her fears of that very first night: The author, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, was not normal. Actually, he was ill, clearly suffering from what was widely known in Soviet psychiatry as “sluggish schizophrenia.” And indeed, Gorbachev had all the symptoms: struggle for the truth, perseverance, reformist ideas, and willingness to go against the grain. My interlocutor continued to believe in her diagnosis until the Soviet Union collapsed and the windows to the world were opened wide. Only then did she realize that her concept of mental illness, shared by virtually all the approximately 45,000 Soviet psychiatrists, was what was abnormal and that Gorbachev had been normal all along.

What is frightening is the realization of how indoctrinated these health professionals were. That they so implicitly believed the propaganda of what the state taught them to, and were willing to turn this indoctrination on innocent citizens. Just like some of the Nazi’s in Germany, many were following what they had been told or taught to do.

The overwhelming multitude of Soviet psychiatrists either had never participated in the political abuse of psychiatry, had tried to avoid being trapped by authorities into taking part, or had no idea that they were hospitalizing people who according to international standards were in perfect mental health—if such a thing exists. They followed thee criteria that they had been taught by a monopolized psychiatric educational system that was dominated by the Moscow School headed by Professor Snezhnevsky. They had been cut off from international psychiatry and had no knowledge of what their colleagues in the outside, “bourgeois” world believed. If any information trickled through, it was immediately seen as an offspring of degenerated bourgeois societies.

Many times we like to view these individuals as evil. Denizens of the state who cruelly and unconscionably tortured and falsely imprisioned innocent citizens, but what history is repeatedly showing time and again is that things are often not that cut and dried. These psychiatrist in many cases apparently did not realize the evil that they were doing. They in many cases were following a criteria, a set of standards laid out for them, by a governing body, and anyone who fell into specific criterias, were automatically labelled mentally ill.

They were part of a society in which private initiative, independent thinking, and going against the grain were, at the least, considered dangerous and were often branded criminal. They were part of a society that was taught that anybody who was different, both in thought and in appearance, was “not normal” and thereby almost inherently was “antisocial” and “antisocialist.” When combined with the theories of “sluggish schizophrenia,” this training made it very easy to convince rankand-file psychiatrists, who had only a Soviet education and no access to world psychiatry, that any person who went against the Communist Party and was willing to risk the happiness of both his family and himself had to be mentally ill.

These professional had a limited lens by which to judge, and so they went with what they had been taught, they followed the guidelines without question, and placed people into categories based on predetermined criterias. Could the same pattern be re-emerging in other societies? Could these same patterns be happening in democratic countries? Could health professionals also be following a set of criteria, and misdiagnosing perfectly healthy individuals as mentally unwell, schizophrenic, without having ever met them face to face, based solely on predetermined criteria?

Dissidents were held for observation in the fourth (“political”) department, and in most cases mental illness was the eventual diagnosis—almost invariably accompanied by a diagnosis of “sluggish schizophrenia.” When the investigative commission reviewed the files, the retired psychiatrist recognized many names under the diagnoses: former colleagues, sometimes friends, known to her as good professionals. The diagnoses were composed as though she had written them herself: the same style, the same terminology, and probably the same conclusions. Yet when the commission subsequently examined the 60 former victims in person, she was shocked, devastated.

What is really scary is how these diagnosis were handed out and delivered. By her own admission this psychiatrist would likely have put many of these individuals away, yet in person they still remained healthy fully functioning individuals, even after years of surviving the Soviet hell that they were put through.

As I said earlier, after the fall of the Soviet regime we found that the truth about Soviet psychiatry was even more horrific than we had imagined. The political abuse of psychiatry was only the tip of the iceberg. The Soviet regime had ostracized any person who was not productive, who did not fulfill the image of the healthy socialist person laboring for the common good—the radiant communist future.

Could these same criteria be slowly getting implemented in many democratic societies? Could this same agenda be making it’s way to the west? Will the citizens of the western world soon experience what their counter parts in the former Soviet Union did? A systemic abuse of power that targets 1 in 3 political prisoners?. A practice that touched possibly millions of innocent lives?

