do you have any recommendations for like, actually good and trustworthy informative resources about ramcoa? resources that are not either the hack stuff like colin ross or the stuff that argues it’s all rumors or false memories. i’d really like to learn more about it.
Hello! Yeah, this is a really common problem: a lot of the most popular RAMCOA resources are... Well, made by quacks. Here's some places I use and some places I avoid.
People & places I do not trust:
Svali, because of her insistence of a New World Order, that the "magic" used in SRA is real, and generally promoting antisemitic conspiracies. I can't in good faith say if she did or did not experience RAMCOA, but she is an anti-science religious fanatic who deeply misunderstands what she experienced (if she experienced anything at all).
Fritz Springmeier, for being even more out there and bigoted than Svali, who thinks that asking a survivor their favorite Pokemon can tell you what kind of programming they've endured. (Screenshot.) He's generally just unhinged, dangerous, and any time I stumble across his writing I can feel my braincells exploding.
Unwelcome-Ozian, for also using antisemitic conspiracy theories and memes, being ableist towards pwPD and addicts, and racism. (Post about it.) This includes their book, Chainless Slaves.
Deprogramwiki, because it platforms these three.
Papers by Braun, as he has a history of implanting SRA memories in patients. He has also abused patients.
Generally, sources that speculate on if a popular figure is a RAMCOA survivor or not should be avoided. Most of these are just repackaged misogyny ("x female singer is beta programmed because she is sexually provocative!") and it's deeply unprofessional, invasive, and at its core, useless.
Of course, any source that spouts antisemitic conspiracies and dogwhistles (New World Order/NWO, Illuminati stuff, "the global elites", Qanon, etc.), and any source that does not focus on victim wellbeing or support are not ones to trust. These sorts of groups and sources are more interested in political agendas than the survivors.
EndRitualAbuse, as it is run by a professional and is one of the oldest RAMCOA resources on the internet. It's a good "intro to RAMCOA" site as it's not as huge as others and formatted in an accessible way. Here's the full article index. The woman who owns the site, Dr. Lacter, can be contacted for questions about programming, referrals to specialists who deal in RA, and more. (Contact page.)
RA-Info, which is similar to the above, but with more resources. It hosts lots of papers, dissertations, convictions, and more relating to this topic, and is run by a survivor. I like their MC basics page and this page, which when clicking on the drop down menu, gives you a huge list of categories.
Becoming Yourself and Healing the Unimaginable by Alison Miller are classics in survivor spaces. Basically some of the first pieces you'll be suggested when you start digging into RAMCOA. I haven't read them yet.
Safe Passage To Healing by Chrystine Oksana; another classic, another book I haven't read. From 1994 but often referenced by survivors still.
Papers by Ellen Lacter. She's a big name and has worked with a lot of reputable organizations to get where she is. Yes, the same one who runs EndRitualAbuse.
Ritual Abuse and Mind Control: Manipulation of Attachment Needs by Orit Badouk Epstein, Joseph Schwartz, & Rachel Wingfield focuses on how, often parents, use a child's basic instincts against them within the context of RAMCOA. Attachment needs are a huge part of programming as well.
Papers by Michael Salter. He’s part of the “new generation” of RAMCOA researchers, compared to the “old guard” of folk like Lacter. He has a book out, mainly about CSEM & the internet’s role in organized abuse, versus the focus on ritual and religion of the earlier folk. He does have a really good piece out about the role of ritual in RAMCOA though, so he hasn't completely ignored that element. Salter also runs the website organizedabuse.
Both Dialogues with Forgotten Voices and The Alchemy of Wolves and Sheep by Harvey Schwartz. The former is covers DID and organized, ritual, & extreme abuse, and the latter specific to forced perpetration in organized abuse contexts. Both are really helpful but really heavy. Link to the first and link to the second.
Some miscellaneous sources I can't find a place to put, whether because they are one-offs, or I don't have much to say about 'em:
[x] [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] [x]
Of course, there are some pieces to salvage with bad sources, and things I disagree with in the good sources. Deprogramwiki has a decent list of alter roles that are common in RAMCOA survivors, for example, and there's definitely some hardline Christian resources listed in RA-info that make me uneasy. Being perceptive and cautious are the biggest things you need when researching this.
