Childhood sexual abuse. Women's health when starting in group therapy

Abstract

Childhood sexual abuse has been shown to be common among adult women, 15-30% in prevalence studies, and among mentally ill women, 25-77%. These women often suffer from depression, anxiety, sexual and relationship problems. Suicide attempts and self-destructive behaviour are common. Within the Department of Psychiatry at Lund University Hospital, 45 women with experiences of childhood sexual abuse were offered a 2-year-long trauma-focused group therapy. They were well educated but 27% were unemployed. Nearly half of the group had made suicide attempts, 87% had had suicidal thoughts and, according to the questionnaire SCL-90, they were suffering from psychiatric symptoms significantly to a greater degree than both a general group and a clinical group with mixed diagnoses. According to the questionnaire ISSI, they were less well socially integrated than both a general group and a clinical group, and the degree of social adjustment according to the questionnaire SAS-SR was lower than in a general group. The study shows that childhood sexually abused women seeking therapy are a symptom-burdened group. These women probably need psychiatric treatment of a particular character. Special group therapy for these women can potentially improve their health.

Sexual abuse and associations with psychosocial aspects of health. A population-based study with Swedish adolescents

“…It is of interest to further investigate how the development of sense of coherence may be affected by SA and how psychological treatment of children and adolescents exposed to SA may change their sense of coherence. Lundqvist (34) showed that SOC had increased after treatment in a clinical sample with women exposed to SA, even if the scores at a group level still were lower than the scores of the control group.…”

Psychological distress among women who were sexually abused as children

“…More recently, in a study of 2,300 18‐year‐old females in Sweden, Svedin and Priebe () reported a prevalence of CSA (including penetration) at 13.5 per cent. The number of unrecorded cases is most likely quite high because many victims do not disclose the abuse, neither as children nor as adults (Lundqvist et al., ). Regarding disclosure patterns, Hébert et al.…”

A Group Intervention Programme for Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse

“…Group therapy affords members the opportunity to share their victimisation experiences with other survivors in a secure setting, reducing isolation and stigmatisation, and creating a supportive network. This directly counteracts the lonely experience of CSA and contributes to a reframing of personal identity from lone victim-child to collective powerful survivor-adult Lundqvist et al, 2004). Meekums (2000:71) refers to this element of group therapy as "witnessing", a sense of being benevolently seen, heard and understood in the presence of others.…”

“…Although some researchers found little evidence regarding the effectiveness of individual versus group therapy (Martsolf & Draucker, 2005), there is a strong body of research supporting group therapy in the treatment paradigm of adult survivors of CSA, specifically given its potential to reduce stigma and its cost-effectiveness (Brown, Reyes, Brown & Gonzenbach, 2013Lundqvist, Svedin & Hansson, 2004).…”

“…Thus, trauma survivors are "experts" on their own trauma and can grow through their own strengths and capacities with the guidance of an expert companion. This is strongly advocated for in group therapy Lundqvist et al, 2004).…”