Synopses & Reviews
The early pioneers who spoke out about child abuse were disbelieved, but today its prevalence is culturally understood and professional help is readily available. In this more open context, both children and adults are disclosing extremely painful experiences of abuse carried out within organised settings. Yet again the response is disbelief and denial. In Treating Survivors of Satanist Abuse, professionals working with these problems join together to look at the predicament of all those involved.
Synopsis
"Treating Survivors of Satanist Abuse" defines, describes and deals with the clinical issues surrounding the treatment of survivors of ritual satanist abuse. Ritualist abuse is a double trauma--both a physical and mental torture--that is becoming increasingly more frequent and yet continues to face societal disbelief.
Contributors from the US and the UK--including Dr. Jean Goodwin, Pamela Hudson, Dr. Mary Sue Moore and Dr. Sandra L. Bloom--examine the historical foundations of this type of abuse, look at clinical accounts from both children and adults and trace the various ways in which victims communicate their horrific experiences. The book offers definitions of ritual satanist abuse and analyzes some of the reasons for societal disbelief. It also considers what changes have to be made in standard psychoanalytic psychotherapy technique to deal with such patients and discusses the ethical issues involved over confidentiality and initial professional action when child and adult patients are reporting the appalling crimes in which they have been involved.