Childhood Sexual Abuse Case Study

Your past affects your future, that is one idea that most people can agree upon. Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse develop symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and are unable to form positive working relationships. Having direct experience with Childhood Sexual Abuse survivors has caused reason to question developmental traits that occur initially after the abuse as well as the long term effects the abuse has on the victim. Please consider that all samples, case studies and other research used in this essay come from victims of CSA that have self-identified as being either survivor or an abuser. According to The National Center For Victims of Crime, nearly 30 percent of children between the ages of fourteen and seventeen have been victims

This may be a fair point, but even if there are not enough symptoms present, or they are not prevalent enough to be diagnosed, that implies that the validity of their psychological distress is in question, simply because they do not outwardly express extremely specific symptoms that categorically separates them into a group of CSA survivors with PTSD. Operating under this ideology is comparable to not treating someone that shows several symptoms of manic depression but is not explicitly diagnosed although they express several symptoms and occasionally combat suicidal thoughts. If one refers to aforementioned findings that victims of childhood sexual abuse have a tendency to internalize their thoughts and most of all their emotions. With this being reiterated, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse may suffer from additional symptom paralleled to those diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder but will not outwardly express them due to the nature of the traumatic incident. Often times victims of abuse, no matter the nature, may not feel comfortable speaking out due to past experiences in accordance with past abuse. Some abusers, typically adults, take a disciplinarian approach to their method of abuse. This causes the victim to feel they have deserved the abuse as it is a form of

Most often victims of CSA develop difficulty establishing properly functioning relationships, and face challenges in social settings. Victims develop several symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, even though they are not always diagnosed with PTSD, they also may experience depression with ties to low self-worth, in addition to feelings of inadequacy. Some survivors may develop a dissociative disorder regarding both feelings and emotions as well as any ties to the initial or repeating traumas experienced. This may seem as though it does not effect the direct development of the personality of the victim but taking into consideration that personality traits are developed not solely by the conscious but also by subconscious thoughts and feelings, even if a survivor does not remember being victimized one or more times, they will still develop similar corresponding psychological traits to their to their less-forgetful counterparts. Speaking from a personal experience standpoint, those that have endured a traumatic incident such as childhood sexual abuse do exhibit many of these personality traits. I have encountered two different victims that show either early sexual activity, or have developed a type of phobia in regard to intercourse. Both of these people I know personally and will not