Model for Understanding: Treating the Trauma of Child Sexual Abuse

• NCJ Number: 112440
• Author(s): D Finkelhor; A Browne
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles, August 1985

Annotation

Based on a review of the literature, this paper presents a conceptual framework for understanding and treating the sequelae of child sexual abuse.

Abstract

It is proposed that the injury of the victimization can be characterized in terms of four traumagenic dynamics that alter the child's cognitive and emotional orientation to the world and distort his or her self-concept, world view, and affective capacities. Traumatic sexualization is the process that shapes the victim's sexuality in appropriate and interpersonally dysfunctional ways. It occurs as a result of rewards for developmentally inappropriate sexual behaviors, when affection or gifts are exchanged for sexual behavior so that such behavior is viewed as a manipulative strategy, or as a result of confusion and misconceptions of sexual behavior transmitted to the child by the offender. Betrayal of trust, both by the offender and by family members, occurs when the victim realizes that someone on whom he or she depended has caused harm. Powerlessness or disempowerment is the process in which the child's will, desires, and sense of efficacy are continually contravened. Finally, stigmatization refers to the negative connotations (e.g., badness, guilt, shame) that are communicated to the child and eventually incorporated in the self-image. This model has implications for future research, clinical assessment, and intervention. 32 references.