Forensic Assessment of Adults Reporting Childhood Sexualized Assault: Risk, Resilience, and Impacts

Barnes, Rosemary Ann; Josefowitz, Nina

doi:10.1007/s12207-014-9184-0

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 95 publications

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“…41 From this fundamental abuse of trust, problems arise that relate to building trust in others in adult relationships as well as self-trust. 42 This also involves problems in affect regulation, particularly the ability to regulate the most severe affects. An individual who, as a child, could not learn to regulate their psychobiological states, because their parents did not enable this or they, with their actions, even intensified the child's already insufferable affects, can maintain the inability to tolerate and regulate difficult affects in adulthood.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unresolved Childhood Abuse and Neglect in Adulthood: the Emotional Aspect in Relational Family Therapy

Božac

2020

PCH

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Childhood family abuse or neglect is a traumatic relational experience with potentially long lasting impact on one's psycho-organic and interpersonal world. The purpose of our qualitative research was to deepen the understanding of negative trauma impact on adults' emotional world and to find the ways of recovery through Relational Family Therapy. Seven adults with the history of childhood abuse or neglect participated in the research. The results pointed out potential difficulties in identifying, naming and understanding emotions, differentiating past emotions from the present ones, distinguishing one's own emotions from the projected ones, issues with experiencing the diversity of emotions, and difficulties with emotion regulation and management. Positive changes in these areas were observed in Relational Family Therapy. The findings of this research are a contribution to the understanding of specific emotional problems of adults with the history of childhood abuse or neglect as well as to therapeutic interventions that could lead to recovery.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unresolved Childhood Abuse and Neglect in Adulthood: the Emotional Aspect in Relational Family Therapy

Božac

2020

PCH

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“…These individuals commonly experience difficulties with trusting, especially people in authority. Further, plaintiffs can struggle with emotional regulation and be at risk for maladaptive coping including increased rates of suicidal ideation and risk for self-harm (Barnes & Josefowitz, 2014b;Wolfe et al, 2010). The forensic evaluator is often faced with competing ethical priorities: for example, (a) being adequately empathic in order to ensure a necessary degree of rapport and trust while maintaining role clarity and boundaries appropriate for the forensic context, and (b) being able to observe the plaintiff's full range of symptoms, which at times might including traumatic reactions and distress, while attempting to do no harm and ensure the plaintiff's wellbeing, capacity to engage in the evaluation, and ultimately their safety.…”

Section: Consideration Of the Impact Of Remote Assessment Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A plaintiff's functioning predating the alleged abuse must be explored, including their strengths, vulnerabilities and preexisting mental health and trauma history. The plaintiff's peritraumatic and posttraumatic reactions during and immediately following the alleged abuse must be examined and a chronology of their academic, vocational, relational, physical, and psychological functioning should be explored in order to evaluate the impact of the alleged abuse on these domains (Barnes & Josefowitz, 2014b). Ultimately, evaluators are tasked with providing opinions about the nature and severity of the psychological injuries and functional consequences of the historical abuse, and also must render an opinion about causation, i.e., the degree to which the event that is the basis of legal action contributed to the plaintiff's symptoms and impairments (Wolfe et al, 2010).…”

Section: Civil Litigation and Assessing Sequalae Of Childhood Abuse Rmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remote Forensic Psychological Assessment in Civil Cases: Considerations for Experts Assessing Harms from Early Life Abuse

Goldenson

Josefowitz

2021

Psychol. Inj. and Law

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The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the question of whether psycho-legal assessments can be executed remotely in a manner that adheres to the rigorous standards applied during in-person assessments. General guidelines have evolved, but to date, there are no explicit directives about whether and how to proceed. This paper reviews professional, ethical, and legal challenges that experts should consider before conducting such an evaluation remotely. Although the discussion is more widely applicable, remote forensic psychological assessment of adults alleging childhood abuse is used as an example throughout, due to the complexity of these cases, the ethical dilemmas they can present, and the need to carefully assess non-verbal trauma-related symptoms. The use of videoconferencing technology is considered in terms of potential benefits of this medium, as well as challenges this method could pose to aspects of interviewing and psychometric testing. The global pandemic is also considered with respect to its effects on functioning and mental health and the confounding impact such a crisis has on assessing the relationship between childhood abuse and current psychological functioning. Finally, for those evaluators who want to engage in remote assessment, practice considerations are discussed.

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“…Not all IRS students had the same experiences and some report more positive experiences than others. We have described elsewhere a framework developed to assess the impact of childhood maltreatment and trauma in a forensic context (Barnes & Josefowitz, 2014a, 2014b); this framework can be used to understand the impact of IRS experiences for a particular individual. More generally, the seven factors discussed above may contribute to persistent mental disorders, complex traumatic reactions, negative cascades of events, poor educational attainment, marginalization, and adverse impacts on family and society.…”

Section: Complicated and Persistent Impacts Of Indian Residential Sch...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Indian residential schools in Canada: Persistent impacts on Aboriginal students’ psychological development and functioning.

Barnes¹,

Josefowitz²

2019

Canadian Psychology / Psychologie canadienne

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Indian residential schools (IRSs) in Canada subjected thousands of students to horrific experiences and contributed to serious problems for Aboriginal peoples and Canadian society. A model is proposed that uses existing psychological theory and empirical research to explore the possible impacts of IRS experiences. The model identifies four aspects of student experiences that were a direct result of Canadian law or policy and so affected all IRS students: parental loss, institutional care, forced acculturation and acculturation stress, and discrimination/racism. The model also identifies three aspects of student experiences related to inadequate or abusive IRS operations: maltreatment, trauma, and bullying. An exploration of relevant empirical findings is organized within the framework of this model. This model suggests important and not generally understood IRS psychological impacts, including the vulnerability of former students not only to (a) persistent mental disorders but also to (b) complex traumatic reactions arising from impaired relational attachment and developmental maturation, (c) negative cascades of events, and (d) social marginalization resulting from both Canadian societal racism and lack of opportunities to develop or retain Aboriginal languages and cultures. Such psychological difficulties may underlie and contribute to the poor welfare of many Aboriginal children, jeopardized Aboriginal languages and cultures, health problems among Aboriginal peoples, lagging Aboriginal educational and economic success, and the overrepresentation of Aboriginal peoples in the criminal justice system. The present model offers a framework for psychologists to participate in the truth and reconciliation process through research, education, clinical treatment, and advocacy.

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Forensic Assessment of Adults Reporting Childhood Sexualized Assault: Risk, Resilience, and Impacts

Cited by 10 publications

References 95 publications

Unresolved Childhood Abuse and Neglect in Adulthood: the Emotional Aspect in Relational Family Therapy

Unresolved Childhood Abuse and Neglect in Adulthood: the Emotional Aspect in Relational Family Therapy

Remote Forensic Psychological Assessment in Civil Cases: Considerations for Experts Assessing Harms from Early Life Abuse

Indian residential schools in Canada: Persistent impacts on Aboriginal students’ psychological development and functioning.

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