International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 10, 2019 43
specific sensations associated with body
memories.
Miller (2012) has described body memories as
bodily sensations experienced in the present that
have no current biomedical cause, and that are
directly related to some aspect of trauma.
Persons with developmental trauma are also
more likely to experience an overall lack of
connection with their bodies and affective states
(Levine, 1997). They may struggle to read their
environment and interpret external cues that
indicate other’s intentions. The inability to
adequately interpret the intentions of others,
combined with stressful stimuli that remind
individuals of the trauma, cause those with DTD
to feel “constantly on guard, frightened and
over-reactive” (van der Kolk et al., 2009, p. 11).
DTD attends to the many unique concerns and
symptoms presented by persons who have
experienced ritual abuse. The case study that
follows uses DTD as an organizing framework
within which to understand how the client’s
presenting complaints harkened back to her
traumatic experiences. Following the case study,
an impact statement gives voice to the influence
“Sarah” has had on my professional practice as a
therapist, and on my personal experience.
The Triphasic Model of Recovery:
Organizing Framework for Treatment in
Counseling
As context for the case study, I organized the
client’s treatment using Herman’s (2015/1992)
triphasic model of trauma recovery. Per phase 1
of the model, initial counseling sessions focused
on gathering information and helping the client
build resources and internal resiliency. During
phase 2, the focus shifted toward the processing
of traumatic memory, with the client and me
working collaboratively to identify fragments of
memory and create a cohesive narrative of the
experience. The second portion of phase 2
consisted of exploring together the ways that the
client had derived meaning from her traumatic
experience, and the related aftereffects.
I further enhanced Herman’s (2015/1992)
organizing framework through the use of
additional counseling interventions. These other
interventions included psychoeducation
regarding the fragmentation of traumatic
memory (van der Kolk, 1996) and identification
of body memories using somatic experiencing
(Levine, 1997). Using cognitive behavioral
therapy strategies (Beck, 1995), I identified and
challenged the client’s core beliefs and thought
processes that had been altered by the traumatic
experiences.
The triphasic model provided a recursive means
for organizing therapy. When the client
experienced increased distress or overwhelming
feelings during trauma processing (phase 2), I
would realign interventions to focus solely on
building resources (phase 1). Returning to phase
1, sessions would focus on increasing client
access to both physical resources (i.e., food,
shelter, safety) and internal resources (i.e.,
ability to self-regulate strong affective states and
navigate interpersonal relationships). Once the
client reported a return to baseline homeostasis
and seemed to adequately regulate emotions and
symptoms, treatment would again focus on the
processing of memories and the dentification
and reframing of irrational beliefs.
Case Introduction and Presenting
Complaints: The Case of “Sarah”
The following case study describes the treatment
of “Sarah,” a 27-year-old Hispanic female with a
history of childhood incest perpetrated by her
mother, and ritual abuse perpetrated by members
of the cults in which her mother participated.
Sarah presented to counseling with recurring
panic attacks, and the inability to fall asleep and
stay asleep. Sarah also reported somatic distress
for which no biomedical cause could be
determined. She reported being diagnosed with
autism spectrum disorder (ASD) around age 7
and stated that she hoped counseling could help
her “learn to function.”
History
Sarah grew up in the Southwest United States,
within walking distance of the Mexican-
American border. She described her hometown
as riddled with violence, organized crime, and
corruption that spilled over from a neighboring
city in Mexico. At home, she lived with her
father, a civilian contractor for the military, and
her mother, who stayed at home to care for

44 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 10, 2019
Sarah. Sarah was an only child until the age of
13, when her younger brother was born.
Sarah’s earliest memories centered on her
mother’s involvement in cult activities in the
small town where she grew up. She described
her mother maintaining a variety of cover-up
activities to conceal her cult involvement. These
activities ranged from taking Sarah to visit
family in Mexico for periods of time, to stints of
homeschooling, intense involvement in
agricultural clubs, and organized beauty
pageants that required travel. Sarah stated that
her father was unaware of her mother’s
connection with local cults because he worked
anywhere from 60 hours to 80 hours a week.
Sarah believed her father did not notice her odd
behavior following episodes of abuse because he
was “autistic and couldn’t read me.”
Sarah described the cults in which her mother
was involved as consistently organized and
centered on gaining spiritual power or money
through the sadistic abuse of children and
animals. She identified the cults through pieces
of information and details she recalled during
the processing of traumatic memories. Sarah
described the cults as follows:
• an ideologically based cult founded in an
extreme subsect of the Christian faith,
wherein ceremonies mimicked Catholic
ceremonies but included ritualized sexual
abuse of children and infanticide
• a coven cult whose primary goal was
connection with the power of demonic
forces through the use of hedonistic
practices with children and animals, and of
animal sacrifices (specifically the use of
dogs and goats)
• cult activities disguised as meetings for a
children’s agricultural club
• sex trafficking of young children under the
guise of organized beauty pageants that
served pedophiles seeking sex with children
and
• organized crime that involved the
transportation of illicit substances and
undocumented persons by Sarah’s mother,
coordinated by what Sarah described as “the
Mexican cartel. “Sarah described the
aforementioned cults as the most prominent
and identifiable in her memory, but stated
that the nature of her memories prevented
her from recalling specific names or
locations.
Sarah stated that she remembered fragments of
childhood trauma that occurred between the ages
of 3 and 16. She described extended periods of
her childhood during which she was unable to
recall any memories. Sarah described her mother
being involved in a number of cults because her
mother seemed to consistently “mess things up”
and be “forced out,” to which her mother would
respond by seeking out a “new group of
fanatics.”
Sarah recalled instances during childhood and
early adolescence during which she would “just
start screaming ...because I would remember
some part of the abuse.” She said that her
mother explained these instances to witnesses
and to Sarah’s father by saying that she was
“retarded.” It was after one of these episodes
that Sarah’s mother took her to the doctor, who
diagnosed Sarah with autism.
At age 16, Sarah was sexually assaulted by her
mother. She described this experience as one
that she now recalled vividly, but that she had
“blocked the memory” immediately following
the assault. Sarah stated that it was shortly after
being assaulted by her mother that she met her
boyfriend, now husband. Upon graduating from
high school, Sarah said that she and her
boyfriend married and moved in together. Sarah
described feeling uncomfortable, and at times
terrified when around her mother, but that she
was unable to recall the ritual abuse or incest
until the birth of her first child, a daughter, when
she was 23.
Immediately after giving birth, Sarah began
experiencing floods of overwhelming emotion
accompanied by snippets of memory. She
described experiencing auditory hallucinations
at night that began during this timeframe and
consisted of the auditory portions of fragmented
memories.
Sarah reported continuing to have a relationship
with her mother, albeit distant, until her daughter