In response to LC, Oct. 5th:
If it ever looked and felt like you described no one would ever come there. You also don’t appear to know what happened to your daughter? Am I the only one that is puzzled by this? I want to be sensitive to your daughter. Most people on here do. Help us understand.
This statement is classic DARVO. Attack the victim or the whistle blower. DARVO, meaning “Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender,” summarizes a consistent reaction and manipulation tactic used by perpetrators of abuse or other types of wrongdoing.1 It works by shifting the focus away from the original issue and attacking the actual victim or whistle blower. It attempts to switch the roles of victim and perpetrator to allow the actual offender to receive sympathy and compassion, publicly or privately, as well as to avoid consequences for their actions.
https://www.choosingtherapy.com/darvo/I visited my daughter various time over the three years of her residence at that horrible place. She was fraudulently recruited, love bombed, groomed, indoctrinated and exploited. The cult members used gaslighting, lies and manipulation to keep the “truth” hidden from me about what went on at the Movement Center. After receiving an alarming text from my daughter, I called the Movement Center to inquire about my daughter’s condition, Sharon Ward told me she was, “on the spectrum, had an eating disorder” and was anxious. None of which were true. I have been criticized for not knowing what was happening at the Movement Center. That was the objective of the use of gaslighting, lies and manipulation and refusing to speak to me. The residents and inner circle were taught to hide the truth and to protect J. Michael Shoemaker and each other. Some of the commentors may not be in agreement with my descriptions, they also may not agree with what others are telling law enforcement. Lies are being uncovered, the narrative is out there now, and inner circle cult members can no longer control it.
Through the Frank Report articles, other victims/survivors and witnesses to abuse have put forward their truths. Now, some commentors have questioned these statements and other have asked about injuries that victims of Shoemaker could have based on what has been reported in the Frank Report articles. Here is a review. This is what victims/survivors of traumatizing, violent cult leaders are dealing with.
If you want to be sensitive to the victims/survivors, as the commentor stated above, believe them. You can report what you did, before someone else does! If you were indoctrinated and coerced, you can report that too. Now is the time to ask for immunity. Tell law enforcement what you saw, what you experienced that was brutal, harmful, and damaging. If people weren’t harmed and exploited at the Movement Center under the direction of J. Michael Shoemaker, there would be no reason for Frank Parlato to publish these articles.
Here is the injury review of the brutal attacks reported in the Frank Report articles.
Strangulation: One of the most lethal abuser tactics
https://www.domesticshelters.org/articles/health/strangulation-can-leave-long-lasting-injuriesThe power of controlling a victim’s next breath makes strangulation a frequent tactic for abusers. It can take less than 10 seconds for a person to lose consciousness as a result of strangulation, and death can occur in just under five minutes. The injury from being strangled cuts deeper, however, to include psychological injury (PTSD, depression, suicidal ideation, memory problems, nightmares, anxiety, severe stress reaction, amnesia and psychosis), neurological injury (facial or eyelid droop, left or right-side weakness, loss of sensation, loss of memory and paralysis) and even delayed fatality. Other recognizable symptoms of strangulation can include changes in one’s voice, neck pain, difficulty swallowing or breathing, ear pain, vomiting blood, vision change, tongue swelling, bloodshot eyes, lightheadedness.
“Most abusers do not strangle to kill. They strangle to show they can kill,” says Gael Strack and Casey Gwinn in the American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice. However, it is important to realize, “When a victim is strangled, she is on the edge of homicide.”
Concussions and Traumatic Brain Injury:
Intimate partner violence is a common cause of a traumatic brain injury. Traumatic brain injury is an intracranial (head) injury that is a result of an external physical force striking the head or neck. It is classified based upon causative forces, pathophysiology, and severity of the injury. It is caused by bumps/jolts, severe shaking, or penetration of the skull, and lack of oxygen (i.e., strangulation) which results in damaged brain tissue.
Penetrating head injuries are due to a foreign object (i.e., knife, bat, bullet, etc.) that pierces the skull. This type of injury leads to localized brain damage.
Closed head injuries are due to blows to the head or neck that do not fracture the skull; this also includes injuries caused by severe physical shaking. This type of injury is common for those that are classified as sustaining a mild-TBI (aka, concussion).
Common causes of closed head injuries among intimate partner victims:
Objects striking the head or neck.
Pushed against a wall or other surface.
Pushed down a flight of stairs.
Violent physical shaking or strangulation
And in the case of Shoemaker, hitting the ground if the hook holding the unconscious victim breaks.
