The Treatment of Child Sexual Abuse

Child sexual abuse is a social crisis of significant magnitude (Lipovsky & Hanson, 2007). This type of abuse has been found to be correlated with the advancement of an extensive range of mental health and social problems in children and adults (Kemp, Signal, Botros, Taylor, & Prentice, 2014). Child sexual abuse is the term used when an adult uses a child or adolescent for his own sexual gratification or pleasure (Ratican, 1992). Furthermore, a frequent expression of childhood sexual abuse is control over the abused child (Lipovsky & Hanson, 2007). This type of abuse knows no particular demographic and occurs across all social, cultural, economic, and religious lines (England & Thompson, 1988). Moreover, this type of abuse does not always involve penetration, but it also includes inappropriate touching or witnessing sexual acts. Adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse have an array of short and long term effects originating from the exploitation. Furthermore, survivors suffer from very low self-esteem and frequently take responsibility for the abuse. Finally, the effects of childhood sexual abuse include sleeping disorders, co-dependency, and may continue to be abused by others even after they leave an abusive environment (Lipovsky & Hanson, 2007).
The encounter of child sexual abuse differs between individuals. The seriousness, occurrence, and age of the child, relationship between the child and the offender, degree of support, admission by the perpetrator, active family life, and exact nature of the abuse all affect the type and severity of effects seen in the child victim. It is imperative to mention that no one symptom outline is exclusively to children who have been sexually abused. Furthermore, the majority of ch...

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..., H., Taylor, N., & Prentice, K. (2014). Equine Facilitated Therapy with Children and Adolescents Who Have Been Sexually Abused: A Program Evaluation Study. Journal Of Child & Family Studies, 23(3), 558-566. DOI: 10.1007/s10826-013-9718-1

Lipovsky, J., & Hanson, R. (2007). Treatment of Child Victims of Abuse and Neglect. Retrieved from http://dc.statelibrary.sc.gov/bitstream/handle/10827/8522/CLC_Treatment_of_Child_Victims_2007.pdf?sequence=1

Miller, K. L., Dove, M. K., & Miller, S. M. (2007, October). A counselor’s guide to child sexual abuse: Prevention, reporting and treatment strategies. Paper based on a program presented at the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision Conference, Columbus, OH.

Ratican, K. L. (1992). Sexual Abuse Survivors: Identifying Symptoms and Special Treatment Considerations. Journal of Counseling & Development, 71(1), 33-38.