THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SATANIC CULT INVOLVEMENT: AN ...

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may identify with the alleged cult experiences of others, reproducing them as their own,
without any conscious intent ofdeceit.
A fifth alternative explanation is the 'screen memory' hypothesis. The problem with this
hypothesis is that the purpose of the screen memory is to protect the individual from a
more painful or anxiety-provoking memory/fantasy. However, the pre-cult family lives
of many cult survivors are filled with clearly-recalled parental abuse and/or neglect. The
'screen memories' of cult abuse would thus serve no conceivable defensive purpose
(Greaves, 1992).
A sixth alternative explanation draws on lung's concept of the archetypes of the
collective unconscious (Greaves, 1992). Archetypes are unconscious, transpersonal,
experiential templates which structure or shape experience in predetermined ways.
Because abuse, ritual, and the supernatural are archetypal possibilities, it is possible that
some individuals may unconsciously fuse these archetypal images and feelings into
composite occult abuse scenarios, which in fact never occurred. In psychotic states, the
'swamping' of consciousness by the archetypes of the collective unconscious may well
occur, but delusions of the proportion attributed to alleged cult survivors suggests that
they must all be psychotic. While this diagnostic status may hold true for some alleged
cult survivors, it certainly does not characterise all ·of them, thereby weakening the
archetypal hypothesis.
The seventh, and last alternative explanation to be discussed, is that of the 'personal
myth' hypothesis (Greaves, 1992). If myths are collective allegorical or metaphorical
depictions of profound personal truths, then certain individuals may attempt to cope with
traumatic events by creating personal myths - satanic abuse narratives in this case - which
have a compelling subjective reality. However, belief in a personal myth to the extent
that this ceases to be a metaphor implies severely impaired reality testing, and hence
psychotic thinking. Once again, this theory could arguably pertain only to those alleged
cult survivors who are demonstrably psychotic.