Issue 187 – March 2026

S.M.A.R.T.
(Stop Mind control And Ritual abuse Today)
P. O Box 1295, Easthampton, MA 01027-1295 USA

E-mail: SMARTNEWS@aol.com
Home page: https://ritualabuse.us/

Issue 187 – March 2026

The purpose of this newsletter is to help stop secretive organizations and groups from abusing others and to help those who allege they have been abused by such organizations and groups. This newsletter is not a substitute for other ways of recovering from ritual abuse. Readers should use caution while reading this newsletter. If necessary, make sure other support systems are available during and after reading this newsletter.

 Important:

The resources mentioned in this newsletter are for educational value only. Reading the books cited may or may not help your recovery process, so use caution when reading any book or contacting any resource mentioned in this newsletter. Some may have a religious or other agenda that may be separate from your own recovery process. Others may have valuable information on secretive organizations, but have triggers or be somewhat sympathetic to those organizations.  Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the views expressed in this newsletter constitute expressions of opinion, and readers are cautioned to form their own opinions and draw their own conclusions by consulting a variety of sources, including this newsletter. Resources listed, quoted and individual articles, etc. and their writers do not necessarily support all or any of the views mentioned in this newsletter. Also, the views, facts and opinions mentioned in this newsletter are solely the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily the opinions of this newsletter or its editor. 

Copyright 2026 – All rights reserved.  No reproduction of any material without written permission from the editor and individual authors.

Information in this issue includes:  

SMART 2026 Online Annual Ritual Abuse and Mind Control Conference August 2026

The Survivorship Trafficking and Extreme Abuse Online Conference May 2026 Conference Speakers:  Ritual Abuse as Mind Control – Wendy Hoffman, Traces of Western Practices of Ritual Abuse in Mary Daly’s Gyn/Ecology and Other Texts – Lynn Brunet, Remembering Wholeness: Trauma-Informed Writing in Support of Voice, Safety, and Self-Trust – deJoly LaBrier, Unraveling the Tangled Mind: Psychotherapy with Survivors of Mind Control – Faige Flakser, LCSW, An Introduction to Neurofeedback for Trauma – Joshua Moore MA, LMHC, BCN,   Intergenerational Occult Families, and One Father’s Fight for His Abducted Daughter – Iain Bryson

    The mounting evidence Epstein was murdered… the doctor who says he was strangled

    60 Minutes investigates the death of Jeffrey Epstein

    New Epstein files reveal he may have trafficked girls to others despite official denials

    Epstein survivor Juliette Bryant says she was trafficked from South Africa and soon realized it was “not a modeling opportunity, I’ve been kidnapped”

    Sydney property manager with alleged ties to ‘satanic’ paedophile ring denied bail

    What It’s Like to Live With One of Psychiatry’s Most Misunderstood Diagnoses –  dissociative identity disorder

    A Randomized Controlled Trial Assists Individuals With Complex Trauma and Dissociation in Finding Solid Ground

    Finding Solid Ground program

 

The 2026 Online Annual Ritual Abuse and Mind Control Conference August 15 – 16, 2026  If you are interested in participating in speaking at our conference, attending our conference or getting on a mailing list, please write: smartnews@aol.com  https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/

The Survivorship Trafficking and Extreme Abuse Online Conference 2026 https://survivorship.org/the-survivorship-trafficking-and-extreme-abuse-online-conference-2026/    Survivor Conference – Saturday and Sunday May 16 – 17, 2026   Clinician’s Conference – Friday May 15, 2026  Please write info@survivorship.org if you would like to get on their conference mailing list.

Conference Speakers

Ritual Abuse as Mind Control – Wendy Hoffman

Rituals are common practice in satanic culture. This presentation explores how every moment of a ritual is used for mind control. Its purpose is to capture the minds of its victims and enforce its programs. Traumatic emotions are also an important part of mind control, and they will be discussed.

Wendy Hoffman has published four memoirs, two books of poetry and a co-authored book of essays. She does consultations for therapists working in the field of dissociative disorders and presentations on mind control internationally. https://ritualabuse.us/smart/wendy-hoffman/

Traces of Western Practices of Ritual Abuse in Mary Daly’s Gyn/Ecology and Other Texts – Lynn Brunet

Mary Daly (1928-2010), born in Schenectady, New York, was a philosopher and theologian and described herself as a radical lesbian feminist, intent on exposing the extent to which the patriarchy exploits women and working towards changing this. This paper will not get into the politics surrounding radical feminism, which is multi-faceted and extensive, but instead will examine one of her key texts, Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism (1978). In this text there are multiple references to the experience of spinning. She describes the book as “an invitation to the Wild Witch in all women who long to spin” (Daly 1978, xv).

This talk will explore Daly’s use of language throughout Gyn/Ecology to suggest that concealed/revealed in her writing may be traces of western practices of ritual abuse, practices that only began to come to public attention in the mid-1980s. It will suggest that the author’s search for the most extreme examples of ritual torture of women across cultures, coupled with the idiosyncratic metaphorical language of ecstatic spiral journeying used in Gyn/Ecology and other texts, may have been a means of expressing a deeply internalised and repressed experience of childhood ritual abuse. As the following discussion will outline, hidden cultic practices of a Druidic nature appear to have been exported to the United States alongside conservative religious practices amongst migrant groups such as the Irish, the culture that Mary Daly celebrates as her own heritage.

