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Malignant Trauma and the Invisibility of Ritual Abuse

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About the Course

This presentation draws on psychoanalytic theories of malignant trauma to explain the invisibility of ritual abuse. Ritual abuse refers to the misuse of rituals in the organised sexual abuse of children. Despite expanded recognition of the varieties of child maltreatment, ritual abuse remains largely invisible outside the trauma and dissociation field as a specific form of sexual exploitation. Presenting qualitative data from interview research with ritual abuse survivors and mental health specialists, this presentation argues that the trauma of ritual abuse and its invisibility are co-constitutive. The perpetration and denial of ritual abuse occur within a relational matrix of perpetrators, victims, and bystanders structured by the presymbolic dread of vulnerability and dependency. The simultaneity of perpetration and disavowal creates the conditions for the malignancy of ritual abuse, including the invisibility of victims and the intergenerational transmission of extreme abuse. The presentation examines how the provision of care to ritual abuse survivors can become contingent on its erasure, and reflects on the role of therapists and others in interrupting the metastases of malignant trauma and crafting cultural and moral frameworks to transform the dread at the core of ritual abuse.

This course is based on the recorded webinar, Malignant Trauma and the Invisibility of Ritual Abuse created by Michael Salter, PhD in 2019.

Publication Date:

5:30pm-7:00pm EDT 10/3/2019

Course Material Author

Michael Salter, PhD

Dr Michael Salter is a Scientia Fellow and Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of New South Wales. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons 1) from the University of Melbourne and a PhD in public health from the University of New South Wales. His research is focused on child abuse and gendered violence, including primary prevention, complex trauma and technologically-facilitated abuse. He is the author of two books, Organised Sexual Abuse (Routledge, 2013) and Crime, Justice and Social Media (Routledge, 2017), and a range of papers on child abuse and gendered violence. A/Prof Salter sits on the Board of Directors of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, who awarded him the 2018 Morton Prince Award for Scientific Achievement. He is an Associate Editor of the journal Child Abuse Review and expert advisor to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. Current projects include a study of parental involvement in the manufacture of child sexual abuse material funded by the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation, and a study of multi-sectorial responses to women with complex trauma funded by Australia’s National Research Office for Women’s Safety.

Michael Salter, PhD authored the material only, and was not involved in creating this CE course. They are identified here for your own evaluation of the relevancy of the material this course is based on.

Course Creator

Sandi Cardaman
Sandi Cardaman has been a Licensed Mental Health Counselor for more than 15 years. She has worked with eating disorders, domestic violence and clients who are working with the dependency system.

Recommended For:

Counselors, marriage and family therapists, psychologists and social workers. This course is appropriate for intermediate levels of knowledge.

Course Objectives:

After taking this course, you should be able to:

  1. Identify the therapeutic tasks of Stage Three therapy
  2. Identify the transference and counter-transference issues arising from termination of therapy
  3. Encourage clients’ development of an authentic sense of self

Disclosure to Learners

Disclosure of Relevant Financial Relationships

CE Learning Systems adheres to the ACCME's Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Medical Education. Any individuals in a position to control the content of a CE activity – including faculty, planners, reviewers, or others ― are required to disclose all relevant financial relationships with ineligible entities (formerly known as commercial interests).

The following relevant financial relationships have been disclosed by this activity's planners, faculty, and the reviewer:

Planners and Reviewers

The planners of this activity have reported that they have no relevant financial relationships.

Commercial support

There is no commercial support for this distance-learning course.

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Course Retired
Course Number 102752
1 CE credit hour
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  • Recorded Webinar
Exam Fee $5.97
There's no exam fee with an Unlimited CE membership! Read More

Course Materials $45.00

1 member has taken this course

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