Survivors' accounts reveal activities which are not only criminal but deliberately and brutally sadistic almost beyond belief.

Ritual abuse may or may not have satanic overtones.

I have met survivors from different parts of the country who have reported being ritually abused, some on college campuses by administrators, some by priests, some in the context of druidic rituals, some in the context of Lillith rituals. The ideology has not always been satanic, but the ritual sadistic sexual behaviors are similar.

In an article offering a law enforcement perspective on allegations of ritual abuse, Lanning (1992, A law-enforcement perspective on allegations of ritual abuse) fails to give a precise definition of the term. Although he is quoted as having conducted a seven-year study FBI study that gives evidence that ritual abuse does not exist, when Noblitt and Perskin (2000, Cult and ritual abuse) requested a copy of his study from the FBI, “the bureau responded in writing that no such study existed.” (p. 179).

Then, suddenly, the work became dangerous, not only for clients but for therapists as well. A well-funded, highly organized opposition appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, in the early 1990s. Its goal was to discredit the existence of ritual abuse, and one of its tactics was to actively undermine any effort to discover what had been done to these clients and anyone who attempted to help them recover.

It is hardly surprising that many survivors of ritual abuse develop DID in order to preserve their own sanity.