THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SATANIC CULT INVOLVEMENT: AN ...

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based on the triumphant fantasy of being the loved child of a perfect, supernatural father.
S experienced love for all the people he had formerly hated, and found gratification from
assisting others, when he once derived pleasure from their destruction (100,101). This
was made possible by S's narcissistic identification with the omnipotently powerful and
loving idealised object. S now devotes his life to combating Satan and rescuing others
from him (102), whereas previously, he had dedicated himself to fighting God and
"stealing souls" for Satan (59). This dramatic reversal of loyalties indicates the effect of
splitting defences, and suddenly reversed introjective and projective identifications. The
formerly idealised object has now become projectively identified with S's destructive
subpersonality, and personified as an evil, supernatural enemy, who S now vows to
destroy.
Subject Five
14.5.1. Predisposing factors
S believes that he was predestined for satanic involvement by virtue of the occult interests
of his grandparents (1).
S's own encounter with the occult world occurred when, as a
four-year old child, he experienced possession by a powerful male demonic spirit,
appointed to him as a guide (2,3,5). This event occurred in a familial context in which S's
younger siblings received most of the parental attention and tokens of affection, while S
was denied similar parental displays of caring (35,36,37,38). S thus felt unloved,
deprived, and jealous of his favoured siblings. S's father was a distant, uncommunicative
figure, who spent little time at home (41,95). S's childhood self representations were thus
based on experiences ofbeing an unloved, rejected, and deprived child.
S responded to these circumstances with rebellious and aggressive behaviour, expressing
displaced hostility toward his parents and siblings by regularly attacking and hurting other
children (72,73,74,75). As a four-year old child, S's hatred and aggression must have been
deeply disturbing to him, prompting defences against this part ofhim.
His destructiveness
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