Through the Eyes of the Wounded: A Narrative Analysis of Children’s Sexual Abuse Experiences and Recovery Process

Abstract

Numerous children receive counseling for sexual abuse, yet their personal perspectives related to the abuse, the impact of making the disclosure, and the recovery process are noticeably absent from the scholarly literature. This study addressed this gap by analyzing trauma narratives written by children as part of a counseling intervention. Qualitative analysis revealed three themes: memories of the abuse, the disclosure and subsequent events, and the healing journey. Children's descriptions of their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about their experiences are delineated and recommendations are provided for counseling professionals to increase the efficacy of care provided.

Change during psychotherapy: the perspective of children and adolescents who have been sexually abused

“…Consistently with those studies this participant manifested feelings of frustration and described her passage through the judicial systems as long and difficult. In her case, the judicial inquiry has not been successful, and like in the cases examined by Foster and Hagedorn (2014), the victim's narratives revealed a strong feeling of injustice. In addition, in other studies (Foster & Hagedorn, 2014;Lama et al, 2015) participants reported secondary victimization situations such has having to narrate the traumatic events repeatedly.…”

“…In her case, the judicial inquiry has not been successful, and like in the cases examined by Foster and Hagedorn (2014), the victim's narratives revealed a strong feeling of injustice. In addition, in other studies (Foster & Hagedorn, 2014;Lama et al, 2015) participants reported secondary victimization situations such has having to narrate the traumatic events repeatedly. The similarity between national and international results highlights the importance of improving the implementation of legal proceedings in cases involving children and adolescents.…”

“…Studies involving psychotherapy, especially those that incorporate the participants' own perspectives, are less common Foster & Hagedorn, 2014;Jessiman, Hackett, & Carpenter, 2017;Nelson-Gardell, 2001).…”

“…Nevertheless, these studies only included the views of children and adolescents after the completion of the psychotherapeutic process Jessiman et al, 2017), involving group interviews (Nelson-Gardell, 2001), or including an analysis of materials written by the participants during the psychotherapy (Foster & Hagedorn, 2014) without individually asking the children and adolescents about their opinions regarding the psychotherapy and their own changes during the therapeutic process.…”

Engaging Parents and Caregivers in the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse

“…Moreover, most prevention efforts have solely targeted children and have neglected or only minimally involved parents and caregivers (hereafter referred to as parents) [5]. This is problematic as it places the burden of prevention predominately on children; whereas, it must be the responsibility of adults to protect children from sexual abuse [6].…”