Lynn Brunet (PhD) is an Australian art historian whose research examines the coupling of trauma and ritual in modern and contemporary western art and literature. In particular, it traces the connection between Masonic and other fraternal initiation rites and complex trauma in the work of various artists and writers of the 20th and 21st centuries. https://independent.academia.edu/LynnBrunet1

Remembering Wholeness: Trauma-Informed Writing in Support of Voice, Safety, and Self-Trust – deJoly LaBrier

As both a survivor of extreme abuse and a Life and Writing Coach, her work is informed by lived experience as well as years of supporting women on their healing journeys. In this presentation, she shares how trauma-informed writing practices can support survivors in reclaiming voice, coherence, and a sense of inner authorship after experiences that fracture identity and distort self-perception.

Rather than asking survivors to revisit traumatic material, this approach honors personal boundaries and nervous system readiness. Writing becomes a relational practice—one that allows meaning to emerge slowly, safely, and on the survivor’s own terms. This work reflects a deep belief that survivors are not broken, but adaptive—and that wholeness is not something to be earned, but remembered. This presentation recognizes dissociation and multiplicity as adaptive survival responses and offers trauma-informed writing practices that support safety, voice, and self-trust without requiring integration or disclosure.

deJoly LaBrier is a Life and Writing Coach, public speaker, and survivor of extreme abuse whose work focuses on trauma-informed writing practices for women impacted by trafficking, ritual abuse, and complex trauma. Drawing from lived experience as well as years of coaching, facilitation, and public speaking, she supports survivors in reclaiming voice, agency, and a sense of wholeness after experiences that fracture identity and distort self-perception. https://dejoly.com/shop

 

Unraveling the Tangled Mind: Psychotherapy with Survivors of Mind Control – Faige Flakser, LCSW

This presentation offers a clinical roadmap for psychotherapy with survivors of Organized and Extreme Abuse (OEA), including cultic abuse, ritual abuse, trafficking, and other coercive systems. It describes how this work frequently presents with complex trauma and dissociation, with dissociative parts and self-states, often including DID. Participants will be oriented to the core psychological binds created by mind control: confrontation with profound human cruelty and the systematic destabilizing of reality-testing through confusion, coercion, and terror-based conditioning. The presentation highlights three predictable trust ruptures that shape treatment from the first contact: mistrust of helpers, including realistic fears that perpetrators may pose as helpers; mistrust within family systems where grooming and recruitment have often occurred; and mistrust of one’s own mind in the aftermath of sustained manipulation. These ruptures complicate the formation of a therapeutic alliance and require a paced, relational approach that honors the protective functions of doubt, vigilance, and withdrawal.

Faige Flakser, LCSW, is a trauma therapist, consultant, and educator with a clinical focus on trauma, dissociation, and DID, as well as Organized and Extreme Abuse (OEA), including mind control and coercive systems. She holds leadership roles within the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD), where she is the former Chair of the OEA Special Interest Group and has presented at ISSTD conferences. She is Director of the Trauma Division at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy (ICP).

An Introduction to Neurofeedback for Trauma – Joshua Moore MA, LMHC, BCN

Neurofeedback is a non-invasive, evidence-based therapeutic modality that helps individuals to self-regulate brain activity through real-time biofeedback of brainwave patterns, often referred to as EEG entrainment. In the treatment of trauma, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), neurofeedback targets key neurophysiological features such as hyperarousal, emotional dysregulation, and altered brain connectivity resulting from traumatic experiences. By identifying specific neuro-markers associated with PTSD, practitioners can transform the often intangible nature of psychological trauma into visible representations on a computer screen or printout, facilitating targeted training to normalize brain function.

This approach serves as a promising adjunct to traditional trauma therapies, effectively reducing core PTSD symptoms—including intrusive thoughts, avoidance behaviors, and heightened arousal—without necessitating direct exposure to traumatic memories, which many clients find aversive. Recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses indicate moderate beneficial effects on PTSD symptoms, with neurofeedback demonstrating clinically meaningful improvements in symptom severity. Neurofeedback is also discussed for its potential utility in Bessel van der Kolk’s book, The Body Keeps the Score, which highlights innovative, body-oriented interventions for trauma recovery (van der Kolk, 2014). In this lecture, key research and outcomes will be reviewed, alongside clinical principles and skills, emerging protocols, practical resources for locating practitioners, and training to become a certified neurofeedback practitioner.

Joshua Moore is a licensed mental health counselor who incorporates a variety of treatments, including talk therapy, EMDR, QEEG brain mapping, family systems work, and neurofeedback. Joshua is passionate about making evidence-based quality neurofeedback more available to the community. Joshua provides neurofeedback mentorship to several clinics and creates online workshops for beginners and advanced clinicians in the field of healthcare. Clinically, he works with difficult cases, including dissociative identity disorder, PTSD, traumatic brain injuries, and complex or unclear diagnoses. Joshua holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling from Multnomah University and a Bachelor’s degree in Theology, and he is board-certified in neurofeedback through the Biofeedback International Certification Alliance (BCIA).

