Satanic ritual abuse/Bibliography

Books
Richardson JT, Best J, Bromley DG (1991)The Satanism scare Aldine Transaction  ISBN-10: 0202303799

Gould C (1992) Diagnosis and treatment of ritually abused children in Sakheim, D.K. (1992). Out of Darkness: Exploring Satanism and Ritual Abuse. Lexington Books. ISBN 0-669-26962-X.

Nathan D, M. Snedeker (1995) Satan's silence: ritual abuse and the making of a modern American witch hunt. Basic Books. "the authors show how children's testimony was led; nevertheless, civil libertarians shied away from challenging such cases: "demonization of child sexual abuse as society's ultimate evil has rendered it so holy as to be virtually immune to reasoned analysis." The authors believe that real sexual abuse, especially incest, is underreported, and recommend that investigators be better trained as well as granted only limited immunity from malpractice. More broadly, they see a need to educate children in such a way that they develop psychological and sexual integrity." Publishers' Weekly.

Waterman, Jill; Kelly, Robert J.;Oliveri, M. K.;and McCord, Jane (1993). Behind the Playground Walls - Sexual Abuse in Preschools. New York, London: The Guilford Press, 284-8. ISBN 0-89862-523-8.

Peer reviewed articles
Bottoms BL et al. (1997) “Jurors’ reactions to satanic ritual abuse allegations.” Child Abuse and Neglect 21(9):845-59("... highly bizarre details may be discounted by jurors (particularly less religious jurors), but that jurors may set aside their skepticism of satanic ritual details and make judgments about child sexual abuse cases based on their perceptions of the credibility of nonsatanic allegations of harm.")

Coons PM (1994) Reports of satanic ritual abuse: further implications about pseudomemories. Percept Mot Skills 78:1376-8. PMID 7936968

Fraser GA (1990). “Satanic ritual abuse: A cause of multiple personality disorder”. Special issue: In the shadow of Satan: The ritual abuse of children. Journal of Child and Youth Care, 55-60 "Satanic ritual abuse has been identified within the etiology of multiple personality disorder (MPD). Drawing directly from case material, George Fraser offers compelling clinical evidence of how such childhood experiences may lead to dissociation and personality disintegration. In his conclusions Dr. Fraser raises the interesting, though horrifying, possibility that Multiple Personality Disorder may actually contribute to the abuse cycle as individuals become perpetrators without the knowledge of their" primary" personality."

Gelb JL.1993 “Multiple personality disorder and satanic ritual abuse,” Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 27:701-8

Goodyear-Smith FA et al. (1998) Parents and other relatives accused of sexual abuse on the basis of recovered memories: a New Zealand family survey. N Z Med J 111:225-8. PMID 9695750 ( To survey New Zealand families where an alleged perpetrator and/or other family member denies an accusation involving the childhood molestation of one family member by another, based on a memory recovered in adulthood...Many accusations involved events of low base-rate probability including satanic ritual abuse. ... The data suggest that it is unlikely that many, if not most, of the memories of child sexual abuse recovered in adulthood are a true reflection of history)''

Goodman GS et al. 1997 Children's religious knowledge: implications for understanding satanic ritual abuse allegations. Child Abuse Negl 21:1111-30.PMID 9422831 ''("... children do not generally possess sufficient knowledge of satanic ritual abuse to make up false allegations on their own. However, many children have knowledge of satanism as well as nonreligious knowledge of violence, death, and illegal activities. It is possible that such knowledge could prompt an investigation of satanic ritual abuse or possibly serve as a starting point from which an allegation is erected")

Kent S (1993). “Deviant Scripturalism and Ritual Satanic Abuse. II: Possible Masonic, Mormon, Magick, and Pagan influences”. Religion 23(4):355-367

Kent S (1993). “Deviant Scripturalism and Ritual Satanic Abuse Part One: Possible Judeo-Christian Influences”. Religion 23(23):229-241. "This study argues that readily accessible religious texts that often are central to our culture may provide inspiration to people who either want to sanctify their deviance or venerate the reputed god of this world (i.e. Satan). Using interviews and diaries from several alleged survivors, this study compares excerpts from their accounts with doctrinal precedents for satanic ritual abuse in deviant interpretations of the Judeo-Christian tradition. While the article stops short of stating that intergenerational satanic accounts are true, it insists that at least some of them are plausible."

Leavitt F, Labott SM (2000) The role of media and hospital exposure on Rorschach response patterns by patients reporting satanic ritual abuse.” American Journal of Forensic Psychology 18:35-55.

