Why don't Ritual Abuse Survivors Tell?

 

Ritual Abuse survivors are taught from an early age that no one will believe them. The fact that this tends to be true re-enforces this.

Survivors are taught not to talk. They are taught that it would be a betrayal. They are taught that talking is a weakness.

 

Ritual Abuse survivors find talking difficult, as do most survivors. If you add to that the extent of the trauma and how talking about it can cause flashbacks, it sometimes becomes impossible to talk.

Survivors often believe that if they talk, they ,or someone else, will die.

 

As adults, survivors can appreciate that what they might try to say will be unbelievable. Things may have happened that they know on a rational level just can't be possible. They may also appreciate that there must have been trickery involved, but not know what it was.

 

The literal language that many survivors use while trying to talk can make it difficult for others to understand what they are trying to say.

 

People sometimes don't ask or persist in asking in the wrong way. Many survivors need to be asked in a very direct manner.

Many survivors believe that it is pointless to try and talk about abuse.

 

Loyalty to the family and the group can run very deep.

 

Ritual Abuse survivors often feel that what happened to them was right. They often feel that they quite literally belong to the group and as such the group had a right to do anything at all to them. In this case, talking about it would not be a consideration for the survivor.

 

Many Ritual Abuse survivors who have tried to talk have experienced a severe backlash from the abusers.

 

If people generally, and publicly, do not believe that this type of abuse happens, it is next to impossible to get survivors to talk about it.

 

 

Other articles about ritual abuse.

click on links below

 

 

Ritual Abuse Index

 

Ritual Abuse:

Beliefs, Myths and Facts

 

Ritual Abuse:  

Definition. Evidence.

 

Ritual Abuse:

What are the rituals

Ritual Abuse:

Why is it so hard to believe?

             Healing Our Past Experiences

 

 

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