What hysteria?, Cult and Ritual abuse reviews
from _http://ritualabuse.us_ (http://ritualabuse.us)
What hysteria? A systematic study of newspaper coverage of accused child
molesters - Ross E. Cheit - Child Abuse & Neglect 27 (2003) 607-623 Results:
Most defendants (56.1%) were not mentioned in the newspaper. Factors
associated with a greater chance of coverage include: cases involving
first-degree charges, cases with multiple counts,cases involving additional
violence
or multiple victims, and cases resulting in long prison sentences. The data
indicate that the press exaggerates “stranger danger,” while
intra-familial cases are underreported. Newspaper accounts also minimize the
extent to
which guilty defendants avoid prison. Conclusions: Generalizing about the
nature of child molestation cases in criminal court on the basis of newspaper
coverage is inappropriate. The coverage is less extensive than often
claimed, and it is skewed in ways that are typical of the mass
media....Conclusions - The findings in this study dispute many popular claims
about “media
hysteria” over child sexual abuse. Based on a comprehensive analysis of all
those charged with this crime in Rhode Island in 1 year, it is clear that
the coverage was generally limited and often nonexistent. More than half the
people charged with child molestation never had their name in the
newspaper. Only a handful of those covered received anything more than a few
stories, and much of that in brief “fillers” (under 200 words). The lack of
support for the “hysteria” position is all the more significant because most
of the coverage in this study was in 1993. That is the year that Jenkins
(1996) called “the peak of media concern” about pedophile priests. Newsweek
had a cover story in 1993 about the so-called “hysteria” about child sexual
abuse (Shapiro, 1993). This study suggests that the hysteria narrative
does not have comprehensive empirical support in the real world. Like an urban
legend, this narrative is continually told and accepted without
appropriate skepticism.
_http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V7N-48NC1DN-8&_u
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Cult and ritual abuse: Its history, anthropology, and recent discovery in
contemporary America, (rev.ed.). Noblitt, James Randall; Perskin, Pamela
Sue Westport, CT, US: Praeger Publishers/Greenwood Publishing Group. (2000).
xvii, 269 pp. Abstract A personal but also scholarly journey into the
clandestine and confusing world of ritual abuse, this book provides unique
insights into the catastrophic experiences of ritual abuse survivors and their
efforts to find healing through psychological treatment. This revised
edition provides contemporary revelations about cults in existence today and
also
new therapies developed since the first edition was published in 1995. The
special legal dilemmas, survival problems and day-to-day life experiences
of these survivors are examined in a scholarly but sensitive manner. The
book presents the idea that ritual abuse is an age-old phenomenon found in
many cultures throughout the world. That ritual abuse causes a variety of
specific psychiatric symptoms is noted. Special attention is given to the
diagnosis dissociative identity disorder that is frequently found among ritual
abuse survivors. Suggestions are offered for effectively dealing with the
various social and legal problems that result from this severe form of
abuse. New diagnoses--cult and ritual trauma disorder--are proposed for this
newly identified problem.
_http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=2000-05295-000_
(http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=2000-05295-000)
Cult and Ritual Abuse: Sadism Not Sophism A review of Cult and Ritual
Abuse: Its History, Anthropology, and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America
(Rev. ed.) by James Randall Noblitt and Pamela Sue Perskin Westport, CT:
Praeger/Greenwood, 2000. 269 pp. ISBN 0-275-96665-8. $24.95 paperback Reviewed
by John Schmuttermaier The authors provide a comprehensive and
well-documented account of the two forms of ritualized abused: ritual abuse
and
satanic ritual abuse.... At first, Noblitt was incredulous and did not take
his
patients seriously. What finally convinced him were the “comparable reports
from other patients” (p. xiv) who were exhibiting the “same cluster of
psychiatric symptoms” (p. xiv). Discussions with his colleagues revealed that
they also had patients reporting similar stories of abuse (p. xiv).
Collectively, these factors changed his mind.... The second theme concerns an
attempt to validate the existence of ritualized abuse rather than simply
satanic ritual abuse. To do this, the authors provide empirical evidence and
explanation (Chapters 6-13). The evidence and explanation takes the form of a
comprehensive review of the literature that supports the existence of ritual
abuse.... This book provides the reader with a rigorous and interesting
account of a contentious issue.
_http://psycnet.apa.org/critiques/46/6/615.html_
(http://psycnet.apa.org/critiques/46/6/615.html)
