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Timing Disclosure Sessions: Adding a Narrative Perspective to Clinical Work with Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse
Author(s) -
WEINGARTEN KATHY,
COBB SARA
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
family process
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.011
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1545-5300
pISSN - 0014-7370
DOI - 10.1111/j.1545-5300.1995.00257.x
Subject(s) - narrative , perspective (graphical) , sexual abuse , interpersonal communication , psychology , interpersonal violence , child sexual abuse , child abuse , developmental psychology , psychotherapist , social psychology , poison control , suicide prevention , medicine , philosophy , linguistics , artificial intelligence , computer science , environmental health
Though the literature on the diagnosis and treatment of survivors of childhood sexual abuse has burgeoned in the last 20 years, relatively little guidance is available in the popular or professional literature to assist clients or therapists about issues of disclosure of this abuse to family members. When authors explicitly focus on disclosure, the timing of such disclosure is usually framed within a psychological and/or interpersonal perspective. In this article, we suggest that attention to characteristics of the sexual abuse narrative itself offers an important additional resource to guide decision making with respect to disclosure. We also describe ways that a narrative approach to disclosure can produce empowering conversational practices. A detailed case example provides the clinical material to illustrate this narrative approach to disclosure.