 

Intergenerational Occult Families, and One Father’s Fight for His Abducted Daughter – Iain Bryson

Iain Bryson’s daughter was taken fifteen years ago by his first wife and her family after his first wife told him that her family is a “cult,” and that she would be taking their daughter back to them because of “mind control.” Iain had no idea what ritual abuse and trauma-based-mind-control were until his daughter was taken. He had to reconcile that fact with what his wife had warned and the signs that his mind had refused to see. Iain tried to get help from local authorities and international authorities. Despite the fact that his daughter is a United States citizen, the only advice given by the Embassy was to re-abduct his daughter given that Poland is out of the Embassy’s jurisdiction. Having to take matters into his own hands, Iain ended up in the Polish criminal justice system. He was incarcerated for fifty months in Poland because of his attempts to make the system aware on his daughter. Iain was released in 2015.

In 2024, Iain Bryson published an evidence-based, documentary style memoir of his daughter’s abduction. He continues to fight for his daughter, and for other survivors of the horrendous atrocity we know as ritual abuse.

The mounting evidence Epstein was murdered: A mysterious flash of orange, and the doctor who says he was strangled… By Tom Leonard, US Correspondent 13 February 2026    This article describes violence

For this blurry snippet of video could shed new light on the most hotly contested of all the arguments over paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein: The truth about his controversial death while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in August 2019.

According to documents released by the US Department of Justice, investigators reviewing surveillance video from the night Epstein was found dead in Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center observed a fuzzy, orange-coloured shape moving up a staircase toward the wing (known as a ‘tier’) of the jail that contained his cell….July 23: Five days after he is denied bail, Epstein is placed on suicide watch after he is found semi-conscious in his cell with an orange fabric noose tied around his neck. Epstein accuses his cell mate, Nicholas Tartaglione – a former police officer facing four murder charges – of trying to kill him.

Tartaglione insists he actually tried to revive his cellmate. Tartaglione, who is hardly reliable, will later claim in a pardon petition that he was ‘deliberately’ put in with Epstein at the orders of the Trump administration because of his violent reputation and hatred of child sex offenders – in the hope he’d kill his cellmate. The White House has denied the claim.

July 24: Epstein meets a prison psychologist – as confirmed in an FBI report in the latest release of files. He insists he had ‘no interest in killing myself’ and that it ‘would be crazy’ to commit suicide. ‘I have a life and I want to go back to living my life,’ he claims….

July 29: According to another FBI report in the files, agents and prosecutors meet his lawyers, ‘who, in very general terms, discussed the possibility of a resolution of the case, and the possibility of the defendant’s co-operation’….

8am: Cellmate Efrain Reyes is moved out after attending court and being released, leaving Epstein alone. Nobody is assigned to replace Reyes – and nobody will be – even though staff know their warden has stipulated that, after the previous suicide attempt, Epstein must not be alone.

The facility’s boss has also insisted the inmate – who in prison parlance is on ‘PSYCH Alert’ (psychiatric emergency) – be subjected to ‘30-minute checks’ and ‘unannounced rounds’.

Yet it turns out that two cameras with a view of Epstein’s cell are not functioning properly – an astonishing lapse – so the warden is relying on his staff more than he might realise.

9am: With hundreds of court documents now released alleging new details – some of them graphic – about sexual abuse claims against him, Epstein spends the day with his lawyers in a conference room.

4pm: Despite being stationed just 15 feet from Epstein’s cell, guards Tova Noel and Ghitto Bonhomme start their shift by failing to make the first of a series of checks on his tier in a 4pm ‘inmate count’.

It’s the first of many lapses. From midnight to 6.30am, Noel will complete and sign at least 75 separate records falsely saying the guards carried out 30-minute rounds to check on Epstein. In fact, Epstein is still with his lawyers and only returns at 6.45pm.

7pm: Noel escorts Epstein to his cell after allowing him to call his girlfriend, Shuliak. According to a prison time log, the guard reports it was a ‘pleasant call in good spirits; nothing unusual’.

10pm: By this time, all inmates are locked in their cells for the night. Noel and Bonhomme don’t carry out the 10pm inmate count either, although they record that they have done.

10.30pm: Surveillance footage from the only relevant camera known to have been working that night shows Noel briefly walk up to, and then back from, the door to L Tier where Epstein is held. That is officially the last time anyone goes near the entrance to the tier until Epstein’s body is discovered.

The court developments are hardly encouraging but one of the lawyers, Reid Weingarten, will later insist Epstein showed no signs of contemplating suicide….

11.58pm: The start of a notorious ‘missing minute’ from the jail’s 11-hour surveillance footage of the area near Epstein’s cell. The gap in the video has long fuelled conspiracy theory claims that this is the moment someone goes into Epstein’s cell to kill him and that the authorities have tried to cover it up by erasing the evidence.

