Group Acceptance
Intimacy and Incest: The Advantages of
Group Acceptance in Healing Inner Conflict and Outer Trust Issues
S. M. O'Bryan
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
Few issues are as taboo and as difficult for society and individuals to confront as is sexual abuse by one’s own parent or guardian. This abuse leaves deep scars on the victim. This abuse is unique in that it does not require physical force and yet it is such a violent act. This uniqueness has caused many abused children to possess false notions that they themselves are the culprit and bear the responsibility for what happened to them. In their minds’ they rationalize that they themselves gave a form of consent by allowing themselves to become a victim. Guilt is layered onto the child’s …show more content…
Parental dominance is also a factor. Although incest victims basically experience and present with the same specific list of symptoms such as depression, anxiety and relationship problems, higher complaints of medical issues, the degree of dysfunction is found to vary. Then there is education, marital status, type of sexual contact and initial levels of distress or depression. Outcome of studies of group support for treatment of incest victims is just beginning. For the most part, these studies report that group treatment results in positive effects for the incest survivors, male and female.
Richter, Snider and Gorey (1997) evaluated groups consisting of 13 closed group processes that lasted for 15 consecutive one and a half to two hour sessions. The outcome measures were carefully selected to reflect conceptual links to the research regarding consequences of childhood sexual abuse, successful prior use, adequate and documented psychometric properties. These were brief and unobtrusive. The final findings? Closed process groups offered to 115 incest survivors resulted in significantly less depression for almost every individual. Self-esteem improved significantly, as
Group Acceptance in Healing Inner Conflict and Outer Trust Issues
S. M. O'Bryan
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
Few issues are as taboo and as difficult for society and individuals to confront as is sexual abuse by one’s own parent or guardian. This abuse leaves deep scars on the victim. This abuse is unique in that it does not require physical force and yet it is such a violent act. This uniqueness has caused many abused children to possess false notions that they themselves are the culprit and bear the responsibility for what happened to them. In their minds’ they rationalize that they themselves gave a form of consent by allowing themselves to become a victim. Guilt is layered onto the child’s …show more content…
Parental dominance is also a factor. Although incest victims basically experience and present with the same specific list of symptoms such as depression, anxiety and relationship problems, higher complaints of medical issues, the degree of dysfunction is found to vary. Then there is education, marital status, type of sexual contact and initial levels of distress or depression. Outcome of studies of group support for treatment of incest victims is just beginning. For the most part, these studies report that group treatment results in positive effects for the incest survivors, male and female.
Richter, Snider and Gorey (1997) evaluated groups consisting of 13 closed group processes that lasted for 15 consecutive one and a half to two hour sessions. The outcome measures were carefully selected to reflect conceptual links to the research regarding consequences of childhood sexual abuse, successful prior use, adequate and documented psychometric properties. These were brief and unobtrusive. The final findings? Closed process groups offered to 115 incest survivors resulted in significantly less depression for almost every individual. Self-esteem improved significantly, as