Catholicism and Childhood Sexual Abuse: Women’s Coping and Psychotherapy

Abstract

The long-term effects of child sexual abuse include numerous psychological, social, and behavioral difficulties in women survivors, ranging from poor self-esteem and depression to sexual disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder. The role that religious beliefs may play in the difficulties these women suffer has been largely unexplored. This qualitative study explored women's experience of healing within the context of Catholicism. Interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of eight women raised as Catholics who reported child sexual abuse and who had participated in at least two years of psychotherapy. Results suggest that Catholic identity can both compound and relieve the suffering many women experience in healing from child sexual abuse. Participants related that their Catholicism was rarely addressed during psychotherapy. These findings have implications for clinicians working with Catholic survivors of child sexual abuse.

Elite Athletes' Experience of Coping With Emotional Abuse in the Coach–Athlete Relationship

“…Although the athlete may have gained perceived control over the situation, the coping strategy did little to confront or eliminate the emotionally abusive behaviour. In the literature on child sexual abuse (Collins et al, 2014;Phanicrat & Towshend, 2010), adult sexual assault (Ullman, Peter-Hagene, & Relyea, 2014) and intimate partner violence (Zanville & Bennett-Cattaneo, 2012), such strategies are recognised as maladaptive or unhealthy approaches to coping because they are enacted to alleviate distress without actually addressing the source of the distress itself. Stirling (2009) emphasised that over-conformity in competitive sport can result in an uncritical acceptance of a range of negative behaviours, including emotional abuse.…”

“…In the literature on child sexual abuse (CSA, Collins, O'Neill-Arana, Aronson Fontes, & Ossege, 2014;Phanicrat & Towshend, 2010), adult sexual assault (Ullman, Peter-Hagene, & Relyea, 2014) and intimate partner violence (Zanville & Bennett-Cattaneo, 2012), an exploration of coping strategies has offered an insight into the abuse cycle that individuals experience. The findings from qualitative studies in CSA suggest that survivors employ numerous coping strategies in dealing with abuse including escapism, dissociation, cognitive engagement strategies, and support-seeking behaviours.…”

Sexual Abuse in the Orthodox Jewish Community: A Literature Review

“…The empirical literature on sexual abuse in such communities remains limited because of the difficulty in obtaining access to them. Few studies have been conducted on specific religious communities, such the Catholic Church (Collins et al, 2014; Dale & Alpert, 2007; Parkinson, 2014), Amish (McGuigan & Stephenson, 2015), Mormons (Gerdes et al, 1996), and Muslims (Haboush & Alyan, 2013; Sambisa et al, 2010).…”

Spiritual trauma as a manifestation of religious and spiritual struggles in female victims of sexual abuse in adolescence or young adulthood in the Catholic Church in Poland

“…Female victims/survivors reported a greater decline in their "relationship with God" compared to male victims/survivors (Rossetti, 1995). Similarly, Flynn (2008Flynn ( , 2010 and Collins et al (2014) report that while abuse negatively impacted involvement with religious organizations and behaviors among their female respondents, no negative impacts were reported for affective experience of spirituality. Compared with a control group who report no sexual abuse, women victims/survivors were more likely to have felt that God was distant from them at some stage in their lives, to feel anger toward God, and to feel that God disapproved of them (Crisp, 2004).…”

“…Publications based on qualitative research concerning female survivors of sexual abuse by clergy outside of Poland were authored by Kathryn Flynn (2008 and Collins et al (2014). Studies by Flynn (2008Flynn ( , 2010 focused mostly on the psychological trauma experienced by the interviewed women, which is characteristic of the broad group of sexual abuse survivors.…”