Women's Narratives of Healing from the Effects of Child Sexual Abuse

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List of Abbreviations ACOA CSA DES DID IV PTG PTSD SE TV Women CSA Adult Children of Alcoholics Child Sexual Abuse Dissociative Experience Scale Dissociative Identity Disorder Intravenous Post Traumatic Growth Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Somatic Experience (Therapy) Television Women who have been sexually abused in childhood xi
Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Motivation While comparable and reliable estimates of the true incidence of child abuse and maltreatment in Canada are not available, 1 it is believed that the number of girls sexually abused in childhood ranges from between one-in-three to one-in-five. 2–4 Child sexual abuse is recognized as a major public health problem. 5 I have worked with women who were sexually abused in childhood (women CSA) for many years, including as a director of a community-based healing centre for women CSA. When women talk to me about healing from child sexual abuse, they refer to more than their physical health. While physical well-being is a goal for women CSA, they also consider healing to include the ability to sleep through the night, to go to the doctor, to resolve a depression, to deal with addictions, to return to university, to return to work, or to be well enough to parent their children. Interventions in adulthood typically take the form of programs such as mental health services, sexual assault centers, and counseling agencies. These organizations and programs offer important support and services for a population that is often marginalized and silenced. However, it is not clear what role these services play in addressing the needs of women in healing from the effects of child sexual abuse. There is much literature available on therapeutic interventions for women who were sexually abused in childhood, but there is little research available on the healing process itself. Given the high numbers of women who were sexually abused in childhood, the gap in our knowledge on the healing process has relevance both for those who work in the area of women’s health, and for women who were sexually abused in childhood. This research addresses that gap in the literature. 1
Page 1 and 2: Women’s Narratives of Healing fro
Page 3 and 4: Abstract The health of women is com
Page 5 and 6: For my parents Charlotte & Charles
Page 7 and 8: 3.1.1 Power . . . . . . . . . . . .
Page 9 and 10: C Initial Contact Information 199 D
Page 11: List of Figures 8.1 A Model of Heal
Page 15 and 16: The therapeutic literature on recov
Page 17 and 18: analysis techniques, holistic conte
Page 19 and 20: Chapter 2 Background and Related Wo
Page 21 and 22: abuse as an issue had a personal as
Page 23 and 24: Now that the courts are more open t
Page 25 and 26: One of the main findings in a Saska
Page 27 and 28: the dilemma of the survivor of seve
Page 29 and 30: that the use of diagnostic language
Page 31 and 32: Csordas suggests the object of heal
Page 33 and 34: trajectory perspective, looking for
Page 35 and 36: emember and those who forget, and b
Page 37 and 38: three traits of body memories: marg
Page 39 and 40: Lock and Scheper-Hughes include in
Page 41 and 42: elationships and behaviours. Women
Page 43 and 44: Chapter 3 Methodology This chapter
Page 45 and 46: fixed, or a single unit, but rather
Page 47 and 48: Bloom discusses the role of power i
Page 49 and 50: detachable from the surrounding dis
Page 51 and 52: process of hearing the women tell t
Page 53 and 54: to identify a minimum of two suppor
Page 55 and 56: esearcher inquiry. Making data is a
Page 57 and 58: and there would be no way to identi
Page 59 and 60: The women’s stories of healing we
Page 61 and 62: in the silencing of women’s voice
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I chose to eliminate unnecessary de
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events or some of the issues she fa
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Overview of healing story She began
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needs, and to meet them, much as sh
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ship with her husband. She uses uni
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could not explain, all of which end
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this.” 4.9 Jennifer Jennifer is i
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told her what happened she believed
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4.12 Connie Connie is a full-time g
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Telling her story Sonshine was a de
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4.15 The Researcher and the Women
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Chapter 5 Naming, Remembering and M
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There is little public discourse of
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flashbacks; severe depression; or a
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5.1.1 Memories without a name Nine
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and I even tried with a woman too,
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my case was truly childhood sexual
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As a child, Nel remembers knowing t
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she believed that her mother saw sy
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home . . . I was sent to a neurolog
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As she said, “For me, you don’t
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She described this as not having an
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couldn’t believe, and I mean this
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In the stories, several of the wome
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was collaborative law. 3 Les found
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enough that when I went to high sch
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5.2 Support and Safety Every resear
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that they would not hurt her, and t
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an adult] I told her my story of se
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I went to the Vagina Monologues. An
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Jennifer had a sense early on in he
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The women’s stories indicate that
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if she got it again, which she woul
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Chapter 6 Restorying Life is sort o
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Table 6.1: Restorying. A Chronologi
Page 133 and 134:
Les’s broader story of healing, h
Page 135 and 136:
and she said ‘yes’, and he then
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For M.C., her first naming occurred
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accomplish anything but minimal tas
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For all of the women, their point o
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ecame clear that she had been sexua
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impacts, and then volunteering, whi
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as they are contained in her body t
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While a pattern was found in the wo
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Chapter 7 Body Fee fi fo she smells
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So the (memory of the) molesting ca
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she has a new way of understanding
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have a problem’(body politic), an
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to see a specialist like immediatel
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probably one of the hardest things
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I was a very promiscuous child from
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ut her main focus is cranial sacral
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from my uncle and from the rape tha
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like [breathing in a panicked manne
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For Connie, her body spoke the know
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naming, to disrupting and then recl
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when one of the research participan
Page 177 and 178:
FEE FI FO Fee fi fo she smells his
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The women are healing from the effe
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social world and the individual. Th
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to ‘see’ the wind, or the norma
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meaning was attached to the experie
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the biggest rule being ‘you don
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threatening risk. This is where sup
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the master narrative of one of her
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Chapter 9 Conclusion While comparab
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transcripts were analyzed using hol
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Pattern of Healing When all fourtee
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lation to other research in the are
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The most important finding from thi
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• to investigate the relationship
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14. Kitzinger J. Transformations of
Page 207 and 208:
45. Scheper-Hughes N. A Talent for
Page 209 and 210:
Appendix A K.Wood 503 Copland Cresc
Page 211 and 212:
When a potential research participa
Page 213 and 214:
system, including self-selected pse
Page 215 and 216:
Appendix F Data/Transcript Release
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Women's Narratives of Healing from the Effects of Child Sexual Abuse

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