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

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.

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

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 336-340 ◽  
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.

The Impact of Group Therapy for Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse*

1989 ◽  
Vol 34 (8) ◽  
pp. 753-758 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia M. Carver ◽  
Carol Stalker ◽  
Elizabeth Stewart ◽  
Betsy Abraham
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Childhood Sexual Abuse ◽  
Group Therapy ◽  
Depression Scale ◽  
Adult Survivors ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Psychiatric Symptomatology ◽  
Post Test ◽  
The Impact

This article reports on 95 women who were referred to an outpatient psychiatry clinic for group therapy for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Criteria for exclusion in group therapy are outlined and the format of the group therapy is described. Those who completed the groups are compared to dropouts. The group's effectiveness was evaluated using measures of psychiatric symptomatology (SCL 90), depression (Zung Self-Report Depression Scale), and self-esteem (Texas Social Behaviour Inventory) with a pre/post test design. Clients' evaluation questionnaires were also used. Group therapy was found to be effective in reducing symptomatology and change was in the expected direction in terms of depression and self-esteem.

scholarly journals Spaces of dissociation: the impact of childhood sexual abuse on the personal geographies of adult survivors

Area ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alette Willis ◽  
Seamus Prior ◽  
Siobhan Canavan
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Childhood Sexual Abuse ◽  
Adult Survivors ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Clarifying the causal relationship in women between childhood sexual abuse and lifetime major depression

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 1213-1221 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. S. Kendler ◽  
S. H. Aggen
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Measurement Error ◽  
Major Depression ◽  
Childhood Sexual Abuse ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Variance Explained

BackgroundChildhood sexual abuse (CSA) is strongly associated with risk for major depression (MD) but the degree to which this association is causal remains uncertain.MethodWe applied structural equation modeling using the Mplus program to 1493 longitudinally assessed female twins from the Virginia Adult Twin Study of Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders.ResultsOur model included (i) retrospective self- and co-twin reports on CSA, (ii) major potentially confounding covariates, (iii) assessment of lifetime history of MD at two separate interviews, and (iv) mood-congruent recall (implemented by allowing current depressive symptoms to predict reporting of CSA). In a model with only measurement error, CSA explained 9.6% of MD. Including four key covariates reduced the variance explained to 5.3%, with the largest effects found for parental loss and low parental warmth. Adding the effect of mood-congruent recall to a final well-fitting model reduced the percentage of variance explained in lifetime MD (LTMD) by CSA to 4.4%. In this model, current depressive symptoms significantly predicted recall of CSA.ConclusionsIn a model correcting for measurement error, confounding and the impact of mood-congruent recall, CSA remains substantially associated with the risk for LTMD in women. These findings strongly suggest, but do not prove, that this association is causal, and are consistent with previous results in this sample using a co-twin control design, but also indicate that more than half of the uncorrected CSA–MD association is probably not causal. Traumatic life experiences contribute substantially to the risk for LTMD.

scholarly journals Childhood sexual abuse and attachment: An intergenerational perspective

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura E. Kwako ◽  
Jennie G. Noll ◽  
Frank W. Putnam ◽  
Penelope K. Trickett
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Risk Factor ◽  
Childhood Sexual Abuse ◽  
Attachment Theory ◽  
Adult Survivors ◽  
Negative Outcomes ◽  
Anxious Attachment ◽  
Longitudinal Sample ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Socioeconomic Risk

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a recognized risk factor for various negative outcomes in adult survivors and their offspring. We used the Dynamic-Maturational Model of attachment theory as a framework for exploring the impact of maternal CSA on children’s attachment relationships in the context of a longitudinal sample of adult survivors of CSA and non-abused comparison mothers and their children. Results indicated that children of CSA survivors were more likely to have extreme strategies of attachment than the children of non-abused mothers. However, because both groups were at socioeconomic risk, both were typified by anxious attachment. Explanations for findings and implications for children’s development are explored.

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

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-24
Author(s):  
Charity Francis Laughlin ◽  
Kaitlyn A. Rusca
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Childhood Sexual Abuse ◽  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Couples Therapy ◽  
Couple System ◽  
Adult Survivors ◽  
Individual Factor ◽  
Relational Support ◽  
History Of ◽  
Vicarious Resilience

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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