Erikson's Psychosocial Theory

"Children are at risk of being sexually abused from the time they are born through adolescence, with the greatest risk occurring between the ages of seven and thirteen...children are never responsible for their sexual abuse, adults are the ones responsible" (McClendon, page 1). There are many questions that researchers are attempting to investigate concerning the controversial topic of child sexual abuse. Researchers explore various questions and dimensions. This paper will investigate the controversial conclusions and results to these questions. What is the concrete definition of child sexual abuse? Is there more than one meaning of child sexual abuse? What are the short term affects of child abuse? What are the long-term affects? This paper
But there are many short term effects that a child suffers, psychologically, mentally, and physically. According to Dr. Patricia McClendon, "Approximately 40% of all victims/survivors suffer aftereffects serious enough to require therapy in adulthood"...whether being short term effects or long term effects, all effects of the abuse are serious enough to induce therapy. The earlier an outsider helps a child heal, the less chance the child will have problems as an adult, but therapy is a good suggestion in any cases scenario. As the author of The Developing Person Through the Life Span, Kathleen Burger reports that "The effects of sexual abuse largely depend on the nature of the abuse, its duration, and the emotional support the adolescent receives...these consequences are especially severe when the sexual abuse occurs not once but over a long period when the child has an especially close relationship with the abuser, and when force is used. By contrast, if the abuse is a single, non-violent incident and a trusted caregiver believes and reassures the victim, taking steps to make certain the abuse does not occur again, the psychological damage may be
Unfortunately, it is the children, and not the adults, who suffer mentally and physically from the adult 's actions, whether the sexual actions are premeditated or not. We need to help the children who are abused by putting them in therapy as soon as they are identified as being a victims of an adult 's responsibility. By identifying an abused child, an individual should know the signs discussed in this paper that characterize the victim, and have some idea of the meaning of child sexual abuse. Erikson 's stages of the Psycosocial Theory pinpoint when, why and how a child is severely sexually abused during this time, short and long-term effects are severely noticeable. This concludes the discussion of child sexual abuse from birth until