Approximately one in three political prisoners were held in psychiatric hospitals rather than in camps and prisons. Yet, the thousands of victims of these political abuses form only the tip of the iceberg of millions of Soviet citizens who fell victim to totalitarian Soviet psychiatry.

The American Psychiatric Association is said to be writing its soon to be updated version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual and the criteria for mental illness might surprise some individuals.

May 27, 2010 Posted by gangstalking | activism, Awareness, Blacklisted, Conformity, Conspiracy, Controlled society, crazy, dissident, Gang Stalking, Laws | American Psychiatric Association, DSM, Evaluations, Fit for Duty, Gang Stalking, Mental Illness, Occupational Health and Safety, psychiatric reprisal, Russia | 2 Comments

Paranoid Propaganda
Paranoid

Please read the above post.

I made this into a full post, because I very firmly feel that whenever accusations of this kind come up, they must be addressed and set where they belong. A poster from the forum, found my blog posting, and left a comment. Now maybe the poster left it for good, as useful feedback, or maybe it’s just another informant, who is trying to make Gang Stalking sites look like they encourage delusions. As I have said before in dealing with now hundreds if not thousands of people who have come through the site, the long term feedback has been that they feel validated, most knew that something was happening, but did not know what. Some considered crazy as an option, but crazy did not match what they were seeing and most are people who kept looking for other answers to what was happening to them.

I don’t know what the situation was like in Russia when the state started saying that dissidents were crazy. I imagine that many tried to prove that they were not, and tried to also expose what was happening. I do know that in Russia part of what got the abuses exposed were target telling their stories, till there were enough that people started listening. I believe that targets must do similar if they are going to be heard and expose what our governments are now doing.

Too much Truth

[quote]I am a member of that forum. The member being gangstalked that you mentioned has said that she is a diagnosed schizophrenic who doesn’t want to take her medication. I assume that you haven’t read any threads posted by her other than the gangstalking one. She said she is being gangstalked by evil or negative energies because she knows who the antichrist is. You were banned because you unknowningly reinforced her delusions.[/quote]

This is the reason the account was banned.

Gangstalking, stop spamming with your links. You seem to be here on a propaganda mission. We don’t allow those kinds of accounts.

Spamming, I was not, at least not intentionally and the links could have been removed. I was posting researched information, not a propaganda mission.

Just because she has been diagnosed as crazy, does not mean that she is. Gloria Naylor a famous target was diagnosed as crazy and is not.

Without knowing more about her case, it’s impossible to know if she really is crazy, or a target or both. The targeting can make you crazy. Just look at what happened in Russia. Targets of the state were consistently diagnosed as crazy.

In America today, the psychiatric reprisal is being used on more and more people who are not crazy.

http://www.harassment101.com/Article5.html
http://www.psychologistethics.net/
http://scientific-misconduct.blogspot.com/search/label/lisa

Good sources of info about people who the state tried to put away as being crazy. It does happen.

Most people choose to believe that someone who talks about being followed around are crazy first and then they ask questions. I do the opposite, I choose to believe that people are sane first and then I ask the questions.

If posting articles about, Cointelpro, The Stasi, and our current surveillance society is going to encourage people to go crazy, or encourage paranoid delusions, then it’s unfortunate, because it’s reality. We live in a surveillance society. Innocent people are being stalked and monitored.

As evidence was presented, questions were asked. She said she knew who the anti-christ was and that she could speak to the dead. Lot’s of people think that, without necessarily being crazy. I did ask her why she felt that way in both cases.

The only thing that I did further was share with her information that myself and others have discovered about the multi generational aspect of Gang Stalking, which is also a fact.

I deeply feel sorry, and concerned about people who think that having good solid information will make people fall further into delusions. God forbid she go to sites about surveillance operations, or read books on such, or watch a tv show on such. God forbid, because I guess that those would be guilty of feeding her delusions as well.

This came up last year interestingly enough. God forbid people read the bible and it fuel their delusions of an omnipotent being that controls the world who they can’t see, but who they believe others have talked to. God further forbid such people to to Churches, Mosques, Synagogue and find others who further their delusions.

