Post-traumatic stress reactions among adults molested as children

Abstract

Abstract Sexual abuse is a traumatic event for most children and for some it is followed by post-traumatic stress reactions in later life. These reactions include re-experiencing the abuse in various ways, behavioural and cognitive avoidance of features related to the abuse, and persistent increased arousal. Some light may be cast on the acquisition and maintenance of such reactions by Mowrer's learning model and Beck's cognitive model. The management and alleviation of post-traumatic stress reactions involves exposure to stressful features related to the abuse in safe therapeutic conditions, training survivors in skills to improve their ability to cope with such stresses, and changing the meaning of the abuse so that it is less traumatic for them. There are certain advantages and limitations in applying a post-traumatic stress disorder framework to some of the common problems of adults molested as children.