A ritual is a repeated action with a meaning. It may be private, for example kissing a child goodnight every evening when he or she goes to bed, or public like a funeral.
Not all rituals are abuse. And, not all abuse are rituals. Ritual abuse is abuse performed in the name of an ideology or a belief. This can mean that the abuse takes place on a certain day in the week every week, or always when there is a full moon. A ritual repeats over and over again. In a 1989 report, the Ritual Abuse Task Force of the L.A. County Commission for Women defined ritual abuse as: "Ritual Abuse usually involves repeated abuse over an extended period of time. The physical abuse is severe, sometimes including torture and killing. The sexual abuse is usually painful, humiliating, intended as a means of gaining dominance over the victim. The psychological abuse is devastating and involves the use of ritual indoctrination. It includes mind control techniques which convey to the victim a profound terror of the cult members ...most victims are in a state of terror, mind control and dissociation" (Pg. 35-36) "Safe Passage to Healing", by Chrystine Oksana, 1994, HarperCollins, 1-800-822-4090
Satanic Ritual Abuse is ritual abuse out of name of Satan.