Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is correlated with numerous adverse effects, both intrapersonal and interpersonal. Couples where one or more partners is a CSA survivor often report problems in social/relational adjustment, emotional expressiveness, revictimization, low relationship satisfaction and stability, and sexual dysfunction. Despite the adverse effects of CSA, some individuals with a history of CSA retain typical levels of functioning, and data from studies of resilience in CSA survivors suggest the importance of social and relational support for favorable outcomes. Resilience is not only an individual factor but also a social, ecological process, and research on vicarious resilience in therapist–client relationships suggests that resilience can be transmitted across relationship systems through a combination of witnessing resilience stories and beliefs about the possibility of resilience and its transmission. We suggest that in romantic partnerships (including nonheteronormative configurations) where one or more partners has a history of CSA, narrative couples therapy is well suited to address the systemic impacts of trauma and resilience by facilitating the transmission of each partner’s resilience to the other. Two narrative interventions, mapping and definitional ceremonies, are suggested to facilitate the transmission of resilience within the couple system through the sharing and witnessing of each other’s subjugated resilience narratives, thereby promoting a re-authored preferred identity based on acceptance, strength, and agency rather than shame, avoidance, and interpersonal difficulty.
Strengthening Vicarious Resilience in Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Narrative Approach to Couples Therapy
