Catalog: Loved Ones & Relationships
For people who have lost people over misinformation. Self-care, difficult conversations, and interventions.
This page is one part of the Prism Anti-Misinformation Resources Catalog. See the Table of Contents to navigate to other categories of resources.
Support Groups and Self-Care
r/QAnonCasualties (Reddit)
A public subreddit. Have a friend or loved one taken in by QAnon? Look here for support, resources and a place to vent. Peruse old posts, settle in and relax. Learn to heal, deal and deprogram. Posts should relate to the direct experience of dealing with Q/adjacent folk.
CLAMBAKE (Facebook)
A private Facebook group. Countering Lies and Misinformation by Advancing Knowledge and Empathy, or CLAMBAKE, is a support network for the loved ones of misinformation victims. Members share their stories, ask for advice, listen for understanding, and support one another in a “walled garden” hidden from the view of those outside the group. Membership requests include a short questionnaire and are vetted by the administrators.
Adult Children of Conspiracy Theorists (Facebook)
A private Facebook group. This group aims to assist not only “Adult Children,” but friends, relatives, siblings and co-workers of conspiracy theorists. In this group, the administrators want to create an environment of support, a safe place to vent and share information.
A free online Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training course created by a fully certified MBSR instructor and based on the program founded by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Can be helpful for anyone facing a stressful situation in their home, personal life, or external environment.
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Handling Difficult Situations
How to speak up without starting a showdown (News Literacy Project)
Misinformation is always problematic, but when it appears alongside pet photos and family updates on social media, it can be especially frustrating and unwelcome. It’s one thing if a stranger spreads falsehoods online. But what should we do when we see misinformation shared by family and friends?
How to talk to conspiracy theorists—and still be kind (MIT Technology Review)
Taking lessons from Reddit, some advice for changing the mind of a person who believes in conspiracy theories.
Is there any point in talking to a flat-earther? One philosopher thinks so (Coda Story)
A conversation with the author of the book, ‘How to Talk to a Science Denier.’
How to encourage family and friends to stop spreading misinformation on social media (CNN)
People who share misinformation may have good intentions. Understand intentions and approach from an empathetic place.
Your Friend Doesn’t Want the Vaccine. What Do You Say? (New York Times)
An interactive exercise with a chatbot to explore different approaches to a conversation about COVID-19 vaccines with a skeptical friend.
Vaccination from the Misinformation Virus (PBS)
In the age of social media, we can all be fooled by digital misinformation. This one-hour documentary explains how to overcome our bias to understand why vaccines are safe, crucial to community health and save millions of lives annually.
Carolyn Hax: She refuses to mask or get vaccinated. Can their friendship survive? (Washington Post)
My close friend of many years and I live about an hour away from each other, but we might as well be on distant planets when it comes to covid. Lockdown was extremely stressful for both of us. Since lockdown ended, I have been living carefully: masking up indoors and getting vaccinated ASAP. She has been living confidently, maskless, and refuses to get vaccinated.
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Households Divided by Misinformation
Video: How social media is fueling the political divide (NBC Nightly News)
A new NBC News poll finds that 64% of Americans believe that social media is doing more to divide us than unite us. NBC News’ Jacob Ward looks at why extreme political content is so popular on social media platforms. (Cameo appearance by CLAMBAKE at the end.)
'Full Of Hatred And Fear': Disinformation On YouTube Divided A Dad And Daughter (NPR)
"The last time I saw my dad, he was painting my house," Ekwoge says. "He came and helped paint all weekend. It was nice when we lived closer and had ways to hang out that didn't include nonsense videos." Those "nonsense videos" are about conspiracy theories. They've become a major focus for her father — on topics like COVID-19 and Sept. 11, 2001. He watches them on YouTube.
Documentary: The Brainwashing of My Dad (Sourcebooks)
The truth behind the right-wing media machine that changed a father—and divided the nation.
Dear Annie: My husband refuses to get vaccinated and thinks it’s all a conspiracy (AL.com)
My husband refuses to be vaccinated, and our daughter doesn’t want anyone around her newborn who is not vaccinated. My husband has been a good father, but this is very upsetting to me.
The Parents & Caregivers Guide to Online Youth Radicalization (Southern Poverty Law Center)
In partnership with American University’s Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL), SPLC published this guide to help parents, caregivers and educators understand how extremists exploit online communication to target children and young adults. The guide provides tangible steps to counter the threat of online radicalization, including information on new risks, how to recognize warning signs, and how to get help and engage a radicalized child or young adult.
QAnon Supporters Aren’t Quite Who You Think They Are (Wired)
Only a fraction of them believe the conspiracy theory’s most outlandish claims, according to new polling.
QAnon support among registered voters (Civiqs)
A tracking poll to gauge how broad support for QAnon is in the United States.