Attorney General Pam Bondi later said the brief gap came about because the recording system had a nightly reset resulting in a lost minute every 24 hours. However, the latest trove from the Epstein files confirms previous reports that officials had always possessed the full video footage and there was no missing minute.

The misunderstanding came about after, in 2024, an FBI agent destroyed the master copy of the video on the grounds the case was considered closed….

Saturday, August 10  12am to 6.30am: Noel and Michael Thomas, who takes over from Bonhomme at midnight, fail to complete inmate counts at 3am and 5am, as well as the ‘wellness’ checks on Epstein every 30 minutes. Instead, the guards remain by their desk, occasionally moving around the SHU common room. They use some of the time searching furniture and motorcycles sales on their computers. According to prosecutors, they were asleep for three hours.

The pair were later charged with falsifying records – including one in which they claimed Epstein waved at them when they checked on him at midnight – but the charges were dropped….

Things had been moved around, former New York police detective Herman Weisberg tells CBS after studying the pictures. ‘It appeared that the scene was, for lack of a better term, staged a bit.’

Most destructive of all for the investigators, Epstein’s body has already been taken out of the cell, making it impossible – according to a forensic pathologist, Dr Michael Baden, hired by Epstein’s brother – to determine the time of death.

Dr Baden, who observed the autopsy, renewed his claim this week that Epstein’s neck injuries are more consistent with ‘strangulation pressure’ than suicide – in other words, murder – and called for the case to be re-examined.

Investigators have even now failed to definitively identify the noose which guard Michael Thomas says he’d seen tied around Epstein’s neck. He tells the FBI: ‘I don’t recall taking the noose off… I don’t recall taking the thing from around his neck.’

Although a noose was found in the cell, it was later discounted and – according to Dr Baden – didn’t match Epstein’s injuries. ‘The markings [on Epstein’s neck] would have required a different type of material,’ he said…. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15558797/evidence-Epstein-murdered-death-notice-died-doctor-strangled.html

 

60 Minutes investigates the death of Jeffrey Epstein January 5, 2020 CBS News    In July 2019, Jeffrey Epstein, already a convicted sex offender, was arrested and charged with sex trafficking by federal prosecutors. On August 10, Epstein was found dead in his federal jail cell at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC).    This article describes violence.

The New York City Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Epstein’s death a suicide by hanging, but a forensic pathologist who observed the four-hour autopsy on behalf of  Epstein’s brother, Mark, tells 60 Minutes the evidence released so far points more to murder than suicide in his view. Dr. Michael Baden’s key reason: the unusual fractures he saw in Epstein’s neck.

“There were fractures of the left, the right thyroid cartilage and the left hyoid bone,” Baden said. “I have never seen three fractures like this in a suicidal hanging.”  “Going over a thousand jail hangings, suicides in the New York City state prisons over the past 40-50 years, no one had three fractures,” Baden said.

According to a federal indictment, on July 23 Epstein was found “on the floor of his cell with a strip of bedsheet around his neck.” The government says it was a failed suicide attempt, but Epstein claimed his cellmate, 52-year-old former police officer Nick Tartaglione, attacked him. Tartaglione, who is accused of murdering four men, denied that and his lawyer says: “Absolutely nothing like that happened.” His lawyer also says Tartaglione was cleared by jail officials….

“So Epstein’s taken off suicide watch, the day before he kills himself, his roommate is removed from the cell. The cameras on his tier are not working. The guards fell asleep. It seems almost impossible to think all of those things could happen in that way,” Alfonsi said….

60 Minutes reviewed hundreds of graphic photographs from Epstein’s autopsy and inside his cell. There are multiple nooses, a bit of orange sheet tied to the grate of a window. On the top bunk, bottles and medicines stand upright. Below it, another piece of fabric is tied through a hole on the bed about four feet from the ground.

Did Epstein, who was nearly 6 feet tall and 185 pounds, somehow lean in and hang himself from the lower bunk? We don’t know. Dr. Baden, the forensic pathologist hired by Epstein’s family, says the noose that was sketched and included in the autopsy report doesn’t appear to match the wounds on Epstein’s neck. And Baden says, the ligature mark was in the middle of Epstein’s neck, not beneath the jawbone, as one would expect in a hanging. Also puzzling to Baden is that Epstein would make a noose out of a bedsheet when wires and cords were present in his cell, as photographs show….And Baden said, at this point, he doesn’t have all the information needed to make a final conclusion.  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/did-jeffrey-epstein-kill-himself-60-minutes-investigates-2020-01-05/

 

New Epstein files reveal he may have trafficked girls to others despite official denials   Allegations prompt questions about officials’ contentions that there isn’t evidence to investigate third parties Victoria Bekiempis in New York Mon 2 Feb 2026

The disclosure of more than 3m files related to Jeffrey Epstein suggests that other men were involved in his sexual abuse, prompting questions about officials’ contentions that there isn’t evidence to investigate third parties for potential involvement in the late financier’s crimes.

