Adolescents previously involved in Satanism experiencing mental health problems

The overall objective is the exploration and description of the phenomenon of the adolescent involved in Satanism and who experiences obstacles in his I her quest for mental wholeness. Guidelines for nurses regarding the m anagem ent of these adolescents w ill subsequently follow. OPSOMMING Navorsing oor die verskynsel van ado lessente wat be trokke was by Satanisme en struikelblokke ervaar in hulle strewe na geestesgesondheid is nog nie voorheen onderneem nie. Adolessente wat be trokke was by Satansim e presenteer gedragsprobleme soos agressiewe uitbarstings, depressie, “ ps igose ” of se lfm oordpogings wat selfs op selfmoord kan uitloop. In die verskynsel-analise is fenomenologiese onderhoude met die respondente en hulle ouers gevoer. Die respondente is gevra om ‘n naïewe skets oor hulle lewe te skryf. Nadat die datakontrole uitgevoer is, is riglyne opgestel vir verpleegkundiges vir die hantering van die adolessent wat betrokke was by Satanisme en struikelblokke ervaar in hulle strewe na geestesgesonehid. In die data-kontro le is gesprekke met kundiges gevoer, literatuur (boeke, tydskrifte en koeran tu itkn ipse ls) is nageslaan om die geldigheid van die navorsing te bewys. Die belangrikste riglyne aan die verpleegkundiges is dat die hulpgewers wedergebore Chirstene moet wees; hulle moet geen vrees wys nie; hulle moet nie simpatie wys aan die adolessente nie; hulle moet oor kennis van Satanisme beskik; die adolessent moet onvoorwaardelik aanvaar word; d ie hu lpgew ers m oet in ‘n span saam werk en die ado lessent m oet geleer word om emosies te hanteer. ABSTRACT No research has previously been done regarding the phenomenon of adoles­ cents who have previously been involved in Satanism and who experience obsta­ cles in their strive for mental health. Ado­ lescents previously involved in Satanism present behavioral problems like ag­ gressive outbursts, depression, “ psy­ chosis” or suicide attempts, that could lead to suicide. In the phenomenonanalysis sem i-structured, phenom e­ nological interviews were performed with the respondents and their parents. The respondents were requested to write a naïve sketch about their life. After com­ pletion of the data-control, guidelines for nursing staff were set. The guidelines are set for the management of adoles­ cents who have previously been involved in Satanism and who experience obsta­ cles in their strive for mental health. In­ terviews with experts in Satanism were conducted, literature in the form of books, magazines and newspaper-clippings were used to verify the research findings. The most important guidelines are that the caregivers have to be reborn Christians; they are not allowed to show any fear or sympathy; they must have sufficient knowledge about Satanism; the adolescents have to be uncondition­ ally accepted; the caregivers have to work in a team and the adolescents have to be taught to deal with their emotions.

In die verskynsel-analise is fenomenologiese onderhoude met die respondente en hulle ouers gevoer.Die respondente is gevra om 'n naïewe skets oor hulle lewe te skryf.Nadat die datakontrole uitgevoer is, is riglyne opgestel vir verpleegkundiges vir die hantering van die adolessent wat betrokke was by Satanisme en struikelblokke ervaar in hulle strewe na geestesgesonehid.In die d a ta -ko n tro le is g e sp re kke m et ku n d ig e s gevoer, lite ra tu u r (boeke, ty d s k rifte en k o e ra n tu itk n ip s e ls ) is nageslaan om die geldigheid van die navorsing te bewys.Die belangrikste riglyne aan die verpleegkundiges is dat die hulpgewers wedergebore Chirstene moet wees; hulle moet geen vrees wys nie; hulle moet nie simpatie wys aan die adolessente nie; hulle moet oor kennis van Satanisme beskik; die adolessent m oet onvoorw aardelik aanvaar word; d ie h u lp g e w e rs m oe t in 'n span sa am w e rk en d ie a d o le s s e n t m oet geleer word om emosies te hanteer.

ABSTRACT
No research has previously been done regarding the phenomenon of adoles cents who have previously been involved in Satanism and who experience obsta cles in their strive for mental health.Ado lescents previously involved in Satanism present behavioral problem s like ag gressive outbursts, depression, " psy chosis" or suicide attempts, that could lead to suicide.In the phenomenona nalysis se m i-stru ctu re d, p he no m e nological interviews were performed with the respondents and their parents.The respondents were requested to write a naïve sketch about their life.After com pletion of the data-control, guidelines for nursing staff were set.The guidelines are set for the management of adoles cents who have previously been involved in Satanism and who experience obsta cles in their strive for mental health.In terviews with experts in Satanism were c o n d u c te d , literature in the form of books, magazines and newspaper-clippings were used to verify the research findings.The most important guidelines are that the caregivers have to be reborn Christians; they are not allowed to show any fear or sympathy; they must have sufficient knowledge about Satanism; the adolescents have to be uncondition ally accepted; the caregivers have to work in a team and the adolescents have to be taught to deal with their emotions.

