How do men with severe sexual and physical childhood traumatization experience trauma-stabilizing group treatment? A qualitative study

Abstract

Background: Exposure to potentially traumatizing events, defined as events involving actual or threatened death or serious injury, is associated with an elevated risk of developing enduring physical, psychological and social problems. Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disorder that can occur after prolonged and repeated trauma. At least 30% of the sexually abused population is male, but in spite of this fact, treatment research focusing on male victims is virtually non-existent in comparison to research on female victims.Objective: Trauma-stabilizing group treatment is an increasingly used treatment method for patients with complex PTSD. The aim of the present study was to explore how men participating in a gender-specific trauma-stabilizing intervention experience this treatment approach.Methods: Five men who participated in a trauma-stabilizing group treatment were interviewed with a semi-structured qualitative interview. The data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.Results: The analysis revealed five main themes. The themes highlight the experiences of the participants and describe positive and negative experiences: (1) Group atmosphere, comprising safety, community, emotional openness, anxiety and pressure; (2) Learning, categorized into knowledge and self-understanding; (3) Motivation, which describes both inner and outer motivation; (4) Structure, comprising structure of the meetings, group size and duration of the meetings; and (5) Gender, defined as the experiences of being in an all-male group with female group leaders.Conclusions: There seem to be a lot of advantages to inviting men to attend gender-specific groups for trauma-stabilizing treatment. The men emphasized the support they received and that participating in a mixed-gender group would have been more difficult. In the future, it may be important to arrange all-male stabilization groups with more focus on male-specific topics.

Stabilizing Techniques and Guided Imagery for Traumatized Male Refugees in a German State Registration and Reception Center: A Qualitative Study on a Psychotherapeutic Group Intervention

“…It is noteworthy, that many participants found it the most challenging for self-practice that they did not have any verbal instructions. These observations are in line with the results of other studies: It has been shown that the internal structure of group therapy sessions helps traumatized patients to stay focused on the present, while preventing intrusive symptoms and dissociation [38,43]. Except for one participant, the participants stated that the intimate atmosphere in the group session room transported a feeling of safety.…”

“…Interestingly, some participants stated that they missed the presence of the other group members during self-practice. In line with these observations, different studies evaluating the benefits of group therapy for adults with traumatic experiences have found that socialization, personal exchange, de-stigmatization, and cohesiveness can improve mental health [12,13,37,38,39,40]. However, two out of three participants left the group because the other group members made them feel uncomfortable.…”

“…Except for one participant, the participants stated that the intimate atmosphere in the group session room transported a feeling of safety. An important concept for stabilizing therapeutic work in general and for group therapy with male patients in particular, is the reestablishment of safety [14,38,44].…”

Violencia sexual en niños y adolescentes varones en el mundo: una revisión integrativa

“…Cuatro artículos se centraron en las inter venciones terapéuticas a víctimas de VSI masculina, con predo minio de enfoq ues cognitivo-conductuales basados en terapias gr upales masculinas y en aspectos co m o la m otivación en la participación (22,30,(45)(46). Uno de los estudios encontró q ue los puntos de inflexión en la vivencia posterior a la VSI, relacionados con la revelación del ASI y la búsq ueda de justicia, son deter minados por factores co m o las relaciones entre las víctimas y los gr upos o profesionales de apoyo, el insight y los nuevos significados, la transfor mación espiritual y la necesidad de cam bio, y la co m unicación orientada hacia la acción (22).…”

“…El estudio de Taylor, Goshe, Marq uez, Safren y O'Cleirigh (30) examinó la relación entre la terapia cognitivo-conductual y la reducción del estrés postraumático asociado con el ASI; encontró q ue esta terapéutica mejoraba los co m portamientos de autocuidado, particular mente, q ue la m otivación para participar en terapias de ayuda favorece la reducción de co m portamientos de riesgo en el ám bito de la sexualidad. Finalmente, otra investigación reportó q ue en la aceptación de los gr upos de ayuda es fundamental la atmósfera de gr upo, la m otivación y el aprendizaje, y de for ma destacada la búsq ueda tem prana co m o parte fundamental para estabilizar el trauma (46).…”