Ritual Abuse: Conceptions and Reality

Abstract

This paper questions the growing tendency to regard `ritual abuse' as an additional category of child maltreatment, alongside physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and neglect. There are problems with the definition of all forms of abuse, and the adoption of different criteria for what constitutes a `case' has major effects on estimates of prevalence and effects and on treatment and prevention considerations. Ritual abuse raises a number of special conceptual difficulties and the process of `diagnosis' (recognizing a case) is beset with problems. Some cases which might be recognized as examples of ritual abuse reflect an abusive motive of the perpetrator, but others do not. Some actions which might be considered abusive reflect the practices of organized religious groups. Child-protection issues can be adequately addressed in all cases by applying the established categorization system and avoiding the addition of `ritual abuse' as a separate category.