NCJ Number
115475
Journal
Journal of Adolescence Volume: 11 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1988) Pages: 299-308
Date Published
1988
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This paper describes a psychotherapeutic attempt to help an adolescent girl (Jenny), who had been incestuously assaulted by her father for over a decade, rebuild a satisfactory sense of self, and mitigate the debilitating and stigmatizing effects of her experience.
Abstract
The course of psychotherapeutic experience was primarily determined by Jenny's own sense of what she needed from psychotherapy. The male psychotherapist gave Jenny the acceptance and patience required for her to re-experience the incestuous events at her own pace, empathizing with her suffering without becoming outraged on her behalf. Jenny's reflections on the sexual abuse included a discussion of her own guilt and sense of responsibility for what had occurred. The psychotherapist's approach to helping Jenny deal with the guilt was informed by Kelly's essay, 'Sin and Psychotherapy' (Kelly, 1969). Kelly illustrates that a role relationship is central to the personal construct theory's view of guilt. Under this theory, guilt is experienced as 'the sense of loss of role.' Jenny began to discover that she has the power to reconstruct her sense of shame. The paper concludes with an uncertain portrayal of outcome and prognosis. 10 references. (Author abstract modified)