Providing a person with credible information about a problem that is happening to others is just that, it’s information that is available in books, on T.V., Youtube, and in other places. This information about Cointelpro, Mobbing, The Stasi, and other forms of harassment were available for years, as long as crazy people have thought that they were being stalked, which in cases like John Lennon turned out not to be paranoia.

The girl might be a real target, that possibility exists. She might also be crazy, that possibility exists. She might also be an agent who specifically is trying to link crazy and Gang Stalking. We had so much of that on Youtube, and on forums. There are agents of the state on most forums. This is a fact. Let me know if you need articles.

You could be here trying to be helpful, but you could also be here trying to link Gang Stalking with enhancing and encouraging the delusions of others. Eg. It’s not the first time this has happened, but as pointed out, these websites do not encourage delusions, anymore than watching tv shows, reading books, or visiting other sites on topic such as Cointelpro, or Stasi website.

If you are here with good intention’s then I thank you, but based on the original posting, and a discussion I had with the webmaster of the forum, that is not why I was banned. If your intentions are to try to link Gang Stalking sites with encouraging the delusions of the crazy, then we have been there done that, and you failed then a well.

Read the links that I posted. People are being set up to be declared as crazy, by our democratic countries. This is sick and wrong like it was in Russia. Because someone is declared crazy does not mean that they are. The girl was being teased and bullied. Crazy or sane that was not right and I stepped in because that is the human thing to do, and I will never regret doing the right and just human thing, in trying to stop her from being picked on. I told her that my first instinct is to believe her and you don’t know how needful that is, but then of course as I get to know her, I would look at the facts in her case and give feedback accordingly.

Even with real targets if I feel that they can not handle their targeting, I will always recommend they seek a support circle. Now I ask you what is being being believed and listened to, or being picked on and put down. She told her story, As I told the girl, I don’t know her and can not judge her crazy. I would rather take her word till more of her case is presented. Wither that is that she turns out to be yet another informant, crazy, target, or something else.

I hope that helps.

November 21, 2009 Posted by gangstalking | Citizen Informants, Civilian Spies, Cointelpro, conspiracies, Conspiracy, Controlled society, crazy, dissident, Gang Stalking, Gangstalking, Informants, Social Control, Stasi, Targeted Individual, youtube | Cointelpro, crazy, Delusions, Dissidents, Informants, Propaganda, Russia, Stasi, targets, The State | 8 Comments

Paranoid disruptions. Active denials.

Active denial. A game the government likes to play. See this is how it works. If you let them mess with your life, then your life get’s disrupted to the stage where you can not function. If you do nothing about it, they will just keep it up, and go further and further.

When a target starts to hit back and show them for what they are and what they are doing, then they will in some cases back off, but they will try to make the target look like they don’t know what they are talking about. Go after the target’s credibility. Make the target look crazy. What we don’t know what you are talking about. We weren’t running any interference. It’s just paranoia.

They used these same mechanisms with targets of Cointelpro, they do these things that are so hard to believe, that most people would rather accept that the target is paranoid, vs being deliberately targeted and having their lives disrupted in such a manner.

http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote/j._edgar_hoover_quote_4fb0

“”The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists.””

Ok so I have been following up on the uploads.com thing. So I finally heard back from them. They want me to resubmit the ebook details, in a different format, that’s fine, but when you look at the ticket submitted you can see my first submission, and none of my follow up emails. So where are they? Whey did they not arrive? This again suggests that subsequent emails did not get through, cause the ticket was not updated. Anyways I will keep you updated on this.
The blog comment not posting, that I blogged about I went back and it posted. The previous times the browser had gone though, but there was no message that your message has posted, and it would go back to the same screen. Now when I tried it this time. I got a nice pop up form and it says the message is being queued for review. Had I not blogged about it, I might still be there trying to get it to post, and repeated attempts might be failing. I say this, because this has in some cases been consistantly happening, the webpro news postings being one example.

Drawing attention to the dirty that they are doing is still in many cases the most effective way to get it exposed and in some cases stopped, but then you have to be careful because then it puts you in a situation of walking a fine line of looking paranoid if you blog about each single incident, vs unspeakable life disruptions.

For me it’s been not just emails about ebooks that are not getting posted, it’s business emails that are not arriving. Feedback that I need, etc. This would not be the first time business has been interfared with. It’s a part of their M.O.

