NCJ Number
129327
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 15 Issue: 3 Dated: (1991) Pages: 181-189
Date Published
1991
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Thirty-seven adult patients being treated for dissociative disorders reported childhood ritualistic abuse committed by various satanic cults.
Abstract
The most common forms of ritual abuse included sexual abuse, forced drug usage, witnessing and receiving physical torture, death threats, and witnessing infant sacrifice and adult murder. The clinical syndrome associated with these patients represents a set of symptoms including unusual fears, survivor guilt, indoctrinated beliefs, substance abuse, severe post-traumatic stress disorder, bizarre self-abuse, sexualization of sadistic impulses, and dissociative states. The clinical pictures raises questions of reliability, verifiability, and credibility. Although patients with similar stories came from different locations and had minimal contact with each other, their stories could have been based on media reports of satanic cult activity, impaired recall of childhood sexual abuse, and other internal misperceptions caused by their dissociated states. Confirmatory data and hard evidence was difficult but not impossible to obtain, and credibility could not be established. It is only possible at this time to describe a clinical syndrome of patients who report ritualistic childhood abuse. 2 tables and 29 references (Author abstract modified)