Feminist Family Therapy for Treating Female Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Abstract

Female survivors of childhood sexual abuse make up a population that warrants special clinical attention. Despite the amount of literature devoted to childhood sexual abuse, little attention has been paid to the culture of the individual survivor and her family in the field of couple and family therapy. There are unique aspects about women's experiences with childhood sexual abuse that require attention to gender and cultural issues. To attend to this identified gap, an overview of some of the common problem areas that survivors and their families experience is provided, and feminist family therapy is discussed as a suggested treatment approach.

Keywords:

• childhood sexual abuse
• childhood sexual abuse survivor
• emotional sexual abuse

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the invaluable assistance of Katherine M. Hertlein, PhD, in the editing of earlier drafts of this manuscript. We would also like to denote that we view the authorship of this work as being collaborative and equal.