THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SATANIC CULT INVOLVEMENT: AN ...

360
However, merely expelling the destructive parts of their own internal worlds is not
enough to safeguard satanic recusants from their destructive projections. Consequently,
the defence mechanism of introjectively identifying with a new idealised part-object is
mobilised to protect these individuals from their persecutors, and to fill the psychic void
caused by evacuating parts of themselves through projective identification. This second
defensive strategy is well illustrated by subject four, following his exorcism ritual: "I
knew I was clean because in the middle ofmy stomach ... it felt like an empty space. It
was so empty that it felt like it was sucking. 1 was so happy not to have the demons in my
body, and this helped me, you know, to accept the Holy Spirit into my heart. The Holy
Spirit filled that emptiness with his powerful presence when 1asked him to".
For these subjects, in other words, the only solution to possession by bad objects is
possession by good objects. Introjective identification with a new idealised part-object,
in the figure of God, creates a new subpersonality which is as quintessentially good as the
destructive subpersonality was bad. This raises the question of whether recusant
Satanists' conversion to Christianity involves authentic healing, defined in psychoanalytic
terms as the cessation of splitting defences, the withdrawal of projective identifications,
and the integration of previously disavowed parts of the self. Evidence from the
interviews suggest that the dramatic personality changes reported by subjects following
their exorcism and Christian conversion occurs through perpetuation of splitting
defences, accompanied by narcissistic identification with a new idealised - but previously
hated - part-object (God), and denigration of the previously idealised part-object, Satan.
The dramatic personality changes referred to, together with evidence of continued
splitting and projective identification, are typified by subject four in response to the
interviewer's inquiry about life after Satanism: "Wonderful, absolutely wonderful! Now
that 1've become a born-again Christian, I no longer get depressed ... because 1 have
Jesus who sees to my every need. I'm happy with myselfnow. 1really am .... I'm shining
the light ofJesus at work with all my co-workers .... I've learnt to love all people ... 1 see
everyone as equal .... Satan is my number one enemy ... 1 want to destroy his kingdom of
darkness by preaching the love andpower ofGoel'.