Location
Greenspun College of Urban Affairs Lobby
Description
Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a significant trauma that affects a person’s self-concept and ability to form healthy intimate relationships later in adulthood. Approximately 20% of adults who experienced childhood sexual abuse go on to evidence serious psychopathology in adulthood (Harway & Faulk, 2005). Knowledge of how relationship partners affect the healing of the survivor may be very beneficial to couples’ therapists, to survivors themselves, and to their intimate partners. The purpose of this qualitative study is to increase understanding of the survivor’s experience of what is helpful and what is counterproductive in their healing process within the construct of their couple relationship. The results of this study may provide useful information for CSA survivors, their partners, and mental health professionals in their work with individuals and couples who have experienced CSA.
Keywords
Adult child sexual abuse victims; Child sexual abuse; Couples – Psychology; Couples therapy; Spouses of adult child sexual abuse victims
Disciplines
Community-Based Research | Counseling Psychology | Family, Life Course, and Society | Interpersonal and Small Group Communication
Language
English
Included in
Community-Based Research Commons, Counseling Psychology Commons, Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Interpersonal and Small Group Communication Commons
Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse:What Heals and What Hurts in a Couple Relationship
Greenspun College of Urban Affairs Lobby
Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a significant trauma that affects a person’s self-concept and ability to form healthy intimate relationships later in adulthood. Approximately 20% of adults who experienced childhood sexual abuse go on to evidence serious psychopathology in adulthood (Harway & Faulk, 2005). Knowledge of how relationship partners affect the healing of the survivor may be very beneficial to couples’ therapists, to survivors themselves, and to their intimate partners. The purpose of this qualitative study is to increase understanding of the survivor’s experience of what is helpful and what is counterproductive in their healing process within the construct of their couple relationship. The results of this study may provide useful information for CSA survivors, their partners, and mental health professionals in their work with individuals and couples who have experienced CSA.
Comments
File: Poster
Attached file: Abstract