Another example was right after those articles came out late last year in the papers about Gang Stalking. The Gang Stalking World website stopped getting emails. People’s emails just stopped arriving, or if they did arrive, they would be delayed for hours or days.

I tested the system out myself, cause you want to be sure that you are not being paranoid. What I did was I sent in emails from the contact form to see if the mail would go through. What was interesting was mail that I sent that had spam titles from the contact form made it through right away. Other mail I sent that seemed or had titles that were something legit or pertinent just did not go through. It was fascinating to watch. What kind of filter can do that?
Anyways walking the fine line. Either drawing attention to the dirty and putting up with the life disruptions, or blogging about it and exposing it. It might leave you looking paranoid, but it’s the only method right now that I have seen that has any effect. Just document every thing as best as you can.

Like I said, the bounced emails, lack of feedback, and business mail not arriving has been about 80%, where before it was not this volume for failed email that is not arriving. The emails are failing on public as well as private email systems, and various email boxes, and accounts.

So again I do think the best weapons we do have are exposure, and some legal means if we can find them. They will cross the line as much as they can, till you push them back. (I don’t mean that literally, although getting their asses kicked could not hurt, but I mean it figuratively.)

The part that still amazes me is that we are in this modern society, we have so much interaction and places where massive amounts of information can be shared, yet this stuff still goes on, primarily in silence and that can not be allowed to happen.

I mean this system has consistently been in place, at the very least it needs to be exposed publicly for what it is, no I don’t think it will stop it, but at least when people talk about it, they will stand a chance. Again conspiracies like this are nothing new. Priest got away with sexually assaulting thousands of young children for years, decades, and the problems were consistently covered up by the church, victims families, and in some cases the victims themselves, because of the stigma attached back then to accusing the church of stuff like that, but when the truth came out, it was something to behold.

Most of the stuff that targets have been talking about like the 24/7 surveillance has been getting exposed. The NSA whistleblower was kind enough to share that fact that “NSA Surveillance Far Vaster Than Admitted; Targeted Regular Citizens and Journalists.”
http://www.slate.com/id/2134398/

http://crooksandliars.com/node/25423

Anyways this really does still seem to be the only effective weapon thus far, exposure on a wider scale and awareness. Keep taking out the newspaper ads, maybe we should raise money for some bus ads? They would not likely post them, but this might be what we have to do. If you do hand out flyer’s, be careful. They could try to use this against you. It’s a fine line we walk, between getting what’s happening to us exposed, and them trying to lock targets away for telling the truth about their harassment’s. I never understand why people think programs such as MK Ultra, and government experimentation go away? They don’t. The Tuskegee syphilis experiment would probably be going on right now if not for one person, and again remember that went all the way to the top with the surgeon generals approval, for 50 years.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0762136.html

Again it went on with so many people in the know, but few with the ethical conscience to stop it, or who wanted to stop it, and the majority who were aware of the experiment felt they were a part of something good, scientific.

These governments have a log history of this stuff. Helping survivors of the holocaust with one hand, but then getting the Nazi scientists who conducted experiments into democratic countries with the other.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip

[quote]Operation Paperclip (also Project Paperclip) was the code name for the 1945 Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency[1] O.S.S.[citation needed] recruitment of scientists from Nazi Germany to the U.S. after Victory in Europe Day.[2][/quote]
It amazes me that something that is so systemically inherent can still be so hushed up, and then you dare to call yourselves democratic. That’s the thing that astounds me. This stuff went on in East Germany and we spit at them for doing this to their citizens, and Cursed Russia for what they did to their citizens by locking them away, but we are doing the same things. These things have always amazed me.

There is a time for everything though, and there is a time for this to come out into the open.

February 23, 2009 Posted by gangstalking | Gang Stalking | Awareness, disruptions, East Germany, exposure, Gang Stalking, Governments, harassment, Holocaust, Nazi, Operation Paperclip, paranoid, Russia, Surveillance | 2 Comments

Sharing their Conspiracy on the Internet

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/13/style/13psych.php

Sharing their Conspiracy on the Internet.