Some newly released documents contain allegations that Epstein provided victims to other men. Documents released in prior disclosures, as well as court documents, also point to others’ possible criminal involvement with Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.

One accuser said that Maxwell told her that Epstein had to leave his house but that there was a friend staying who she could massage. During this encounter, this associate allegedly offered her money if she engaged in sex.

The woman alleged that she did so and that this friend paid her money. A “prosecution memorandum” dated 26 January 2021 and signed by assistant US attorneys from the southern district of New York described this encounter and said that when the woman’s lawyers showed her a photo of the disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, she identified him as this man. The names of the US attorneys are redacted.…

Financier Leon Black is listed on a page titled “PROMINENT NAMES” contained in the FBI presentation about Epstein’s case; it’s not known who this presentation was for, and this slideshow does not state that authorities verified any claims against these men. Black has adamantly denied wrongdoing.

Under Black’s name, the document states allegations that “Epstein told [name redacted] to give Black a massage while Black was naked.” An accuser “stated another female gave Black a massage and he made her preform oral sex”.

One document in this tranche said that “The Manhattan District Attorney’s office began looking into allegations against Leon Black.” Black has not been charged criminally in relation to Epstein. One civil case against him was dismissed and one was withdrawn. The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment on or confirm the existence of an investigation….

 Prior document disclosures also suggested third parties might be involved. Maria Farmer, an artist who worked for Epstein around 1996 whose sister Annie was abused by Epstein and accomplice Maxwell, reported that the late financier “stole” nude images of her siblings.  “Epstein Stole the photos and Negatives and is believed to have sold the pictures to potential buyers,” Farmer alleged in an FBI report from 1996.

A document released in a prior exposure similarly indicates that Epstein and others might have shared child sexual abuse images. A lawyer representing a co-executor of Epstein’s estate wrote the FBI in April 2023 for guidance. During a review of documents, they encountered potential child sexual abuse images.

“Apparently the relevant video was shared with Epstein by an individual who was convicted of a child pornography-type offense and it depicted one or two topless women,” the lawyer’s letter states. A past email that was released on 12 November by the House oversight committee shows Epstein and an associate discussing “girls” and travel. This associate appeared to refer to deceased French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

Brunel was arrested in December 2020 at Charles de Gaulle airport on suspicion of crimes such as alleged rape and sexual assault of minors, as well as human trafficking of underage girls for sexual exploitation. Brunel, who was thought to have provided teenage girls to Epstein, died in prison four years ago by apparent suicide.

Virginia Giuffre, who was among the most prominent accusers of Epstein and his accomplice Maxwell, had alleged in civil court papers that she had been “sexually exploited by Epstein’s adult male peers including royalty”.  Giuffre, who died by suicide this spring, alleged Epstein and Maxwell introduced her to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in 2001, claiming Maxwell forced her to have sex with the then-prince. The fallen former royal has vehemently denied any wrongdoing….

On the FBI presentation listing prominent names, there is a page called “MISCONCEPTIONS”.  “Epstein did not regularly prostitute the victims in exchange for money,” this page said.  “No other victim described being directed by either Epstein or Maxwell to engage in sexual activity with any other men.” The “closest” anecdote to being lent out, the memo said, involved Weinstein.

Attorneys for Epstein’s victims tell the Guardian they believe Epstein provided teen girls and young women to others.  “It is without question that a significant piece of Epstein and Maxwell’s vast sex-trafficking operation was to provide young women and girls to other wealthy and powerful individuals,” said Sigrid McCawley, a managing partner at Boies Schiller Flexner and longtime attorney representing Epstein survivors. “This practice gave Epstein and Maxwell control and power over individuals who were implicated in the sex trafficking.”

Jennifer Freeman of Marsh Law, who represents Maria Farmer, said that “at this point, we have more questions than answers.” “Where is the rest of Maria Farmer’s FBI file? Where are the records of complaints that so many other women made to FBI and how the FBI investigated those complaints? And why is the DoJ hiding the names of perpetrators while exposing survivors?” Freeman said.

And Spencer Kuvin of Goldlaw, who has represented numerous Epstein victims, said: “We know for certain from direct testimony of victims that Epstein provided girls to other famous and notable people. Usually these were favors with the hope that he would get something in return from these people.” “The recent documents only confirm what the victims have been saying all along,” he also said. “The absence of a formal ‘client list’ is not the same thing as proof that no third parties participated.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/02/epstein-files-new-batch

 

Epstein survivor Juliette Bryant says she was trafficked from South Africa and soon realized it was “not a modeling opportunity, I’ve been kidnapped” By Leigh Kiniry February 17, 2026 CBS News

Juliette Bryant says she first met Jeffrey Epstein when she was a 20-year-old psychology and philosophy student in Cape Town, South Africa, who modeled part time.

Her first interaction with the late American sex offender came by chance, when she was approached on a night out by a girl who offered to introduce her to a man who she said was described to her as American royalty.

