Search results for ‘Subject term:"traumas"’ Sort:
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Beyond fight, flight, and freeze: towards a new conceptualization of peritraumatic responses to child sexual abuse based on retrospective accounts of adult survivors
- Authors:
- KATZ Carmit, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Child Abuse and Neglect, 112, 2021, p.104905.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
Background: Child sexual abuse (CSA) studies have greatly contributed to theory, policy, and practice worldwide. Surprisingly, although trauma studies in particular have highlighted the importance of peritraumatic responses to trauma, this aspect is underdeveloped in the context of child abuse studies. Objective: The current study profiles the peritraumatic responses of children to abuse, based on adults’ retrospective accounts of their childhood experiences. Participants & methods: 180 adults who retrospectively reported having been sexually abused in childhood completed a questionnaire that included four categories of common peritraumatic responses to CSA: automatic, behavioral, cognitive and affective. Results: Latent class analysis revealed a number of classes in each of the questionnaire’s four categories. Within each, classes were identified and the relationships within and between them, as well as with abuse characteristics were explored. Conclusions: Existing theory with respect to peritraumatic responses to trauma, and to CSA in particular, should be reconsidered based on the multifaceted model proposed in the current study. The findings point to a previously unrecognized peritraumatic response to trauma: numbness and seeking ways to survive ongoing abuse. Finally, recommendations are provided for incorporating the current model in both prevention and intervention efforts in the CSA field. (Edited publisher abstract)
Reading the child within: how bibliotherapy can help the victim of child sexual abuse
- Authors:
- WOHL Agnes, KIRSCHEN Gregory W.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 29(4), 2020, pp.490-498.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Bibliotherapy, the use of storytelling as part of the healing process, has been successfully incorporated into clinical practice for a variety of indications including psychological trauma. This therapeutic modality, which incorporates mindful meditation, non-threatening use of metaphor, and autonomic regulation, can help children and adults alike, who are willing to engage in a story. Yet, bibliotherapy has not been widely adapted as a routine part of the therapeutic toolbox in the context of sufferers of childhood sexual abuse. Here, we review current practices regarding the adjunctive use of bibliotherapy for victims of child sexual abuse, touch upon the theoretical basis of bibliotherapy, and lay out a number of readily-useable strategies for implementing bibliotherapy in one’s practice. (Publisher abstract)
Therapeutic use of fairy tales in child sexual abuse
- Authors:
- DUMAN Nesrin, BRIDGE Esra N.
- Journal article citation:
- Seen and Heard, 29(3), 2019, pp.41-45.
- Publisher:
- NAGALRO
- Place of publication:
- Esher
Child sexual abuse is by nature hidden and usually remains unspoken. Children who have been sexually abused may not have enough vocabulary to express themselves to describe and make sense of an abusive experience. Children are also threatened by the abuser to keep this event secret. For all these reasons it is difficult for children to break the silence on sexual abuse during the evaluation and treatment of abuse. Tales that can be used as a mediator between the therapist and the client are an important source of help. This article examines the use of fairy tales in psychotherapy and in therapeutic work with sexually abused children. (Edited publisher abstract)
A legacy of trauma
- Authors:
- PHILLIPS Josie, HACKETT Simon
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work Matters (e-Magazine), November 2013, pp.14-15. Online only
- Publisher:
- The College of Social Work
Recent research examined the characteristics of one of the largest sample of young people showing harmful sexual behaviour in the UK. In partnership with nine organisations offering community and residential services, the agency records relating to 700 children and young people referred between 1992 and 2000 for interventions to address harmful sexual behaviours. One of the findings was the significant number who had experienced sexual abuse. The authors highlight the importance of recognising the complex needs of a large number of children and young people presenting with 'dual sexual abuse experiences'. (Original abstract)
The existential basis of trauma
- Authors:
- THOMPSON Neil, WALSH Mary
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work Practice, 24(4), December 2010, pp.377-389.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Undergoing a traumatic experience can happen to anyone in any sector of society and at any stage in the life course. Focusing on childhood trauma, this paper explores the potential for existentialist philosophy to make a contribution to understanding of trauma and its effects. It presents trauma as an existential injury with psychological and sociological dimensions, and discusses links between trauma and identity and between death, trauma and abuse. Child abuse is used as an example of how trauma can have a significant and detrimental effect on identity development. The authors discuss theorising trauma and promoting recovery and post-traumatic growth, and argue that the study of childhood trauma can be enhanced by exploring more fully the potential for existentialist philosophy to offer fuller and more empowering understandings of traumatic experiences.
