Child Sexual Abuse Survivors with Dissociative Amnesia: What's the Difference?

• NCJ Number: 245140
• Journal: Journal of Child Sexual Abuse Volume: 22 Issue: 4 Dated: 2013 Pages: 462-480
• Author(s): Molly R. Wolf; Thomas H. Nochajski
• Date Published: 2013
• Length: 19 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined child sexual abuse survivors with dissociative amnesia histories.

Abstract

Although the issue of dissociative amnesia in adult survivors of child sexual abuse has been contentious, many research studies have shown that there is a subset of child sexual abuse survivors who have forgotten their abuse and later remembered it. Child sexual abuse survivors with dissociative amnesia histories have different formative and therapeutic issues than survivors of child sexual abuse who have had continuous memory of their abuse. This article first discusses those differences in terms of the moderating risk factors for developing dissociative amnesia (e.g., age, ethnicity, gender, etc.) and then mediating risk factors (e.g., social support, trait dissociativity, etc.). The differences between the two types of survivors are then explored in terms of treatment issues. Abstract published by arrangement with Taylor and Francis.