Self-Trauma Model for Treating Adult Survivors of Severe Child Abuse (From APSAC Handbook on Child Maltreatment, P 140- 157, 1996, John Briere, Lucy Berliner, et al, eds. - See NCJ- 172299)

• NCJ Number: 172307
• Author(s): J Briere
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 18 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

A theoretical model of symptom development, referred to as a self-trauma model, and a subsequent therapeutic focus for adults severely abused as children are presented.

Abstract

The self-trauma model integrates aspects of four general psychotherapeutic approaches (trauma, self-psychology, cognitive therapy, and behavior therapy) within a developmental perspective. The model assumes major childhood abuse and neglect often disrupt child development and produce later symptomatology in several different ways: by altering early childhood attachment dynamics; through effects of early post-traumatic stress on subsequent development; by motivating the development of primitive coping strategies; and by distorting the child's cognitive understanding of self, others, and the future. The model suggests that postabuse symptomatology generally reflects the survivor's adaptive attempts to maintain internal stability in the face of potentially overwhelming abuse-related pain and that many of these symptoms are actually self-healing procedures. Therapeutic implications of the model are discussed in terms of the therapeutic process and the specific content and goals of abuse-relevant psychotherapy. Long-term psychological effects of severe childhood abuse are examined. 49 references and 4 notes