Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Clinical Problems of Incest (From Sexual Abuse, P 1-16, 1982, by Jean Goodwin - See NCJ-94451)

• NCJ Number: 94457
• Author(s): J Goodwin
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 19 pages
• Sale Source: John Wright, PSG Inc
• Publication Type: Survey (Cross-Cultural)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article focuses on cross-cultural and folkloric data critical to understanding clinical problems in treating incest victims and their families. Navajo Indian and Anglo culture, in particular, are reviewed.

Abstract

Clinical experience, tradition, and cross-cultural data indicate that incest may lead to a relatively fixed set of symptoms which have been observed in many different cultures over time. Clinical data support the contention that incest is taboo in all cultures because incest does not work out well. Of the clinical problems reviewed, hysterical seizures developing after an incest event have been observed in many cultures over time, including Navajo and Anglo cases, and can be deduced from the cultural lore about the consequences of incest. Suicide among incest victims is also common in various cultures and can be seen in the Western cultural experience. As in the Oedipus story, incest victims may commit suicide because of sexual guilt, fear of family disintegration, and fear of doing harm to others in the future. Running away, another common clinical problem among teenage incest victims, is also rooted in Western mythology and can be seen in other cross-cultural studies. Incest victims are often banished in other cultures or are said in Western mythology to wander. Modern incest victims often suffer a form of physchological banishment from the family in the form of scapegoating. Since separation is the major fear among incest families, incest may itself be functioning to abate that fear. Incest may prevent divorce, for example, by providing a sexual outlet for the father. Western mythology and folklore give clues that a family tragedy may precipitate incest. Incest often emerges in cross-cultural literature as an antidote against death. While modern psychologists point to the failure of mothering in incest victims, cross-cultural data and mythology predict family extinction as a result of incest. Folk tales which deal with incest can be used in treating victims. Thirty-eight references are supplied.