How QAnon Is Tearing Families Apart (VICE)
VICE News talked to dozens of people whose lives have been affected by QAnon and found that there is no such thing as a typical Q follower.
‘This Crap Means More to Him Than My Life’: When QAnon Invades American Homes (Anastasiia Carrier via Politico)
What a Reddit forum for "QAnon casualties" can tell us about the conspiracy theory scrambling American politics.
QAnon Almost Destroyed My Relationship. Then My Relationship Saved Me From QAnon. (Anastasiia Carrier via Politico)
How Covid isolation and supporting Bernie Sanders primed me to be sucked into a dark conspiracy theory.
Accounts from people who have lived through the ordeal of seeing family disrupted by misinformation.
The moment QAnon took the person I love most (BBC)
Nicole had experienced a panic attack after 10 months of watching her mother disappear into her phone screen, and a world of conspiracy theories. Specifically, QAnon - an expansive movement that has inspired protests, split families and continues to find new followers online.
My Mom Believes In QAnon. I’ve Been Trying To Get Her Out. (BuzzFeed News)
Because she sees me as a member of “the liberal media,” it’s impossible to persuade her.
I’m a Parkland Shooting Survivor. QAnon Convinced My Dad It Was All a Hoax. (VICE)
Bill had worked hard to get over his survivor’s guilt after the shooting, but for the past five months, his own father has been triggering it all over again.
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Rescuing Victims
'Exit Counselors' Strain To Pull Americans Out Of A Web Of False Conspiracies (NPR)
An alarming number of Americans have mistaken several false conspiracy theories for truth. While delusional conspiracy theories go way back, experts say right-wing disinformation, in particular, is now spinning out on an unprecedented scale.
The Growing Threat Of Disinformation And How To 'Deprogram' People Who Believe It (NPR)
Disinformation isn't new. But in the last decade, the growth of social media has made it easier than ever to spread. That coincided with the political rise of Donald Trump, who rose to power on a wave of disinformation and exited the White House in similar fashion. NPR's Tovia Smith reports on the growing threat of disinformation — and how expert deprogrammers work with people who believe it.
Changing Conspiracy Beliefs through Rationality and Ridiculing (Gábor Orosz, Péter Krekó, Benedek Paskuj, István Tóth-Király, Beáta Bőthe, and Christine Roland-Lévy via Frontiers in Psychology)
SUMMARY: Rational and ridiculing arguments were effective in reducing belief in conspiracy theories (CT), whereas empathizing with the targets of CTs had no effect. Individual differences played no role in CT reduction, but the perceived intelligence and competence of the individual who conveyed the CT belief-reduction information contributed to the success of the CT belief reduction. Rational arguments targeting the link between the object of belief and its characteristics appear to be an effective tool in fighting conspiracy theory beliefs.
Why QAnon followers are like opioid addicts, and why that matters (Sophia Moskalenko and Mia Bloom via NBC News Opinion)
QAnon, like the painkiller abuse epidemic driven by the drug oxycodone, engulfs people who are most vulnerable to its content. Prolonged exposure to QAnon content exacerbates or even triggers mental illness, as watching video after video about horrific devastation can have a detrimental effect on anyone’s mental health. The internet platforms through which most QAnon followers consume content are deliberately structured to sustain user engagement and foster a kind of addiction. QAnon offers a quick “fix” for feelings of loneliness, fear and anger that those in pain want to alleviate. Individuals who seek out online communities often do so because they feel isolated and lonely.
Graphic: How I Fell Down the QAnon Rabbit Hole (@alexandereylar via Twitter)
Begin with a distrust of establishment, codified by a huge crisis, nurtured by the Internet, and reinforced by religion and spirituality.
Some QAnon Supporters Checked By Reality Seek A Way Out (Huffington Post)
“Hi my name is Joe,” one man wrote on a Q recovery channel in Telegram. “And I’m a recovering QAnoner.”
She was stunned by Biden's inauguration. How this South Carolina mom escaped QAnon. (CNN)
On the morning of January 20th, 2021, Trump flew out of Washington to his new home in Florida and Biden became the 46th President of the United States.
"I was devastated," Vanderbilt recalls. "Instantly, I went into panic mode."
She called her mom who was at work. "I just told her it's like we're all going to die. We're going to be owned by China. And I was like, I might have to pull my daughter out of school because they're going to take her."
Trump's QAnon followers are a dangerous cult. How to save someone who's been brainwashed. (Steven Hassan via NBC News Opinion)
Don't use words like "conspiracy theory" or "brainwashed." That could cause people to avoid you entirely, spend more time online and slide further down into the QAnon world.
Thousands of People Are Trying to Leave QAnon, but Getting Out Is Almost Impossible (Cosmopolitan)
Women on both sides—the former believers and the doctors they’re turning to—show us what it takes to escape.