PSYCHOLOGICAL SEQUELAE IN ADULT FEMALES REPORTING CHILDHOOD RITUALISTIC ABUSE

The present study sought to increase current scientific knowledge abou t the controversial issue of subjectively reported childhood ritualist ic abuse by addressing several key unresolved issues. In particular, t he possibility that those reporting ritualistic abuse may be character ized primarily by the severity of their abuse histories or the severit y of their present psychological symptoms, rather than the veridicalit y of the ritualistic events, was explored. Adult female outpatients re porting childhood sexual abuse with ritualistic features were compared with a second group of women who reported childhood sexual abuse with out ritualism. Measures included characteristics of childhood sexual a nd physical abuse, current posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagno stic status and symptom severity, and severity of current dissociative experiences. Women reporting ritualistic features scored significantl y higher on measures of childhood sexual and physical abuse. Neither P TSD diagnostic status nor severity for PTSD nor dissociative experienc es were significantly different between the groups. While preliminary in nature, these results suggest that it may be helpful to conceptuali ze reported childhood ritualistic abuse as indicative of the need to a ssess carefully for severe abuse and its predictable sequelae within e xisting traumatic victimization conceptual frameworks.