Who Let the Boys In? Discussion of an NHS Mixed Gender Group for Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Abstract

The impact on individuals of severe and early trauma is looked at from an integrative perspective that seeks to combine the growing body of evidence and literature from psychoanalysis and from an attachment perspective, which emphasizes the centrality of the relationship in which the trauma occurs. As much sexual abuse happens without the opportunity for communication, it is suggested that what is most traumatic about the trauma is its lack of shareability. This is exactly what group psychotherapy can promote. Through cohesiveness the group can create a secure base through which to explore the world of inner objects and interpersonal relationships and, specifically, the traumatic responses of the self. The majority of groups in non‐forensic settings are for women only and short‐term specifically in order to prevent the tendency of the women to get stuck in an identity of being victims. The author discusses the literature that addresses differences in the way in which men and women respond to childhood sexual abuse. As the group functions as a microcosm of society, it is suggested that mixed groups enable cultural stereotypes, or the social, to enter the group room where it can be shared and illuminated, and as further demonstrated through clinical material, the presence of the ‘other’ facilitates an interplay between the male/female/abuser/victim poles leading to an opportunity to work with more perverse attachments and identifications.

Gender, group composition, and outcomes of group interventions to promote forgiveness: Replication and extension.

“…Both theory and research highlight the benefits and potential problems of mixed- versus same-gender intervention groups (e.g., Dechant, 1996; Holmes, 2002; Yalom & Leszcz, 2005). On the one hand, mixed groups may allow for various perspectives and a deepening of process work (e.g., Valerio, 2011; Yalom & Leszcz, 2005). On the other hand, same-gender groups may allow for more immediate cohesion and help members to connect on shared experiences more quickly (e.g., Yalom & Leszcz, 2005).…”

Cognitive‐Analytic Therapy in a Group: Reflections on a Dialogic Approach

“…the word, which always wants to be heard, always seeks responsive understanding, and does not stop at immediate understanding but presses on further and further (indefinitely). (Bakhtin, 1986, p. 127) Paola Valerio (2011) emphasizes the 'lack of shareability' of the trauma of sexual abuse and suggests that a group setting may act as a secure base to explore this previously hidden material. A scene of abuse could be visualized as a closed film loop, cycling in the mind of the person -no one else ever there to have the human reactions and 'otherness' of a witness who could offer the responsive understanding needed to see and experience the trauma in a new way.…”