IN TRO DUCTIO N
Involvement in Satanism creates a prob lem in every area of mental health.Drugand alcohol-abuse, animal cruelty and killing of animals during rituals, violation of tombstones and corpses, sexual mal practice, murder and suicide, child mo le stin g and v a rio u s o th e r s o c io pathologies appear.The Citizen of 23 September 1992 re ports on a sixteen-year old girl and her frie n d , b oth s e lf-a c k n o w le d g e d Satanists, who killed her mother.She claimed that Satan forced her to execute the murder, that she wanted to stop, but could not do so.The m agazine " Die H u is g e n o o t" re ported on 10 August 1995 on an inter view c o n d u cte d w ith a defenseless young woman who was cruelly attacked, raped and left to die by two Satanists.The psychiatric nursing professionals and other nursing professionals are of ten confronted with adolescents who experience problems in their quest for mental health.Adolescents sometimes don't react to medication or therapy.On further inves tigation, it is often found that these ado lescents were previously involved in Satanism.Satanism has never really been acknowl edged by the medical profession as a contributing factor to mental health prob lems.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
No previous scientific studies have been conducted to explore and describe the phenomenon of adolescents previously involved in Satanism, and who experi ence obstacles in their strive for mental health.
In the Vaal Triangle-area there are in creasing Satanic activities and an aware ness thereof.The effect is observable in the references received by hospitals, occult-branches and psychiatric community services.Nursing practitioners don't have guide lines to m obilise resources to assist these adolescents in their quest for men tal health.Based on the preceding, the purpose of the study is as follows: The overall objective is the exploration and description of the phenomenon of the adolescent involved in Satanism and who experiences obstacles in his / her quest for mental wholeness.Guidelines for nurses regarding the management of these adolescents will subsequently follow.
A phenomen-analysis design was fol lowed where two respondents were pur posefully chosen on the basis of their e x p e rie n ce of, and in v o lv e m e n t in Satanism.
The researcher tried to include two ado lescents, but because of secrecy and lacking ego-strength in adolescents in volved in Satanism, the second respond ent was chosen on the basis of her in v o lv e m e n t w ith and e xp e rie n ce of Satanism.She is twenty-seven years of age, and has been involved in Satanism from the age of six weeks to twenty-one.
The research was co nd ucte d in two phases.
Phase one c o n s is te d of p h e n o m e n o lo g ica l intervie w s c o n ducted with the respondents, which was taped and transcribed verbatim.Inter views were conducted with a parent of each respondent, and the same proce dure was followed.Each respondent was requested to write a naïve sketch regarding his life as part of data-collection.Only one respondent did this, the other returned to Satanism before she could do so.The researcher kept reflexive field-notes as part of data-collection (Woods & Catanzaro, 1988:283).Data processing was done according to a descriptive analysis according to Tesch (in Creswell, 1994:155).An independ ent coder was requested to do inde pendent data-analysis according to the agreed p ro to c o l, w hereafter the re searcher and the independent coder held consensus discussions.Discus sions with experts on Satanism and a literature-control served as data-control.The study was conducted from a Judeo-Christian perspective according to the Oral Roberts University (1990:136-142), from which the Nursing for the Whole Person Theory originated.The Botesresearch model (1989:1-283) was fol lowed focusing on the functional reason ing approach.This study will therefore also d e scrib e g u id e lin e s fo r o p e ra tionalisation in the nursing practice.In phase two guidelines were described derived from the results of phase one for nursing professionals supporting this group of adolescents in the promotion, m aintenance and restoration of their mental health as integral part of health.

TRUSTWORTHINESS
Lincoln & G uba 's (1985:218-331) four strategies for trustworthiness were fol lowed.The researcher had extended exposure to the research field over a period of at least eight months.She kept reflexive field-notes which formed part of data-collection.Triangulation of data-collection and datacontrol was executed.A dense descrip tion of data by the researcher provides the required inform ation to other re searchers, should they want to prove transferability.C onfirm ation was en sured by means of an audit-trail.The researcher placed herself in "brackets" and entered the field from a "don't know" position.