Dissociation predicts later attention problems in sexually abused children
- Authors:
- KAPLOW Julie B., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Child Abuse and Neglect, 32(2), February 2008, pp.261-275.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
The goals of this research are to develop and test a prospective model of attention problems in sexually abused children that includes fixed variables (e.g., gender), trauma, and disclosure-related pathways. At Time 1, fixed variables, trauma variables, and stress reactions upon disclosure were assessed in 156 children aged 8–13 years. At the Time 2 follow-up (8–36 months following the initial interview), 56 of the children were assessed for attention problems. A path analysis involving a series of hierarchically nested, ordinary least squares multiple regression analyses indicated two direct paths to attention problems including the child's relationship to the perpetrator (β = .23) and dissociation measured immediately after disclosure (β = .53), while controlling for concurrent externalizing behaviour (β = .43). Post-traumatic stress symptoms were only indirectly associated with attention problems via dissociation. Taken together, these pathways accounted for approximately 52% of the variance in attention problems and provided an excellent fit to the data. Children who report dissociative symptoms upon disclosure of CSA and/or were sexually abused by someone within their family are at an increased risk of developing attention problems. Findings from this study indicate that children who experienced sexual abuse at an earlier age, by someone within their family, and/or report symptoms of dissociation during disclosure are especially likely to benefit from intervention. Effective interventions should involve (1) providing emotion regulation and coping skills; and (2) helping children to process traumatic aspects of the abuse to reduce the cyclic nature of traumatic reminders leading to unmanageable stress and dissociation.
Poly-victimization: a neglected component in child victimization
- Authors:
- FINKELHOR David, OMROD Richard K., TURNER Heather A.
- Journal article citation:
- Child Abuse and Neglect, 31(1), January 2007, pp.7-26.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
In a nationally representative sample of 2,030 children ages 2–17, assessment was made of the past year's victimization experiences and recent trauma symptoms. Children experiencing four or more different kinds of victimization in a single year (poly-victims) comprised 22% of the sample. Poly-victimization was highly predictive of trauma symptoms, and when taken into account, greatly reduced or eliminated the association between individual victimizations (e.g., sexual abuse) and symptomatology. Poly-victims were also more symptomatic than children with only repeated episodes of the same kind of victimization. Researchers and practitioners need to assess for a broader range of victimizations, and avoid studies and assessments organized around a single form of victimization.
The 'mother' returns to psychoanalysis: Sandor Ferenczi, welcome home
- Author:
- MEYER William S.
- Journal article citation:
- Smith College Studies in Social Work, 75(3), 2005, pp.15-31.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
For nearly two decades Sándor Ferenczi was Sigmund Freud's closest friend and collaborator. Whereas it was Freud's intellectual brilliance that set in motion the earth-shaking theory of the human mind, it was Ferenczi's deep empathy and creative passion for healing that inspired analytic practitioners to explore all possibilities for therapeutic cure. When Ferenczi fell out of favour with Freud, the psychoanalytic establishment largely suppressed his work. The absence of Ferenczi's voice tragically left a critical void and, for decades, analytically informed treatment was deprived of the vital influence of one of its most esteemed founders. (Copies of this article are available from: Haworth Document Delivery Centre, Haworth Press Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580).
Prevalence of childhood trauma in a clinical population of transsexual people
- Authors:
- GEHRING Darlynne, KUNDSON Gail
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Transgenderism, 8(1), 2005, pp.23-30.
- Publisher:
- Routledge
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Few studies have focused on the prevalence and extent of childhood trauma in the transsexual population. In this American study of 42 transsexual people, 55% reported experiencing an unwanted sexual event before the age of 18, with the average age of initial sexual contact being 13. This sexual event differs from other clinical populations in that the unwanted sexual experiences in this sample were the consequence of adolescents satisfying their curiosity about the gender of the transsexual rather than for their own sexual gratification. Consequently, the sequalae of the unwanted sexual touches in our sample did not lead to sexualised behaviours described in the sexual abuse literature of clinical samples. Our sample also reported being: verbally abused (77%), insulted (81%), embarrassed in front of others (55%), made to feel guilty by their parents (58%) before their fifteenth birthday. (Copies of this article are available from: Haworth Document Delivery Centre, Haworth Press Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580).
Drugs of abuse
- Authors:
- GRIFFITHS Ronno, PEARSON Brian, BEAR Zetta
- Journal article citation:
- Druglink, 19(1), January 2004, pp.16-17.
- Publisher:
- Drugscope
- Place of publication:
- London
Many problem drug users have a history of child sexual abuse. Looks at the complex relationship between childhood sexual trauma and substance misuse.