“She said she knew a man who was here who was the ‘King Of America,’ and he was here with Bill Clinton and Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker. She told me that his best friend Leslie Wexner owns Victoria’s Secret and it would be a very good idea for me to meet them because it could possibly help with my modeling career,” Bryant told CBS News on Sunday. “So we went along to the restaurant where they were having dinner down the road. And sure enough, there they were. Bill Clinton, Kevin Spacey, Chris Tucker, Jeffrey Epstein, and a few government officials from South Africa.”

Bryant does not accuse Clinton, Spacey or Tucker of any wrongdoing, and she said her interaction with the men at the table was brief, lasting only about five minutes. But the next day she received a call from the girl who made the introduction, telling her that Epstein would like to see her modeling portfolio. “Epstein said he thought I’d be great for Victoria’s Secret, and they left that day, but his office started phoning and arranging me a visa and tickets and everything,” Bryant told CBS News. “You know, I didn’t have money or anything, but they said don’t worry, they will deduct all my expenses from the income I made when I was there.”….

Earlier this month, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that the Polish government would create an analytical team to examine whether Polish children were abused via criminal networks connected to Epstein. Tusk also said “links between Epstein and the entire pedophile circle and the Russian special services,” would be investigated.…

Bryant said very soon after she arrived in New York, she was told she would be heading to the Caribbean, to Epstein’s private island. “I obviously assumed it was for a modeling shoot,” she said. “We went to Teterboro airport and they were waiting on the airplane there, and you know, nothing was ever checked at any of these airports. They didn’t check our passports, our luggage, nothing.”

Bryant said her passport was taken from her on board, and she was then sexually assaulted.  “As the airplane took off, he [Epstein] started touching me forcibly in between my legs, and I freaked out. I realized, this is not a modeling opportunity, I’ve been kidnapped,” Bryant told CBS News. “They whisked me away to the island and then I was stuck there. They never arranged any modeling opportunities, I was basically completely conned.”

Bryant said that for the next few years of her life, she was trafficked by Epstein. Her account of where she first met Epstein lines up with a time period during which Epstein lent his plane to former President Bill Clinton as part of a Clinton Foundation trip to Africa. Bryant was eventually compensated as part of both the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Program in 2020 and a separate settlement with JP Morgan Chase in 2023….https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epstein-files-juliette-bryant-trafficked-from-south-africa-assaulted-on-jet/

 

Sydney property manager with alleged ties to ‘satanic’ paedophile ring denied bail By crime reporter Ethan Rix Tue 3 Feb 2026

A 62-year-old Sydney property manager and alleged member of a “satanic” child sexual abuse material ring has been denied bail. Magistrate Alison Viney told the court the contents of the material found by police was “concerning and horrific”. Five other men have been charged as part of the investigation and remain before the courts.

A Sydney property manager and alleged member of a “satanic” child sex abuse material ring has been denied bail after “extremely graphic, violent and depraved” material was allegedly found on his devices, a court has heard. Colin Milne is the sixth person to be charged after a probe allegedly uncovered a Sydney-based paedophile network involved in possessing, facilitating, and distributing “ritualistic or satanic” themed child sexual abuse material through an international website….

Commonwealth Prosecutor Ania Dutka told the court the charges against Mr Milne related to at least 50 individual images and 10 videos, including the abuse of “infants, babies and children”. “The [alleged] facts reveal the extremely graphic, violent and depraved nature of child sex abuse material found on the accused’s devices,” Ms Dutka said. “Investigators have also found a large volume of material … in relation to the physical and sexual abuse of animals.”….

Mr Milne has been charged with using a carriage service to transmit and access child abuse material, disseminating bestiality and animal crush material, and participating in a criminal group contributing to criminal activity….

Five other people are currently before court over their alleged links to the paedophile network.…

But, they said investigators had identified a further 145 alleged offenders internationally, with referrals being made to law enforcement agencies within Australia, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, New Zealand, South America and South-East Asia. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-04/sixth-man-charged-in-sydney-over-alleged-satanic-sex-abuse-ring/106302516

 

What It’s Like to Live With One of Psychiatry’s Most Misunderstood Diagnoses – Spurred by her past struggles with dissociative identity disorder, she has devoted her professional life to studying it. By Maggie Jones

Maggie Jones interviewed more than two dozen people who have been diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder along with nearly 20 experts.  Jan. 30, 2026…. Experts in trauma have long argued that D.I.D. is an ingenious survival tool born in childhood. It typically begins by the time a child is 5 or 6 as a response to repeated abuse, often by a caregiver. Before about 6 years old, children generally have not yet formed a coherent sense of self. They may have imaginary friends or displace their own thoughts or feelings onto stuffed animals. (“My bunny is sad. He hates school.”) They may believe they will become a princess or Superman. It’s all psychologically typical, and over time, most children develop a unified self.

But for a small subset of abused children who have a capacity to dissociate — which experts theorize is in part genetic — developing a unified self becomes disrupted. To endure the physical and emotional pain, their mind makes it seem as if it is not happening to them but to someone else, someone inside them. “When it’s too overwhelming to feel such fear, too dangerous to feel what is happening to their body, they feel like that’s not me,” Kaufman says, noting that the phrase “me, not me” captures a core feeling for people living with D.I.D. And because children frequently don’t tell anyone about the abuse, the feeling of having inside people can be soothing.