PILOT STUDY AND DATA-COLLECTION
One central question was directed to the respondents.A pilot study was executed to determine if the central question was formulated correctly.The pilot study was ejected since other themes were introduced to the discus sion.The question, however, was for mulated correctly.The researcher stated the following cri teria according to which the respondents were chosen purposefully and comfort ably: • the respondents had to live in the Vaal Triangle for at least two years; • must be a-psychotic; • m ust understand, read and write Afrikaans or English; • must have been actively involved in Satanism; • must have parted with Satanism com pletely; • must be willing to take part in the re search with openness; and • must experience obstacles in their strive for mental health.
Refer to table 1 for data-sources and data-collection methods.

E th ic a l g u id e lin e s fo llo w e d
Informed, written consent was obtained from all the people involved.Acceptable measures to ensure ano nymity and confidentiality enjoyed prior ity in the light of the sensitivity of the re search.The research results were made available to the participating adoles cents.All audiotapes, except those that could be kept with explicit permission, were destroyed after completion of the

Data-sources D ata-collection m ethods
A dolescents w ho were involved in Satanism and who experienced obsta cles in their strive for mental health.

Phenomenological interviews
Naive sketches written by the adoles cent.
Family of adolescent Phenomenological interviews.
Important persons to the adolescent.
Assessment by researchers keeping reflective field-notes.
re se arch s tu d y (D enzin & L in co ln , 1994:212).

DATA-ANALYSIS
Data-analysis was conducted according toTescsh 's (in Creswell, 1994:155) eight steps of data-analysis.The researcher and the independent coder separately did the data-analysis and then co n ducted consensus discussions.
After data-analysis conclusions and in ferences were made.

DATA-CONTROL
Data-control was conducted to enhance the validity and reliability of the study.Re fer to table 2.
In the second phase the themes of the first phase were taken, the information obtained from data-control was consid ered and guidelines were form ed for nursing specialists assisting this group of adolescents.

DATA-CONTROL AND -RESULTS
The interviews were extremely long and the resp on de nts used m any w ords.
Both the researcher and independent coder questioned the meaning thereof.Possible meanings could be that the re spondents recovered their voice, or that they merely used a lot of words to dis tance themselves from the researcher.The them es of the respondents' lifeworlds are summarized in table 3.

R ealities and confusion
The

Isolation (separateness)
The adolescent experiences the other reality of Satanism as isolation and sepa rateness from others.Through this iso lation Satanists strengthen their powerbase am ongst adolescents.

GUIDELINES FOR NURSE PRACTITIONERS:
• An irre fu ta b le b elief in Jesus C h ris t as p e rs o n a l R edeem er and Savior; • G ather kn o w le d g e re g a rd in g Satanism, before attempting to help the adolescent; • Accept the adolescent uncondi tionally; • Work in a team of reborn Chris tians, inclusive of a lawyer, medical prac titioner, spiritual advisor, church, psychia trist, pscychiatric nurse and police; • Create a strong personal support system; • Provide the adolescent with the opportunity to continuously discuss the situation, without being judgmental; • Teach them how to get in touch with their emotions again; • Do not let them choose between realities; • Show Christian love towards the adolescent;

•
Persist with assistance until the adolescent is strong enough to continue on his own; • Don't get despondent if the ado lescent has set-backs during treatment;

•
Involve the parents in this proc ess.

SHORTCOMINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
One of the shortcomings was that one respondent no longer was an adoles cent, a lth o u g h she was involved in Satanism during her adolescent years, and her level of involvement was higher than the average adolescent involved in Satanism, since she had a higher order of rank (she was a high priestess in a coven).
Both respondents were female.Other information could possibly have been obtained if a boy was involved in the re search.The respondents had no friends.The tape recorder had an inhibiting ef fect on respondents.Data that could possibly have been obtained, might be lost.
Another fa cto r could be that the re searcher went into the research from a "don't know" position.The researcher supposes that different data could have been obtained, depending on the inter viewer.The basic data obtained would probably remain the same.
The caregiving profession must take notice of the existence of different reali ties.The reality leads to confusion for everybody involved in assisting adoles cents involved in Satanism.
Voices are not necessarily schizophrenic voices.It could be voices from another reality.
The recommendation is that a caregiving model is designed and implemented to concretely assist these adolescents.
The caregiving m odel m ust be intro duced widespread and should not only be available to an exclusive group.Fur ther research should be undertaken to introduce the field more extensively and to prove transferability.
g o o r die v e rs k y n s e l van a d o le s s e n te w at b e tro k k e w as by Satanisme en struikelblokke ervaar in hulle strewe na geestesgesondheid is nog nie vo o rh e e n o n d e rn e e m nie.A d o le s s e n te w at b e tro k k e w as by S a ta nsim e p re s e n te e r g e d ra g s p roblem e soos agressiewe uitbarstings, d e p re ssie , " p s ig o s e " o f s e lfm o o rdpog in gs wat selfs op selfm oord kan uitloop.