Leavitt F, Labott SM (1998). Revision of the Word Association Test for assessing associations of patients reporting Satanic ritual abuse in childhood. J Clin Psychol 54:933-43. "Based on a sexual history, they were grouped into those reporting sexual abuse, those reporting satanic ritual abuse (SRA), and those without a history of sexual abuse (controls). In both studies, SRA patients gave significantly more total associations, significantly fewer normative associations, and significantly more satanic associations than did the other two groups. These results suggest that an experience base is shared by individuals reporting SRA that is not found in individuals who do not report satanic abuse (even if they do report sexual abuse). The implications of these findings are discussed from the perspective of arguments advanced by advocates and critics of SRA."

Leavitt, F. (1994). “Clinical Correlates of Alleged Satanic Abuse and Less Controversial Sexual Molestation.”. Child Abuse and Neglect: The International Journal 18 (4): 387-92. doi:10.1016/0145-2134(94)90041-8. PMID 8187024  "This study found that 39 women alleging satanic ritual abuse and 47 women reporting less controversial forms of sexual trauma as children were characterized by high but nondiscriminating levels of psychiatric pathology. Patients alleging satanic ritual abuse reported higher levels of dissociation, in the range often exhibited by patients with multiple personality disorders."'

McCully, RS (1978) The laugh of satan: A study of a familial murderer. Personality Assessment 42:81-91

McCully RS. “Satan’s eclipse: A familial murderer six years later.” British J Projective Psychology and Personality 125(2) 1980 pp. 13-7

McShane C (1993) Satanic sexual abuse: A paradigm Affilia; J Women Social Work 8 ("As female survivors of satanic sexual abuse reveal their histories to professionals, it is paramount that social workers be cognizant of the salient issues involved in satanic abuse. This article presents a domination legitimation-resistance paradigm for conceptualizing this form of abuse that delineates its perceived normalcy among both the perpetrator and the survivor and provides information about the barriers to resistance.")

Rockwell RB (1994). One psychiatrists view of Satanic ritual abuse. J Psychohistory 21:443-60.

Rogers ML 1992“The Oude Pekela incident: A case study of alleged SRA from the Netherlands.” Van Benschoten SC (1990) Multiple Personality Disorder and Satanic Ritual Abuse: the Issue Of Credibility Dissociation. III, No. 1 ("...  The MPI) patient's descriptions of experiences within the satanic group can neither be accepted as literally accurate in all respects, nor unequivocally dismissed as untrue. The literal truth is intricately and inextricably woven together with threads of misperception, suggestion, illusion, dissociation, and induced trance phenomena, to form the complex web which becomes the survivor's memories. Objective reality and experiential truth simply can not be disentangled with certainty.")

Special Issue of J Psychol Theol  on Satanic ritual abuse: The current state of knowledge. volume 20 (1992)

Articles
Internet article from The Ross Institute Internet Archives for the Study of Destructive Cults, Controversial Groups and Movements, at

Lanning, Kenneth V. "Satanic Ritual Abuse: A 1992 FBI Report" at. Lanning is identified as a Supervisory Special Agent Behavioral Science Unit National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime. A quotation from his article: "This report documents FBI investigations into allegations of satanic ritual abuse, and essentially describes the consistent lack of evidence supporting these allegations." Extracts from conclusions: ''"There are many possible alternative answers to the question of why victims are alleging things that don't seem to be true. The first step in finding those answers is to admit the possibility that some of what the victims describe may not have happened. ... Some of what the victims allege may be true and accurate, some may be misperceived or distorted, some may be screened or symbolic, and some may be "contaminated" or false. ...The amount of "ritual" child abuse going on in this country depends on how you define the term. One documented example of what I might call "ritual" child abuse was the horror chronicled in the book A Death in White Bear Lake (Siegal, 1990.) The abuse in this case, however, had little to do with anyone's spiritual belief system. There are many children in the United States who, starting early in their lives, are severely psychologically, physically, and sexually traumatized by angry, sadistic parents or other adults. Such abuse, however, is not perpetrated only or primarily by satanists. ...Until hard evidence is obtained and corroborated, the public should not be frightened into believing that babies are being bred and eaten, that 50,000 missing children are being murdered in human sacrifices, or that satanists are taking over America's day care centers or institutions. No one can prove with absolute certainty that such activity has not occurred. The burden of proof, however, as it would be in a criminal prosecution, is on those who claim that it has occurred."''

Benetts, Leslie "Nightmares on Main Street" Vanity Fair, June, 1993, pp 42-62, quote from Pg. 62 "To my surprise, (Lanning) admits he has never talked to a ritual abuse survivor".