NCJ Number
145314
Date Published
1993
Length
285 pages
Annotation
This book profiles victims of sexual abuse and the debilitating symptoms of such abuse, along with treatment techniques for survivors.
Abstract
The first chapter identifies and discusses the distinguishing characteristics of survivors of sexual abuse and delineates the definitions and elements of sexual abuse, as well as its scope. A chapter on the offender emphasizes the role of sexual trauma in the formation of the offender and the patterns of child molesters who were themselves sexually molested as children. Chapters on the patterns, techniques, and consequences of child sexual abuse make extensive use of case histories from the author's own practice. These chapters address how survivors deal with sexual trauma at both the conscious and unconscious levels, "imprinting" as a result of early sexual seduction/molestation, and the behavioral effects of sexual trauma. Chapters that pertain to the treatment of survivors of sexual abuse include one that discusses pretreatment considerations. An overview of treatment issues is followed by a description of the 10 initial steps in survivor treatment. A chapter on specialized treatment techniques for unresolved and unidentified sexual trauma is followed by one on specialized therapy techniques in homosexual abuse and sexual assault. Other chapters on treatment address specialized therapy techniques in incest and long-term child sexual abuse, self-confrontation and new image formation, and the triple damage of religion and cults in sexual abuse. Illustrations, graphs, tables, subject index, and 30 references