This is a quick follow up to the article sharing their Demons on the Web that came out November 13, 2008 in the New York Times.

I don’t know how many of our website visitors out there have had a chance to read and digest this article that just came out in the New York Times and also ran in several other International papers, but I thought this would be a wonderful opportunity to shed some additional light on some portions of the article.

The Internet is a modern marvel of mankind. I have seen parents who’s children are ill, and they have used every expert that the offline world can throw at them, only to fail. I have seen those same parents type in a few key words, and find help, love, support, and many times the answers that they were seeking. I personally see a similar pattern when it comes to those seeking help or assistance for their Gang Stalking.

They are seeking help and assistance, they have tried all forms of offline support and to no avail. Some have been on medication, thought of suicide, or are at their wits end, and then they find these sites. They find they are not alone, they find that their symptoms that they thought no one else would ever believe, are common place and everyday for the members of this community. They find understanding. Using these websites is a matter of choice, and when traditional practices have failed, then these websites have come to the forefront for help, support and even healing.

This quite lengthy and delightful article starts of by saying:

“FOR years they lived in solitary terror of the light beams that caused searing headaches, the technology that took control of their minds and bodies. They feared the stalkers, people whose voices shouted from the walls or screamed in their heads, “We found you” and “We want you dead.”

For the targets of Gang Stalking the harassment is often subtle and leaves very little trace. That is why it has for years been very difficult to muster up any support or awareness of what is happening to us. If voices were shouting from walls, many of us within the community would have been quite capable of going getting a tape recorder or video camera and taping what was happening to us.

The next paragraph of the article is fairly correct.

“When people who believe such things reported them to the police, doctors or family, they said they were often told they were crazy. Sometimes they were medicated or locked in hospital wards, or fired from jobs and isolated from the outside world.”

Just like with our cousins in the mobbing community. Before workplace mobbing was studied and verified, targets of this practice were often not believed, were often left isolated, and at times driven to suicide, or other acts of violence. Our communities experienced the same things, before these support apparatuses were put into place. Please keep in mind that Gang Stalking has a lot of the similarities to what happens with workplace mobbing, except this does happen in the community and we are followed around.

The next paragraph goes on to say.

“But when they found one another on the Internet, everything changed. So many others were having the same experiences.”

This is in part true. Things did change once we started to compare notes, and provide a support structure for each other. Before this, many of us did suffer in silence and anguish. Since starting the Gang Stalking World website, I have had people tell me, that their families were falling apart, but after finding a support source, and just knowing that they were not alone, it made a world of difference. That is one of the primary and key functions that this website and others like it does.

The next paragraph goes onto say:

“Type “mind control” or “gang stalking” into Google, and Web sites appear that describe cases of persecution, both psychological and physical, related with the same minute details — red and white cars following victims, vandalism of their homes, snickering by those around them.”

I will grant that many of our experiences do have extremely similar facets, much in the same way targets of bullying and mobbing had similar experiences. I am not sure that I would agree with the fact that we all see red and white cars. The cars that follow Targeted Individuals around come in all shapes and sizes, but in the past, several targets have noticed overt similarities.

The next paragraph describes us as an extreme community.

“Identified by some psychologists and psychiatrists as part of an “extreme community” on the Internet that appears to encourage delusional thinking, a growing number of such Web sites are filled with stories from people who say they are victims of mind control and stalking by gangs of government agents. The sites are drawing the concern of mental health professionals and the interest of researchers in psychology and psychiatry.”

I find this paragraph to be interesting. I am not sure that sharing stories and providing support encourages delusional thinking anymore than sharing stories of workplace mobbing, did for the targets of that harassment, or what exposure did for the targets of Cointelpro. I think history has shown that gathering together and providing support and awareness has been beneficial for targets of similar forms of harassment.

If these mental health professionals are concerned about these websites spreading delusional thinking, I am wondering what they would have said and how they would have pronounced the mobbing websites just 10 to 15 years ago. At the time before serious research was paid to workplace mobbing, believing that your co-workers were conspiring to harass you out of the workplace, and that human resources was a part of this conspiracy in some cases would have been seen as delusional, but with the advent of research into workplace mobbing, we now see that this is in fact a very real phenomenon and human resources have not only been involved at times, but it’s become a common practice in some areas with what’s called the psychiatric reprisal.

http://www.harassment101.com/Article5.html

http://arts.uwaterloo.ca/~kwesthue/mobbing.htm
http://mobbing-usa.com/

What mobbing websites have done for targets of Workplace Mobbing in shedding light and offering assistance is what Gang Stalking websites are doing now for the targets of this practice.

