Clinicians increasingly use empirically based cognitive-behavioral techniques in their treatment of child victims of sexual abuse. Attribution retraining is often a primary component of this work, and it involves various techniques aimed at decreasing abuse-related self-blame and encouraging the child to attribute responsibility for the abuse to the perpetrator This article reviews literature that highlights the complexity of self and other blame for sexually abused children in terms of developmental status, the multifaceted nature and interrelationships of abuse-specific attributions, and the psychological effects of self-blame and perpetrator blame. A review of written attribution retraining techniques developed by diverse authors for use with sexually abused children and their nonoffending parents is provided, including written and verbal techniques and techniques using games and the arts. The relative utility of different approaches with children of various stages of development is discussed, along with the need for empirical research regarding the effectiveness of these techniques.

In this article, we analyze the collective healing process that takes place on a weekly basis in the Divine Retreat Center (DRC) in Muringoor, Kerala. We argue that disease in the DRC is understood either as a psycho-somatic or as a spirito-somatic phenomenon. In contrast to other Charismatic communities, however, the body is the locus on which the medical effects of the healing become visible. The whole process is divided into several phases: First, there is a cleansing and disengagement procedure that aims to purify and liberate the participants through confession and counseling. Thereafter comes a climatic phase of personal emptying, transition and re-orientation during which the healing itself takes place. The procedure is finally completed with the person being spiritually "refilled" by the Holy Spirit. The dominant recurring element in the whole process is the continuous statement of healing "testimonies." As an integral part of the healing procedure, these statements are used to share personal experiences among the participants in the center. They are produced in a strict format in order to be spread far beyond through various media (TV, newspaper, Internet, etc.). They thereby constitute a speech genre that follows specific rules and patterns. Through shaping one's own biography in the frame of the testimonies, so we argue, the actual transformation of the self and therefore the miracle healing takes place.