able 3 : T h e life-w orld of ad olescents previously involved in Satanism
With initiation into Satanism, a strict code of secrecy is forced upon the adolescent.The context paranoia and confidential ity lies in the characteristics of demons and Satanists.Robbie's (1996)experi ence of demons is: " want jy kan 'n bose gees -hoe sê ek, jy kan hom ruik, jy kan hom sien, jy kan hom hoor.So hy KAN jou afluister, nê." ("... because a demon -how can I put it, you can smell him, you can see him, you can hear him.So he CAN eavesdrop, not so?") couple of times, and that they d o n = t know which rules apply.One respond ent verbalized her reality as follows: "Re ality.What is reality?Normality?What is normality?The reality, my reality was a life filled with sight and experiences of a spiritual dimension."("Realiteit,wat is realiteit?Normaliteit?Wat is normaliteit?Vir my was my realiteit 'n lewe gevul met 'n visio e n en b e le w e n is s e van 'n geestelike dimensie.")Theadolescent is forced to participate in crime through rituals "... and to par ticipate in like cannibalism ... uhm ... sex with the dead uh ... that kind of stuff you w ill find, bestiality, th a t's pretty much forced."(... en om deel te neem aan kanibalism e... h m ... seks m etdooies hm ... h ie rd ie tip e d in g e , jy sa l vind, dierlikheid, dit word op jou afgedwing.")T• Realities and confusion • Brutality/pain/trauma/gruesomeness • Weirdness, strange languages spoken, crime and rituals • Power and control though fear, with loss of choice • Paranoia/distrust/secrecy • Never safe/never rid of persecution • Death and suicide (deathwish) • Isolation (separateness) • Emotional exhaustion • Feelings of guilt • Disillusionment • Rock music (obtained from data-control) "Soos om graffiti op mure te spuit, ... is opsetlike saakbeskadiging, ... om ... bloed uit 'n kat, 'n lewendige kat, uit te haal ... is dierem ishandeling, om die diere, of die kat se pote af te sny, selfs terwyl die kat, hond, ... hoenders of wat ookal nog lewe, dis dieremishandeling.Aborsie word gepleeg, deur 'n fetus te laat afkom en dit te offer..." ("Like painting graffiti on w alls,... it is ma licious intent, ... to ... take blood from a cat, a live c a t... is cruelty to animals, to cut o f the animal's, or the ca t's paws, even while the cat, dog ... chicken or whatever is still alive, that is cruelty to ani mals.Abortion is committed, aborting the fetus and offering i t ...") The adolescent's right of choice is taken from him the m om en t he o p ts fo r Satanism : "... d aa r was g e w e ld ig e manipulasie en beheer van vrees.Ek kan net sê dat ek nie kan dink dat daar ooit 'n tyd was by enige kultus-byeenkoms ofritueel dat daar nie vrees, intimidasie, pyn of m ishandeling plaasgevind het n ie ."("... there were tremendous manipulation Superintendent Jonker casually men tioned it: "... as ... die sataniste ... as jy weggebreek h e t ... hulle gaan jou mos nie los nie.Hulle gaan mos nou weer kom." ("... i f ... the Satanists ... if you break away from them ... they won't leave you.They will come again.")D enied a c c e s

s to m o th er-lo ve I suppression o f em o tio n I d efen se m echanism s
aangaan, op daardie stadium, hm, was ek nie eens b ew us van a lters, o f p e rs o o n lik h e d e , o f d is s o s ia tie w e identiteite, o f wat jy dit ookal wil noem nie.") In her practice Nicolene (1996) encoun tered this problem of not being able to show emotions: "... en baie van hulle het 'n probleem met lie fd e ... en verstaan nie AY they feel different from other people, they feel like another ... like an other species.") Nicolene (1996)states in this regard: "... hulle voel ook anders as ander mense, h ulle voel soos 'n ... soos 'n ander spesie."(Ditwasslegsdaarna, nadat sy terapie ontvang het, dat ek uitgevind het wat gebeur het... dit was vir my 'n groot skok ...")In data-control there is little reference to disillusionm ent.It was only Nicolene(1996)who discussed it during the control-discussion: "D/s vir hulle die meeste