When targets of the state in Russia were declared delusional and mentally ill, the psychiatric community in those countries were a very dedicated force in silencing those individuals and cooperating with the state. If researchers into psychology and psychiatry are interested in studying this phenomenon let’s hope that it’s with an eye towards finding out the truth, and not with the intention of helping the state to further persecute, which is what happened in Russia.

The next paragraph expresses the concern that social networking websites that deal with gang stalking, and mind control might inhibit targets from seeking help and impede treatment.

“Although many Internet groups that offer peer support are considered helpful to the mentally ill, some experts say Web sites that amplify reports of mind control and group stalking represent a dark side of social networking. They may reinforce the troubled thinking of the mentally ill and impede treatment.”

What I have personally seen a lot of the Gloria Naylor types. By this I mean, people who sought out traditional forms of assistance. They went to the police, doctors, lawyers, had the mental exam, etc and they still were not getting anywhere, the problems were still happening in their lives. Gloria Naylor is a famous African American Author who was also a target of this practice. She wrote a book about her experiences title 1996. She first sought out psychological help and even went on medication which did not help. It was only after discovering websites that dealt with mind control, that she finally received some help and assistance. In her own words she has since then been able to start to turn her life around. Traditional forms of support in her case and many others have not helped, and have not lead those suffering to finding solutions that would help or assist them with functioning.

I would hope that if this is going to be studied, that cases such as Ramona Lopez and Jesus Mendoza will be reviewed. There cases are well documented and they were both whistle-blowers that started to experience the same phenomenon after blowing the whistle. I would also hope that if this is going to be researched, that they will review how writing the book into the Buzzsaw was able to provide help and support to journalist who go through a very similar phenomenon.

http://www.freedomofthepress.net/intothebuzzsaw.htm

Over the last two years, I find that many of the people who are visiting my site, have sought out traditional assistance, and realise that something else is going on. They seek out additional assistance after realised that they are not getting help with what is happening to them. I see people who do start blogs or video tape what is happening to them, and they say that it provides them with a sense of empowerment. I can say on a personal level that exposure of what is happening to me, has been one of the most cathartic things that I was able to do over the last 2 years.

The next paragraph says that:

“Dr. Ralph Hoffman, a psychiatry professor at Yale who studies delusions, said a growing number of his research subjects have told him of visiting mind-control sites, and finding in them confirmation of their own experiences.”

This tells me that more and more people are seeking out help and assistance on the Internet. What it does not tell me is what happens next? After they visit these sites, do they stop seeking Dr Hoffman assistance, do they just find some comfort in the fact that they are not alone, or some other alternative?

“The views of these belief systems are like a shark that has to be constantly fed,” Dr. Hoffman said. “If you don’t feed the delusion, sooner or later it will die out or diminish on its own accord. The key thing is that it needs to be repetitively reinforced.”

That is what the Web sites do, he said. Similar concerns have arisen about a proliferation of sites that describe how to commit suicide, or others that promote anorexia and bulimia, providing detailed instructions on restricting food and photographs of skeletal women meant to be “thinspiration.”

With all due respect to Dr Hoffman, many of the people that I have spoken to, again had sought out traditional assistance and it was not working. They had tried to believe that things were maybe in their heads, but found consistent reasons to believe otherwise and went seeking out other answers. These are the majority of people that are ending up at my website. The same way many targets of mobbing end up at workplace mobbing and bullying websites, when first trying to understand their harassment and bullying.

Gang Stalking websites in many cases are not feeding a delusion anymore than mobbing or bullying websites are. They are giving targets similar stories, or a list of symptoms that are the same or similar to their own. They are helping them to find solace and often answers that had hither to alluded them. They also provide comfort and support.

