On Trauma Tuesday, I talked about the cycles of emotions that go hand-in-hand with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I also mentioned ritual abuse in passing, but I don’t think I have ever written a blog entry explaining what ritual abuse is. So, that will be my focus today.

If you think about regular child abuse as being like street crime, ritual abuse is more like organized crime. Typical child abuse is comitted either in the heat of the moment (physical abuse) or as an urge (sexual abuse). One abuser is involved, and that abuser wants to keep the abuse a secret from everyone.

Ritual abuse is a conspiracy of child abusers. They work together to harm the child. Rather than just focusing on meeting a perverted need, the child abusers are calculated about trying to break the will of the child. When the child’s will is broken, the child is highly unlikely to “tell.”

Some ritual abuse is tied to child pornography and prostitution. Other forms of ritual abuse are tied to satanic worship. What they all have in common is degrading the child.