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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.
[T]his is the book for which many mental health professionals have been waiting. . . . Inevitably, in an edited collection, there is some repetition but it was useful repetition in that it underscored that fact that experts in a wide variety of locations are fairly much in accord on the issues. . . . A great source book and a balanced appraisal of the subject.
George A. Fraser, M.D., F.R.C.P.C., is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Ottawa Medical School, and Director of the Anxiety and Phobic Disorders Clinic, Royal Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, Ontario.
Clinical Experience. A credulous skeptic's approach to cults and multiple personality disorder. Hypnosis and memory: a cautionary chapter. Overview of the treatment of patients alleging that they have suffered ritualized or sadistic abuse. Recognition and special treatment issues in patients reporting childhood sadistic ritual abuse. Satanic ritual abuse: first research and therapeutic implications. Ritual abuse: lessons learned as a therapist. Ritual abuse in European countries: a clinician's perspective. Special Techniques and Issues. Pharmacological guidelines for sadistically abused patients: from routine to critical issues. Visions of memories: a patient's visual representation of ritual abuse ceremonies. The court system and the problem of hypnotically recovered memories : a forensic psychiatrist's concerns. Teen involvement in the occult. Appendix: Statement on memories of sexual abuse. Index.