The comparison of Gang Stalking websites to sites that encourage people to commit suicide, or revel in their eating disorders is an unfair, and unjust comparison. We in fact do the opposite. Gang Stalking websites, based on feedback that I have received, often help people out of some of the darker moments that they are going through. We strive in fact to stop people from committing suicide or other acts of violence. Knowledge is power, and we provide them with up to date information based on research, that many in the Gang Stalking community have been doing.

Before Gang Stalking websites were available, some people like myself used mobbing and bullying websites for support, but that did not quite answer all the questions or cover all the scenarios of what was happening to us. If visiting these mobbing and bullying sites were not harmful, then might it be supposed that visiting Gang Stalking websites could be having a similar and beneficial effect for individuals who feel that they are targets of this practice?

“There is no concise survey of mind-control sites or others describing gang stalking — whose users believe that groups of people are following and controlling them, as part of a test of neurological or other kinds of weapons likely conducted by the government — on the Net. But they are easy to find. Some have hundreds of postings, along with links to dozens of similar sites. One, Gangstalkingworld.com, welcomes visitors with this description: “Gang Stalking is a systemic form of control, which seeks to destroy every aspect of a Targeted Individual’s life. The target is followed around and placed under surveillance by Civilian Spies/Snitches 24/7.”

I am really glad to see that the article was kind enough to mention the Gang Stalking World website. I just wish that it had also mentioned that a program called Cointelpro was perpetrated by the American government and has very similar characteristics to what we describe as Gang Stalking. I wish the article had also mentioned that Cynthia McKinney,a former United States Representative, had also requested to have Cointelpro investigations re-opened, because she believed that aspects of this were still ongoing.

http://www.cynthiaforcongress.com/bio.php

“the sites provide the powerful, unfamiliar experience of being understood by others.”

I think this paragraph more than anything else sums this up really well. These websites provide understanding. I can remember personally reading Mark M. Rich’s the hidden evil for the first time, and I remember somewhere on his old site where it said you are not alone. After that I never felt alone again. There is something about connecting with others who are having a shared experience that is so cathartic, and amazing. You truly do not feel alone and for the first time I was able to connect with this stranger that was miles away, and feel truly understood. In the subsequent years, this is the feedback that I have received from the dozens of website visitors who have come through my site.
http://www.gangstalkingworld.com/Handbook/TheHiddenEvil.pdf

“By and large, most people are sane and coherent and can relate exactly what’s happening to them,” Mr. Robinson said. “They can say the things that would otherwise get them labeled as delusional.”

People for the first time in years are free to be themselves and to say what they want to say, without someone saying that they are crazy. This is not only one of the amazing things about the Gang Stalking Support sites, but this is one of the amazing things about the Internet, and this is the concept that has helped the Internet to grow and to become what it is.

“Vaughan Bell, a British psychologist who has researched the effect of the Internet on mental illness, first began tracking sites with reports of mind control in 2004. In 2006 he published a study concluding that there was an extensive Internet community around such beliefs, and he called 10 sites he studied “likely psychotic sites.”

The extent of the community, Dr. Bell said, poses a paradox to the traditional way delusion is defined under the diagnostic guidelines of the American Psychiatric Association, which says that if a belief is held by a person’s “culture or subculture,” it is not a delusion. The exception accounts for rituals of religious faith, for example.”

Since Gang Stalking World only began in 2006, and we don’t predominantly deal with the mind control aspect of the targeting, I can assume that my website is not on the list that Dr Bell put together. I would however love to have a copy of this list, because even within the Gang Stalking, Mind Control communities, there are websites that are more helpful and useful than others. Before passing further judgement, I would love to see the 10 websites that he used when making his assessment.

“Dr. Bell, whose study was published in the journal Psychopathology, said that it does not suggest all people participating in mind-control sites are delusional, and that a firm diagnosis of psychosis could only be done in person.”

Since diagnosis has to be done in person to formulate an accurate opinion about wither a person is delusional or suffering from a psychosis, I am a bit surprised that a remote assessment was made in regards to a whole community, but I again would love to read the research first.

“For people who say they are the target of mind control or gang stalking, there may be enough evidence in the scientific literature to fan their beliefs. Many sites point to MK-ULTRA, the code name for a covert C.I.A. mind-control and chemical interrogation program begun in the 1950s.

Recently the sites have linked to an article published in September in Time magazine, “The Army’s Totally Serious Mind-Control Project,” which described a $4 million contract given to the Army to develop “thought helmets” that would allow troops to communicate through brain waves on the battlefield.”

I wish the article had pointed to the even more numerous articles on some of these websites in regards to proof that people are being followed around, and placed under watch.

The next paragraph points to Jim Guest a Republican State Representative, who just like Cynthia McKinney has also taken some of our claims seriously.

“And the users of some sites have found the support of Jim Guest, a Republican state representative in Missouri, who wrote last year to his fellow legislators calling for an investigation into the claims of those who say they are being tortured by mind control.

“I’ve had enough calls, some from credible people — professors — being targeted by nonlethal weapons,” Mr. Guest said in a telephone interview, adding that nothing came of his request for a legislative investigation. “They become psychologically affected by it. They have trouble sleeping at night.”

He added: “I believe there are people who have been targeted by this. With this equipment, you have to test it on somebody to see if it works.”

The article might have also mentioned that three states have now passed laws in regards to electronic harassment. In the last several years there has been forward momentum, because there has been a focus on exposure and awareness.

“Dr. Bell and some other mental health professionals say that even if the users of such sites are psychotic, forging an online connection to others and being told — perhaps for the first time — “you are not crazy” could actually have a positive effect on their illnesses.

“We know, for example, that things like social support, all of these positive social aspects are very good for people’s mental illness,” Dr. Bell said. “I wouldn’t say it’s entirely and completely positive, but it can be positive.”

Some research has shown that when people with delusions undergo group cognitive therapy, the group process can be helpful in their treatment

But the Web sites are not moderated by professionals, and many postings discuss the failure of medication and say that mental health professionals are part of the conspiracy against them.”

Tim Fields when he set up his Bully support website was not a professional either. He in fact was a target of bullying. He was later accredited for his work in the field, because of the research that he did. He also started to find a link to suggest there was a conspiracy afoot with what was happening to many targets of bullying when they sought out help and assistance.

It’s still unfortunate that with full knowledge of programs such as Cointelpro, MK-Ultra, and the situation in the former East Germany that some mental health professionals would conclude an assessment of mental illness before proper research into this phenomenon was thoroughly conducted.

http://www.bullyonline.org/action/obstruct.htm

Again the above paragraph goes to show that people finding our websites, are trying out traditional forms of support, medication and psychological assistance which are not working, and they are seeking further assistance and locating our websites. Again I will point out that with the situation in Russia that happened, the mental health profession was a part of the conspiracy. We see similar patterns with McCarthyism and Cointelpro and organisations that should be trustworthy being parts of government conspiracies.

““These people lead quietly desperate lives,” said Dr. Jeffrey A. Lieberman, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University. “And if they are reinforcing each other and pulling people toward something, if they are using the Internet and getting reinforcement, that’s good.””

I don’t know that all targets lead desperate lives, however being a target of Gang Stalking and or Mind Control can have a stressful effect like none other. We are using the Internet to find support, encouragement and understanding, which is something that many of us we were not able to do before.

“Psychiatrists and researchers say it is too soon to say whether communication on the Internet among people who may be psychotic will negatively effect their illnesses.” This is a very complex little corner,” said Dr. Ken Duckworth, the medical director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, an advocacy group. “Some people may find it’s healing, but these are really hard questions. The Internet isn’t a cause of mental illness, it’s a complicating new variable.”

Because being psychotic can and should be primarily assessed in person, I am still wondering where the conclusion is being drawn that the people frequenting these websites have a mental illness is to begin with? I can understand if this assessment is being based on people who have first visited traditional psychiatrist, but then this would also show that traditional forms of theory might not be helping and that people are still seeking out additional support. Ether way I found the article to be a fascinating read, and I am glad to add it to the collection of articles that have been acquired over the last two years, in trying to get to the heart of what has been happening to members of the Gang Stalking community.

With any support system, there will be good and bad. I would suggest that people still have more than one mechanism in place, but overall, no matter what you are going through, finding love support and understanding is a good thing.