Taken from
http://chetanananda.org/about/Swami Chetanananda’s understanding of the Breath of Life has been further influenced by his study of a range of energetic healing systems and modalities. For eighteen years, Swamiji studied with Dr. Rollin Becker, a gifted cranial osteopath. Shoemaker claims in his bio that he is a healer and uses his energetic healing knowledge to heal his students’ bodies. Such brutal physical adjustments that Shoemaker calls healing are violent physical assaults that cause injuries to soft tissues and joints.
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/crps-complex-regional-pain-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20371151Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a form of chronic pain that usually affects an arm or a leg. CRPS typically develops after an injury, a surgery, a stroke or a heart attack. The pain is out of proportion to the severity of the initial injury.
CRPS is uncommon, and its cause isn't clearly understood. Treatment is most effective when started early. In such cases, improvement and even remission are possible.
Symptoms
Signs and symptoms of CRPS include:
• Continuous burning or throbbing pain, usually in the arm, leg, hand or foot
• Sensitivity to touch or cold
• Swelling of the painful area
• Changes in skin temperature — alternating between sweaty and cold
• Changes in skin color, ranging from white and blotchy to red or blue
• Changes in skin texture, which may become tender, thin or shiny in the affected area
• Changes in hair and nail growth
• Joint stiffness, swelling and damage
• Muscle spasms, tremors and weakness (atrophy)
• Decreased ability to move the affected body part
Symptoms may change over time and vary from person to person. Pain, swelling, redness, noticeable changes in temperature and hypersensitivity (particularly to cold and touch) usually occur first. Over time, the affected limb can become cold and pale. It may undergo skin and nail changes as well as muscle spasms and tightening. Once these changes occur, the condition is often irreversible. CRPS occasionally may spread from its source to elsewhere in the body, such as the opposite limb. In some people, signs and symptoms of CRPS go away on their own. In others, signs and symptoms may persist for months to years.
Post cult Complex PTSD
There are three distinct symptoms of Complex PTSD: hyperarousal, intrusion, and constriction. Each of these symptoms incorporates symptoms that are both psychologic (relating to the mind or mental phenomena) and somatoform (physical symptoms without physical cause).
The data regarding PTSD in former cult members and the relevance of superstition and the cultic approach to God and truth, supports the findings that a specific form of Complex PTSD, postcult Complex PTSD, is a direct result of members’ experiences in cults. It is important to understand that cult members are often kept in either a state of hyperarousal (emotionally aroused, easily startled) or hypoarousal (flat, numb, lethargic, not fully present).
https://www.icsahome.com/articles/the-unique-characteristics-of-postcult-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-and-suggested-therapeutic-approaches-docxRape Trauma Syndrome
Rape trauma syndrome is related to post-traumatic stress disorder but is more specific to sexual assault. RTS describes symptoms of trauma including disruptions to normal physical, emotional, cognitive and interpersonal behavior.
Major symptoms are:
• Re-Experiencing the Trauma: Rape victims may experience recurrent nightmares about the rape, flashbacks or may have an inability to stop remembering the rape.
• Social Withdrawal: This symptom has been called ‘psychic numbing’ and involves not experiencing feelings of any kind.
• Avoidance Behaviors and Actions: Victims may desire to avoid any feelings or thoughts that might recall to mind events about the rape.
• Increased Physiological Arousal Characteristics: This symptom can be marked by an exaggerated startle response, hypervigilance, sleep disorders or difficulty concentrating.
Although each individual’s experience is unique, people experiencing rape trauma syndrome often process their trauma in a series of stages
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The Major Stages of RTS
ACUTE STAGE
The acute stage can begin days or weeks after a sexual assault and generally lasts for between a few days and a few weeks. Often, victims begin experiencing symptoms of the acute stage after the initial shock of an assault has worn off. Symptoms at this stage may include:
• Diminished alertness or hyper-alertness
• Numbness
• Dulled sensory, affective and memory functions
• Disorganized thought content
• Nausea and vomiting
• Paralyzing anxiety
• Obsession to wash or clean themselves
• Confusion about everyday life
• Acute sensitivity to the reaction of other people
• Thoughts of and increased risk of suicide
OUTWARD ADJUSTMENT STAGE
Outward adjustment often begins when the Acute stage ends, and can last for between a few months and several years, if it is not interrupted. During this stage, the victim may outwardly appear to have “moved on” from an assault, but this stage is marked by serious inner turmoil. Victims may employ a wide range of coping mechanisms, including:
• Minimization (pretending “everything is fine”, or that the assault “wasn’t a big deal”)
• Dramatization (cannot stop talking about the assault)
• Suppression (refuses to discuss the incident)
• Explanation (analyzes what happened)
• Flight (moves to a new home or city, alters appearance)
Victims may show a wide variety of symptoms, but some common symptoms during this phase include:
• Poor health in general
• Continuing anxiety
• Sense of helplessness
• Hypervigilance
• Inability to maintain previously close relationships
• Experiencing a general response of nervousness or “startle response”
• Persistent fear
• Mood swings from relatively happy to depression or anger extreme anger and hostility (more common for male or masculine victims than female or feminine victims)
• Sleep disturbances such as insomnia, vivid dreams, and recurring nightmares
• Flashbacks and intrusive thoughts about the assault
• Dissociation (feeling like one is not attached to one’s body)
• Panic attacks
Victims in the Outward Adjustment Stage may increase their reliance on coping mechanisms, some of which may be adaptive, such as relying on the support of family or friends, mindfulness, or increased self-care, but others may be counterproductive in the long term, such as self-harm, drug or alcohol abuse, high risk sexual behaviors or disordered eating as a way of regaining control.
