This specific issue was chosen based on the importance of time perception and future orientation in endorsing quality of life.Īlthough the definition of CSA varies widely across studies ( Senn et al., 2008), an accepted definition is a sexual act between an adult or a minor with a child in which the child is utilized for the sexual satisfaction of the perpetrator ( Briere, 1992). Based on a phenomenological analysis of life story interviews with 50 adult female sexual abuse survivors, the study examined how female survivors of sexual abuse perceive time and recount their life experiences. The objective of the current study was to inquire whether the conceptualization of the distorted time perception caused by CSA can be validated empirically. Time perception is one of the central differences between the two conceptual models, acknowledging the importance of time in providing structure to the human experience. Recently, Lev-Wiesel (2015) suggested a somewhat different conceptualization to the CSA trauma that includes five traumagenic constructs: Soul’s homelessness (split between body and mind), captured in time, entrapped in distorted intimacy, betrayal entrapment, and re-enactment. They described four traumagenic dynamics – traumatic sexualization, betrayal, powerlessness and stigmatization – which occur together, as part of a process and form the basis of the trauma unique to CSA. Finkelhor and Browne (1985) attempted, three decades ago, to conceptualize CSA based on their clinical experience at that time. Of the several forms of abuse (e.g., physical emotional), CSA is considered to be especially traumatic, due to the internal violation of the child’s body by way of oral, anal or genital penetration ( DiLillo et al., 2006). The trauma of child sexual abuse (CSA) is a phenomenon which has been studied extensively, particularly in relation to risk factors and long-term physical and emotional consequences. These themes were discussed from the conceptual perspective of “captured in a distorted time,” which is one of the traumagenic constructs of childhood sexual abuse. In relation to time perception and memory deficit, three main themes emerged: Adrift in time and space disintegration of body, mind and identity and chaos, exhaustion, and confusion. A total of 50 adult female CSA survivors’ open-ended life story interviews were analyzed utilizing Thematic Content Analysis. More specifically, we questioned how they recalled their past how their past experience interacted with their experience of the present and how the past abuse affected the way that they viewed the future. As trauma survivors often report time and space disorientation as well as memory deficit, an attempt was made to further understand these functions in female adults CSA survivors. Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a worldwide phenomenon with negative outcomes for survivors whose lives and well-being are compromised into adulthood, due to the trauma caused by the abuse.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |