Strengthening Vicarious Resilience in Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Narrative Approach to Couples Therapy

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.

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Relational couples therapy with adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e579192012-095 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Sara Jerebic

Keyword(s):

Sexual Abuse ◽

Childhood Sexual Abuse ◽

Couples Therapy ◽

Adult Survivors

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Forgetting of Trauma Cues in Adults Reporting Continuous or Recovered Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Psychological Science ◽

10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.01536.x ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

pp. 336-340 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

Richard J. McNally ◽

Carel S. Ristuccia ◽

Carol A. Perlman

Keyword(s):

Sexual Abuse ◽

Childhood Sexual Abuse ◽

Divided Attention ◽

Adult Survivors ◽

Memory Deficits ◽

Recovered Memory ◽

Recovered Memories ◽

Betrayal Trauma ◽

History Of ◽

Memory Group

According to betrayal trauma theory, adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) who were molested by their caretakers (e.g., a father) are especially likely to dissociate (“repress”) their memories of abuse. Testing college students, some reporting CSA, DePrince and Freyd (2004) found that those scoring high on a dissociation questionnaire exhibited memory deficits for trauma words when they viewed these words under divided-attention conditions. Replicating DePrince and Freyd's procedure, we tested for memory deficits for trauma words relative to neutral words in adults reporting either continuous or recovered memories of CSA versus adults denying a history of CSA. A memory deficit for trauma words under divided attention was expected in the recovered-memory group. Results were inconsistent with this prediction, as all three groups exhibited better recall of trauma words than neutral words, irrespective of encoding conditions.

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The Sexual Fantasies of Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors: A Rapid Review

Trauma Violence & Abuse ◽

10.1177/15248380211030487 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 152483802110304

Author(s):

Ateret Gewirtz-Meydan ◽

Eugenia Opuda

Keyword(s):

Sexual Abuse ◽

Childhood Sexual Abuse ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Adult Survivors ◽

Rapid Review ◽

Abuse Survivors ◽

Sexual Fantasies ◽

History Of ◽

The Impact ◽

Health Function

Although the association between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and various aspects of sexual difficulties is well established, little is known about the association between CSA and adult sexual fantasies. The current rapid review searched for studies that reported on CSA and sexual fantasies through PubMed, PsycInfo, and Violence & Abuse Abstracts databases. Included in the review were empirical studies involving a population of adults who experienced CSA before the age of 18 and which reported on survivors’ sexual fantasies. The impact of CSA on adult sexual fantasies was found across three main dimensions: prevalence of sexual fantasies, content, and appraisal of the fantasies. Overall, 13 studies that addressed the sexual fantasies of survivors of CSA were identified. This review found an association between CSA and adult sexual fantasies, indicating that survivors of CSA are more likely to report: unrestricted sexual fantasies, more atypical sexual fantasies, more sexual fantasies that involve force, and more fantasies that include elements of sadomasochism, submissiveness, and dominance. Survivors of CSA also begin having sexual fantasies at a significantly earlier age and report their sexual fantasies as being significantly more intrusive than do nonabused subjects. When treating CSA survivors, therapists should acknowledge that a history of CSA can impact the survivors’ sexual fantasies. Further studies with adult survivors of CSA are needed to determine how these sexual fantasies develop subsequent to the abuse, how they are perceived by survivors, and what their effect is on survivors’ and their partners’ sexual health, function, and satisfaction.

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