Often people with D.I.D. unconsciously create an angry “part” as a protective mechanism, which tries to silence other parts that bring up traumatic memories. Many girls create boy parts, explains Richard Chefetz, a psychiatrist who treats people with complex post-trauma and dissociative disorder, because they believe if they were male, the abuse would not have happened. Other parts — like Kaufman’s nice lady who helped her speak in class — have certain skills that keep children engaged in school and in the larger world and help them experience humor, joy, hope.

That’s the adaptable aspect. But the flip side is that if a child has D.I.D. their mind doesn’t follow the usual developmental pathway to form a coherent self. “It’s like a jigsaw puzzle, where the pieces have never fully been put together,” explains Richard Loewenstein, a pioneer in dissociative research and treatment and the founder of the trauma program at Sheppard Pratt, a psychiatric medical center in Baltimore. While we all have self-states — a work state, a social state, a family state and so on — “most people who are well integrated can move among their different parts” without feeling unstable, says Frank Putnam, an expert on child abuse and dissociative disorders and a professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

Most people, too, experience some dissociation — when they drive from the grocery store to home with little memory of how they got there, or they lose track of time while immersed in a video game. But for those with dissociative disorders, the experiences are more pervasive, intense and disruptive. They may regularly feel disconnected from their thoughts, feelings or bodily sensations, a psychological phenomenon known as depersonalization. They may also experience derealization, in which the world seems blurry, dreamlike or unreal.

People with D.I.D. have both, along with fragmented self-states, which often cause them distress and can make daily functioning difficult: Among other things, one self-state can be unaware of actions taken by another state….

But in contrast to the 1980s and 1990s, neuroscientists now have more clues about how severe dissociation appears in the brain. In the late 1990s, Ruth Lanius, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist who is the director of the PTSD research unit at the University of Western Ontario, was running a PTSD study using a standard approach for measuring responses to trauma memories: A person narrates a memory, which is recorded and then played back during an fMRI scan. Typically, the subject’s heart rate, blood pressure and activity in their amygdala — which facilitates the fear response — increases.

One subject had been so horrifically abused as a child that Lanius expected the narrated memory would trigger a flashback and the woman would feel as if she were reliving her trauma, causing her heart rate to spike. Instead, to Lanius’s surprise, as the woman lay in the scanner, her heart rate dropped. Lanius had her listen to her trauma narrative two more times with the same result. When she interviewed the woman afterward, the subject said she felt numb and completely disconnected from her body. In further studies, Lanius was able to pinpoint areas of the brain that suggest subjects like her have a dissociative subtype of PTSD. In response to trauma, their brains — unlike classic PTSD patients’ — blunt arousal: Activity in their amygdala decreases, while processing in a part of the frontal lobe, where emotions are controlled, increases…..   More recently, Simone Reinders, a neuroscientist at King’s College in London, has published multiple imaging studies about D.I.D., including those in which actors were told to mimic different dissociative states. The actors could not match the neural responses of those diagnosed with D.I.D…. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/magazine/dissociative-identity-disorder-mental-health.html?smid=url-share

 

A Randomized Controlled Trial Assists Individuals With Complex Trauma and Dissociation in Finding Solid Ground – Brand, B. L., Schielke, H. J., Putnam, K., Pierorazio, N. A., Nester, M. S., Robertson, J., Myrick, A. C., Loewenstein, R. J., Putnam, F. W., Steele, K., Boon, S., & Lanius, R. A. (2025). A randomized controlled trial assists individuals with complex trauma and dissociation in Finding Solid Ground.Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 17(8), 1717–1727. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001871

Objective: Evidence-based treatments are urgently needed for individuals with trauma-related dissociation (TRD), including severe dissociative disorders, the dissociative posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) subtype, and complex PTSD (International Classification of Diseases-10). TRD is strongly associated with severe trauma, a more refractory treatment course, and high suicidality and nonsuicidal self-injury. We evaluated changes in symptoms and adaptive capacities in individuals with high TRD through participation in an adjunctive online program based on the Finding Solid Ground (FSG) psychoeducational program. Method: We provide an interim report on an ongoing, randomized controlled trial of FSG on an international sample of 291 outpatients with dissociative identity disorder, dissociative PTSD, other specified dissociative disorders, complex PTSD, or dissociative disorder, unspecified (International Classification of Diseases-10). Outpatient therapists continued to provide psychotherapy. Participants were randomly assigned to either receive immediate access to FSG or be on a 6-month waitlist before accessing FSG. We did not exclude for suicidality, nonsuicidal self-injury, recent or concurrent hospitalization, or substance abuse. Results: Although initially comparable on outcome measures, at 6 months into the study, the Immediate FSG group showed significant improvement in emotion regulation, PTSD symptoms, self-compassion, and adaptive capacities in comparison to the Waitlist group. At 12 months, the Immediate group showed large effect size changes in these areas compared to study entry ( tra_17_8_1717_math1.gif s = 0.95–1.32). The Waitlist group showed comparable improvements after accessing the FSG program for 6 months. Conclusions: This randomized controlled trial demonstrates that adding FSG to psychotherapy of individuals with TRD results in improvements in emotion regulation, PTSD symptoms, self-compassion, and adaptive functioning.