During this stage, victims may feel their lifestyles being changed in a variety of ways, including:
• Sense of personal security or safety is damaged, which may lead to a changing of behaviors and abandonment of activities previously enjoyed
• Hesitance to enter new relationships.
• Questioning of sexual identity or sexual orientation (more typical of people assaulted by someone outside of their orientation).
• Disrupted sexual relationships or sexuality, including difficulty re-establishing normal sexual relations, inhibited sexual response and flashbacks to the rape during sexual activity, or hyper-sexuality.
UNDERGROUND STAGE
During the underground stage, victims may work to return to their more “normal” lives. This stage may last for years, with limited disruptions to daily life, although emotional issues surrounding the assault may continue to be unresolved. In the underground stage victims may:
• Attempt to return to their lives as if nothing happened
• Block thoughts of the assault from their minds and may not want to talk about the incident or any of the related issues
• Have difficulty in concentrating and some depression
• May experience some dissociation and/or symptoms of hypervigilance
REORGANIZATION STAGE
The Reorganization Stage can begin when there is an external trigger than moves a survivor from the Underground or Outward Adjustment stage, or when there is a life transition, or for other reasons that may not be clear to the survivor or their loved ones. The length of reorganization can vary widely, and can end when a survivor returns to Outward Adjustment or Underground, or when they are able to resolve the trauma and move to the Renormalization stage. Reorganization is characterized by a return to internal and external emotional turmoil. Friends and family may be confused by a return of feelings and behaviors in the victim that they thought were resolved. Victims may also feel surprise, fear, and confusion in this stage as strong feelings about the assault return. In the reorganization phase, victims may experience:
Fears and phobias that may be related specifically to the assailant or the circumstances or the attack, or may be much more generalized. These phobias often include:
• Fear of being in crowds.
• Fear of being left alone anywhere.
• Fear of men or women.
• Fear of going out at all.
• Fear of being touched.
• Specific fears related to certain characteristics of the assailant, e.g. side-burns, straight hair, the smell of alcohol or cigarettes, type of clothing or car.
• General suspicious or paranoid feelings about strangers.
• Appetite disturbances such as nausea and vomiting. Survivors may also develop disordered eating patterns at this time.
• Nightmares and other sleep disturbances.
• Violent fantasies of revenge may also arise.
• Increased thoughts and risk of suicide.
RENORMALIZATION STAGE
In this stage, survivors reprocess their experience and are able to integrate it into their lives. The sexual assault or rape is no longer a central focus, and feeling such as guilt or shame resolve. Survivors in this stage are also able to recognize and address secondary consequences of maladaptive coping mechanisms. While victims may look upon the sexual assault and its aftermath with sadness, the feelings generated by the assault in other stages are not as strong, overwhelming, or disruptive as they once were.
Physical Injuries from Beatings and Abuse
https://psychcentral.com/lib/the-physical-and-emotional-injuries-of-domestic-violence#2A person being physically abused might have frequent injuries and bruises.
Signs of physical abuse could include:
black eyes
bruises on the arms, limbs, or neck
sprained wrists
broken bones
unexplained pain
A person who is being physically abused might be unable to explain what caused their injuries, or their explanations might seem shaky and inconsistent. They might attempt to cover up their injuries by wearing heavy makeup or more clothing than usual such as a scarf or long-sleeved shirt when it’s hot. They might also cancel events or avoid seeing people until their injuries heal.
your days are numbered
10 9 8 7 6…
if you saw something, say something. stay anonymous if necessary, but every detail contributes to the overall picture.
“There is also child trafficking to the high levels”…