NCJ Number
174315
Journal
Journal of Aggression Volume: ltreatment & Trauma Issue: Dated: Pages: 1 (1998)-146
Date Published
1998
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This article examines children's different responses to multiple forms of abuse.
Abstract
Children's experience of multiple forms of abuse is regarded as traumatic, with the effect of trauma on attention and perception being the closest to a universal response to multiple victimization that may be discovered. Unique responses are a function of cultural and familial expectations, developmental level, and individual differences. Children's attributions of meaning and subsequent behaviors depend heavily on the interplay among experience, thought and action. Professionals working with multiply victimized children need to appreciate children's understandings and cognitive capacities in order to devise the most effective interventions. It is important to examine what victimization does to children cognitively. The therapist's initial understanding of the level of logic and preferred domains used by the traumatized child will allow the therapist to achieve therapeutic results quickly and efficiently. References