The Ritual Abuse Controversy

. Although Dr. Ross has found no evidence of a widespread Satanic network, he is open to the possibility that a certain percentage of his patients' memories may be entirely or partially historically accurate. In treatment, he recommends that the therapist adopt an attitude hovering between disbelief and credulous entrapment.

The ritual abuse of children is the most controversial issue in the child maltreatment field, but much of what has been written about ritual abuse over the past twenty years is in the form of unpublished and endlessly reproduced “stuff”—a curious mixture of conjecture, folkloric and pop-culture representations of satanism, devil worship, occultism and witchcraft, and Christian Fundamentalist images of premillennarian evil. What remains after this “stuff” is excluded is an intriguing body of international literature that seriously examines the controversy. This annotated bibliography dissects the literature, objectively and thoroughly annotates published articles, books and reports, legal opinions, and occasionally, thought-provoking newspaper and magazine articles. Chapters deal with the definition of ritual abuse, ritual abuse cases in the United States, cases in American families and neighborhoods, cases in Canada, Europe and Australasia, clinical features of ritual abuse in children and adults, the controversy’s impact on professionals and systems, the controversy and American law, ritual abuse reports and narratives, and anthropological, folkloric and sociological perspectives.

Since the mid-1980s, when stories of ritualized satanic or sadistic abuse drastically increased, ritual abuse has become entangled in the controversy surrounding false memory syndrome and recovered memory. Because this debate has not been conclusively resolved, therapists require methods and guidelines for treating patients who present a history that may involve abusive satanic or sadistic rituals. In The Dilemma of Ritual Abuse, experts in the field offer balanced, carefully considered advice on approaches therapists can use when patients report they have experienced ritual abuse. These qualified clinicians explain and demonstrate their techniques and offer caveats against accepting a patient's recollections at face value. Additional chapters deal with psychological and pharmacological treatment programs that have helped patients whether the reports of abuse were accurate, symbolic, or false. Several illustrations vividly depict the types of abuse that therapists will hear from these patients. For further guidance, an appendix containing the American Psychiatric Association Board of Trustees' "Statement on Memories of Sexual Abuse" is also included.

The authors bring together leading researchers in the fields of forsenic psychiatry, multiple personality and dissociative disorders, traumatic stress, and religious studies, as well as an FBI agent and two survivors of ritual abuse, to offer a balanced look at the deeply troubling phenomenon of satanism.

People who have survived ritual abuse or mind control experiments have often been silenced, accused of lying, mocked and disbelieved. Clinicians working with survivors often find themselves isolated, facing the same levels of disbelief and denial from other professionals within the mental health field. This report - based on proceedings from a conference on the subject - presents knowledge and experience from both clinicians and survivors to promote understanding and recovery from organized and ritual abuse, mind control and programming. The book combines clinical presentations, survivors' voices, and research material to help address the ways in which we can work clinically with mind control and cult programming from the perspective of relational psychotherapy.

A personal but also scholarly journey into the clandestine and confusing world of ritual abuse, this book provides unique insights into the catastrophic experiences of ritual abuse survivors and their efforts to find healing through psychological treatment. This revised edition provides contemporary revelations about cults in existence today and also new therapies developed since the first edition was published in 1995. Co-authored by a clinical psychologist and the executive director of a professional organization dedicated to treating survivors of cult and ritual abuse, this edition will be of interest to both academic and professional markets. The special legal dilemmas, survival problems and day-to-day life experiences of these survivors are examined in a scholarly but sensitive manner. The book presents the idea that ritual abuse is an age-old phenomenon found in many cultures throughout the world. That ritual abuse causes a variety of specific psychiatric symptoms is noted. Special attention is given to the diagnosis dissociative identity disorder that is frequently found among ritual abuse survivors. Suggestions are offered for effectively dealing with the various social and legal problems that result from this severe form of abuse. New diagnoses--cult and ritual trauma disorder--are proposed for this newly identified problem.

"A best-seller, Michelle Remembers was the first book written on the subject of satanic ritual abuse and is an important part of the controversies beginning in the 1980s regarding satanic ritual abuse and "recovered" memory. The book has subsequently been discredited by several investigations which found no corroboration of the book's events, and that the events described in the book were extremely unlikely and in some cases impossible. ... Soon after the book's publication, Pazder was forced to withdraw his assertion that it was the Church of Satan that had abused Smith when Anton LaVey (who founded the church years after the alleged events of Michelle Remembers) threatened to sue for libel"--Wikipedia.

Are there satanic cults? If so, how widespread are they? Is there a correlation between "satanism" and child abuse?These difficult questions must be answered every year by thousands of therapists and law enforcement officials. Out of Darkness shows how to understand, evaluate, and treat patients who--real or not--present themselves as victims of satanic cults and ritual abuse.This book takes a very thorough and balanced look at these controversial topics, bringing together leading researchers in forensic psychiatry, dissociative disorders, traumatic stress, and religious studies, as well as an FBI agent and two alleged survivors of ritual abuse.The authors maintain an attitude of both scientific skepticism and clinical empathy in their exploration of these disturbing events. In this comprehensive, compassionate and realistic book they provide** a brief history of actual satanic religions, including religious groups who perform no illegal activities** critical analysis and alternative explanations for the widespread epidemic of claims of ritual abuse** an excellent law-enforcement perspective on allegations of satanic abuse** insight into distinguishing between the various types of children and adults who report having been traumatized by ritual abuse