Treatment Modalities for the Younger Child Sexual Abuse

Child sexual abuse is a commonly encountered and often emotionally damaging experience, maintained by secrecy and followed by denial after disclosure. Treatment in this field involves both the child and the family in a variety of treatment settings and modalities, often proceeding in parallel. Child developmental considerations dictate that treatment often proceeds in phases. It aims to protect the child from further abuse and the consequences of disclosure, and address the trauma and context of the abuse. Careful planning and co-operation is required by the many professionals working in this stressful area in order to avoid confusion, conflicts, and splits which may mirror relationships in the family. The heterogeneity of the problem is reflected in the fact that treatment cannot be offered in a uniform programme. Legal issues may influence the treatment process. Evaluation of treatment modalities, the identification of protective factors and achieving long-term adjustment in the least detrimental manner offer challenges in this newly developing field.

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Child sexual abuse: A critical review of intervention and treatment modalities

Children and Youth Services Review ◽

10.1016/j.childyouth.2008.01.008 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 30 (6) ◽

pp. 665-673 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

Rachel Lev-Wiesel

Keyword(s):

Sexual Abuse ◽

Child Sexual Abuse ◽

Critical Review ◽

Treatment Modalities

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Malpractice & Negligence: State Supreme Courts Limit Therapists’ Duties to Third Parties

The Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics ◽

10.1017/s1073110500012985 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 27 (2) ◽

pp. 204-205

Author(s):

Megan Cleary

Keyword(s):

Sexual Abuse ◽

Child Sexual Abuse ◽

Supreme Court ◽

New Hampshire ◽

Third Parties ◽

State Supreme Courts ◽

Recovered Memories ◽

Supreme Courts ◽

Repressed Memory ◽

University Of Colorado

In recent years, the law in the area of recovered memories in child sexual abuse cases has developed rapidly. See J.K. Murray, “Repression, Memory & Suggestibility: A Call for Limitations on the Admissibility of Repressed Memory Testimony in Abuse Trials,” University of Colorado Law Review, 66 (1995): 477-522, at 479. Three cases have defined the scope of liability to third parties. The cases, decided within six months of each other, all involved lawsuits by third parties against therapists, based on treatment in which the patients recovered memories of sexual abuse. The New Hampshire Supreme Court, in Hungerford v. Jones, 722 A.2d 478 (N.H. 1998), allowed such a claim to survive, while the supreme courts in Iowa, in J.A.H. v. Wadle & Associates, 589 N.W.2d 256 (Iowa 1999), and California, in Eear v. Sills, 82 Cal. Rptr. 281 (1991), rejected lawsuits brought by nonpatients for professional liability.

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