Forensic Considerations in Ritual Trauma Cases (Part 2) - Page 9

A. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL COMPONENT

As mentioned earlier, the development of dissociation and DID are an intended result of ritual trauma. Virtually every individual who survives cult victimization and indoctrination necessarily develops an ability to dissociate. Dissociation is a psychological process that permits a person to separate him/herself from his/her thoughts, feelings, and actions, particularly during an overwhelmingly traumatic or life-threatening event or experience. This process can produce changes in memory and allow the individual to function as if the trauma had not occurred. In effect, it is the psyche's way of surviving an otherwise impossible situation while preserving some area of healthy functioning.

Dissociation, and more specifically DID, are psychological conditions which also permit perpetrators of ritual trauma and abuse to function in a contradictory "Jekyll and Hyde" manner - exhibiting more "normal" personalities by day, and "ritual" personalities by night. It is impossible to understand ritual abuse without comprehending the roles that dissociation and DID play in the process. For example, females are often programmed to be "amnesic" about their cult involvement during their child-bearing years, ensuring the cult regular access to any offspring for early indoctrination.

Since dissociation can be a natural consequence of abuse and trauma and is so prevalent in cases involving ritual trauma, professionals should pay particular attention to any dissociative symptom in a child who is alleged to have been abused - sexually or otherwise. Many of the signs and symptoms listed in Section III of this material directly relate to dissociation that may have ensued as a result of ritual trauma. Furthermore, once dissociation and DID are understood and accepted as a sad reality of this type of abuse, no professional assessing or investigating a case should be surprised or offended if an alleged perpetrator neither looks nor acts “capable” of engaging in behavior as heinous and offensive as ritual trauma. To use a well-known maxim: it is, unfortunately, the “nature of the beast.”

B. TECHNIQUES AND METHODOLOGY USED BY PERPETRATORS

Perpetrators of ritual trauma desire total and complete control over their victims. Effectively, this means robbing a victim of his or her “will,” including the will to live or die. To a victim, the “choice” is often presented as "allegiance to the cult" or "death to self or others," which serves as a powerful deterrent to disclosure. Breaking the child psychologically through fear, intimidation, and severe trauma is one of the first steps. The use of drugs to further the dissociative process is common, and in sophisticated or “orthodox” cults, this may actually occur while the child is still in utero.

For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Sylvia Gillotte, attorney's Ritual Abuse topic, please visit the Discussions page.