Childhood Sexual Abuse and Incest
-The Impact on Women
Childhood Sexual Abuse and Incest | Top
Do you experience feelings of depression, anxiety, anger, sadness, and/or loss during the holidays, at family reunions or at mother’s or father’s day? Do you avoid talking about your family with others or avoid your family completely? Are you confused about what a family “should” be versus what your experiences have been? Do you struggle with intrusive imagery or nightmares? Do you experience role confusion in your family of origin, wondering if you are your father’s child or lover? If you answered “yes” to several of these questions, you may be a survivor of child sexual abuse or incest. You need to know you are not alone. There is help for this complex issue.
I have found in my counseling practice, it is usually some sort of emotional distress or crisis that precipitates a woman seeking out counseling services in adulthood. Sexual abuse or incest may not be the identified issues at the beginning of a course of psychotherapy, but it may be the underlying reason the person is seeking out help. I believe it is essential to provide a safe, consistent, confidential, and supportive environment when I work with women seeking out counseling services for these issues.
Experiencing sexual abuse or incest in childhood can lead to disturbances in a person’s emotionality, psychological functioning, and it impairs relationships with one’s self and others. You can grow up not trusting yourself or others, confused about healthy boundaries and you may suffer with low self-esteem, shame, and guilt. Childhood sexual abuse may leave a woman with a lasting sense of stigmatization and isolation.
I would like to provide you with more information about child sexual abuse and incest. I will discuss how prevalent this type of abuse is, its long-term effects, and how therapy can help you process your experiences and heal from them.
The statics on the prevalence of child sexual abuse and incest are difficult to fathom. Experts in the field estimate that somewhere around 20% of women have gone through some form of sexual violation at the hands of a family member or a trusted family friend(Courtois, 1988).
Often the abuse suffered in childhood is not a onetime event, but a series of traumas, which may escalate in its sexual intrusiveness and increasing coercion or threat over time. Women are faced with having to “keep a secret” about a taboo relationship and topic, with little or no help from non-offending others in the family or from others outside the family (Courtois, 1988).
In this type of environment, children struggle to cope with the situation however they can. Negotiating these types of experiences can lead to the development of different types of mental health issues both at the time of the abuse and as one grows into adulthood. Common aftereffects are: depression, anxiety, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, eating disturbances, substance use and abuse, sexual dysfunction or difficulties, behavioral disturbances such as self-injurious behaviors, suicide attempts, and dissociation.
On a deeper level, a child’s developmental trajectory is derailed by these kinds of experiences, leading to disturbances in attachments with self and others. This is important to later development in adulthood when intimate, long lasting relationships are being established. Healthy and secure attachments are essential to maintaining intimate relationships and with creating secure attachments with one’s offspring.
Experiencing childhood abuse has a profound impact on the development of a healthy self-concept. Adult, female survivors of sexual abuse or incest often grow up with a negative sense of self as being bad, broken, guilty, responsible, blame worthy, and ashamed of whom they are.
I believe counseling for women who have experienced childhood sexual abuse is essential to establishing a life of vitality and the development of a positive sense of self and well-being. I agree with John Briere, Ph.D.’s(2006) treatment philosophy, which is based on the premise that persons coping with “symptoms” of childhood sexual abuse and Post Traumatic Stress are not mentally ill or damaged, but are experiencing reactions that make sense and are common given they occurred by living in a toxic or ‘crazy’ environment in childhood. The intrusive symptoms commonly associated with Post Traumatic Stress need to be understood as the person’s ongoing attempts to integrate memories and experiences (Briere, 1992).
Through a positive counseling relationship, a woman can begin to process her childhood experiences, their aftereffects, and move toward more adaptive coping in adulthood. As a counselor, I know that providing a safe, respectful, and consistent environment is essential for the establishment of a therapeutic alliance. A healthy alliance can facilitate the work of processing memories and experiences from childhood, shift inaccurate assumptions about the ‘self’, it can lead to a more hopeful outlook on life, and it can help shift attachment dynamics from insecure attachment patterns to more secure relating with oneself and others. Within a safe counseling relationship, women can learn new skills, enhance others, and come to understand how their pasts’ have affected them, their adult relationships, and their parenting.
In my counseling practice, I specialize in working with women who have experienced child sexual abuse and/or incest. I provide both individual and group psychotherapy for this clinical population. I recommend individual counseling for women who are beginning to address their challenging pasts’. Establishing a safe relationship to begin the work of trauma processing is essential for stabilization and trust to be established. Individual counseling can help address painful emotions, improve psychological functioning, and enhance relationships.
As a woman moves through the early stages of recovery, a group counseling experience may be a very therapeutic addition to a treatment plan. In group, women can learn to speak the unspeakable, they can examine maladaptive ways of coping, and make changes within a safe, supportive setting. Group participation can build up your sense of feeling connected. Insights can be shared and received. The new relationships that are formed in group can help members begin to challenge old, childhood messages about trust and self-worth. Learning becomes a shared experience among members. Deepening empathy, compassion, and care for one’s self and others.
I am honored, in my work, when a woman makes a commitment to address her childhood sexual abuse and its traumatic aftereffects. I deeply respect the courage it takes to begin and sustain this work. It always amazes me to bear witness to how creative and resilient the human spirit is when faced with this type of interpersonal violence.
I would welcome the opportunity to answer any questions you might have about childhood sexual abuse or incest, how counseling may help you address the aftereffects you are coping with, and address any concerns you might have about my counseling style. Thank You.
References
Briere, J.N. (1992). Child Abuse Trauma: Theory and treatment of the lasting effects. Newbury Park, California: Sage Publications, Inc.
Briere, J.N. & Scott, C. (2006). Principles of Trauma Therapy: A guide to symptoms, evaluation, and treatment. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, Inc.
Courtois, C. A. (1988). Healing the Incest Wound: Adult survivors in therapy. New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Author : Marjorie E. Lorenz, MA, LMHC
Licensed Mental Health Counselor
Therapist with Tender Rock Counseling
Please contact Marjorie E. Lorenz for further information.
