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The children do everything together. They are taught together, do military training together. They tell each other secrets. They are also frequently friends in the daytime as well. They are taught to cross access each other just as real siblings would be. But at some point, they will be forced to hurt each other. If one “twin” is considered expendable, the ultimate set up will be one in which one twin is forced to die while the other watches. One twin may gather secrets from the other twin, be forced to disclose them to a trainer or cult leader, then may be forced to kill the other. One twin may be forced to hit, or hurt the other. If they refuse, the other twin will be brutalized by the trainer, and the refusing twin told that the child was hurt because of their refusal to comply. Many setups will involve one twin being forced to betray the other, turning on the other child after intense programming. This betrayal set up will devastate both children, and they will learn the true lesson: trust no one. Betray, or be betrayed. The children will also have adult role models on every hand, since the cult is a very political, hierarchical, back stabbing society. Adults are constantly betraying each other, stepping over each other to move up. The children will watch one adult being praised, advanced, because they betrayed others below them, or set them up to fail. The children will learn quickly to mimic the adults around them, and both adults and children can become quite cynical as to human nature. They will have seen it at its worst, whether in training sessions, the brutality of a C.O. in military, or the gossip and back stabbing that occurs before and after rituals. They also incorporate the message internally: play the game, or be run over. Even the youngest children learn to manipulate others adeptly, at a very young age, while the adults laugh at how quickly they are learning adult ways. People manipulation is considered a fine art in the cult, and those who do it best, as in any group, often win out. Suggestions: Betrayal programming may have totally shattered the survivor’s trust in outside people. It will take a therapist a long, long time to gain the survivor’s trust. These are people who were taught over and over again that talking, sharing one’s secrets, would be punished harshly. Inside littles will be very cautious at first, not trusting that the therapist is not just another trainer who will one day shout “aha!” and betray them if they begin to trust. This trust building takes time and patience, and must be earned through session after session where the therapist shows trustworthiness and non abusiveness. Survivors will test therapists over and over again, to see if they really are what they say they are. This is a normal part of the therapy process. Survivors may even try to back away from therapy, or outside support, as true caring support will “wig them out”, i.e. conflict incredibly with their world view and experiences prior to leaving the cult. — 147 —
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