Prospective and retrospective cross-cultural studies in clinical and general population samples of children, adolescents, and adults find that dissociation is a partially genetically mediated, transdiagnostic psychobiological process related to trauma (American Psychiatric Association, 2022; Loewenstein, 2018). Studies demonstrate that high levels of dissociation are linked to multiple types of severe trauma, most commonly childhood maltreatment and/or neglect. Dissociation is associated with earlier age of onset, greater severity, and longer duration of maltreatment and, particularly, maltreatment by primary attachment figures (Dutra et al., 2009; Lyssenko et al., 2018; Vonderlin et al., 2018). The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition, text revision dissociative disorders (DDs) are strongly linked to antecedent trauma, particularly the most symptomatically severe and complex DDs (CDDs), dissociative identity disorder (DID), and other specified dissociative disorders….

These findings indicate that FSG offers an evidence-based method to assist dissociative patients and the therapists that work with them. Such materials may also be of particular help to clinicians learning how to better serve these populations (Kumar et al., 2022; Nester, Hawkins, & Brand, 2022). A major strength of FSG is its systematically structured, sequential approach to psychoeducation and skill-building that emphasizes individualized pacing. This program allows for repeated access to educational materials and appears to help both patients and therapists to conceptualize and work systematically on basic goals of trauma treatment: stabilization of severe symptoms and development of safety and recovery-based ways to self-regulate. This is the antithesis of the approach proposed by researchers who advocate rapid, intensive focus on trauma processing (e.g., van Minnen & Tibben, 2021) and who aver that stabilization is unnecessary for trauma treatment. In our model, stabilization is defined as developing recovery-oriented self-regulation that reduces reliance on high-risk behaviors, including NSSI and substance abuse. These behaviors drive treatment at more restrictive levels of care and may disrupt therapy; increase treatment costs; and reinforce a sense of failure, shame, and demoralization.

Stabilization of dissociative symptoms is another defining aspect of stabilization. Dissociation declined over time for participants in both groups….

This RCT shows that FSG is an evidence-based stabilization-focused program for individuals demonstrating high levels of trauma-related dissociation and substantial comorbidities. The effect sizes were large for symptom improvements after 1 year of FSG. In view of the challenges and high health care costs associated with trauma and dissociation, it is promising that this program is associated with amelioration of severe symptoms, adaptive capacities, and self-compassion. The inclusion of patients irrespective of the severity of their symptoms, safety issues, or other comorbid conditions suggests broad applicability of this program.  https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2025-86664-001.html

 

Easy-to-understand Summary: Finding Solid Ground Program – What is the Finding Solid Ground program, and how is it unique?

 Finding Solid Ground is a program that Ruth Lanius co-developed with Bethany Brand and Hygge Schielke, and they co-authored the book for clinicians and workbook for clients on this innovative approach for helping people with dissociative disorders. Finding Solid Ground is the first research-backed program for trauma-related dissociative disorders.  Finding Solid Ground is a program that Ruth Lanius co-developed with Bethany Brand and Hygge Schielke, and they co-authored the book for clinicians and workbook for clients on this innovative approach for helping people with dissociative disorders. Finding Solid Ground is the first research-backed program for trauma-related dissociative disorders.

Unlike trauma treatments that focus solely on narrative or exposure-based work, Finding Solid Ground begins by helping clients build the foundational skills needed for emotional and relational safety. The book and workbook guide therapists and clients through the program, which provides an evidence-informed, practical, and accessible approach for the stabilization and treatment of patients with complex trauma and dissociation. You can learn more about the book and workbook on our Books page.

The Finding Solid Ground program teaches 4 crucial skills: Grounding, Separating past from present,  Healthy ways of regulating emotions,  Getting healthy needs met safely

Complex trauma refers to repeated and prolonged exposure to traumatic events – often during childhood, and at the hands of parents and/or other early attachment figures.  Dissociative disorders, including the dissociative subtype of PTSD, involve feelings of significant disconnection, including disconnection from one’s body, emotions, memories, surroundings, and/or personal identity.  Typically, this type of disconnection begins as a way to endure terrifying events when physical escape is not possible, for example during physical abuse, military combat, or a horrific car accident.

At its core, dissociation is a survival response, and one that can become automatic whenever a threat, or perceived threat, is present or approaching.  While this response can help someone get through horrible experiences, it is difficult to “turn off”, even after the person is safe and the threat is long gone.  Dissociation can really disrupt people’s lives by interfering with their ability to emotionally connect with family and friends, to notice sensations in their own body (hunger, pain, etc.), to know who they are/what they want, and to navigate their environment, to name just a few examples.  For this reason, it is important for us to find an effective treatment for dissociative disorders.  https://www.ruthlanius.com/finding-solid-ground-summaries

 

 

February 22, 2026 · Filed Under Newsletter 2026 - Issue 186 - 191

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