Reflections on the Therapy of Those Who Maltreat Children (From The Battered Child, P 382-391, 1987, Ray E Helfer and Ruth S Kempe, eds. -- See NCJ-111195)

• NCJ Number: 111214
• Author(s): B Steele
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 10 pages
• Sale Source: University of Chicago Press
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This discussion portrays a basic theme in all successful treatment of abusing parents, i.e., the provision of a facilitating environment that opens up new channels of personal growth blocked and distorted in the parent's own childhood.

Abstract

Abusing parents were themselves victimized by their own abusing parents, producing low self-esteem, lack of self-confidence, poor sense of identity, lack of basic trust, learning difficulties, poor ability to cope with crises, and a diminished ability to experience pleasure. The therapist for the abusive parent must help the patient recognize this personal handicap, its origin, and options for mitigating the negative consequences. The most valuable ingredients therapists can provide, beyond the intellectual insights that enable caregivers to grow and develop, are time, attention, tolerance, and the worth of the parents in spite of their negative behaviors. If abusive parents are to become loving nurturers for their children, they must receive from the therapist and support groups the love, support, and nurturing they did not receive as children. This not only meets needs not met by their own parents but provides a role model for the treatment of their own children.