Article

Aim

This article is about the childhood sexual abuse and its psychological effects even after many
years.

There are theories of Freud, he said that the children with who were seduced by adults were
prone to having hysteria in adulthood and mostly it is repressed by the children if it happens in
early age. It is known to be very common in our society and that such victimization has a lot of
impacts like depression and anxiety. Through a study, Freud’s speculation about the seduction
hypothesis it was found that 53 female patients with sexual abuse histories and out of the them
64% have been least amnestic.

Hypothesis

There were questions raised by using the database of sexual abuse survivors that whether
repression is a common characteristic of childhood sexual trauma and if it does then is repression
a defense against physical conflict. Does early age onset of abuse increase the likelihood of
repression. And is repression of abuse associated with greater symptomatology.

Procedure

Participants for the study were recruited by their therapists and a questionnaire was given to
them who had experience of childhood sexual abuse. The sample had 430 females and 30 males
of the mean age of 34. Sexual abuse started at the age of 6 till the age of 10. And the abuser was
almost 25 years older than the victim. The study consisted if a questionnaire and had 90
questions. They were asked the parameters of the abuse, how the victim responded, how the
abuser behaved or if he gave any threats and the extent of coexisting physical abuse. And the
abuse related to amnesia was asked if after the first abuse happened and between your eighteen
birthdays was there ever a time you remembered your sexual abuse experience. Analysis was
done by using discriminant functional analysis and by post hoc ANOVA.

Results

The results showed that if there are variable of victimization or injury by the abuser then it
results in having amnesia. But if there is a variable like enjoyment during abuse then there is no
presence of amnesia. Out of 450 participants 267 participants said there was a time when they
did not remember anything about their abuse. It was because the participants with amnesia
history had been molested at an early age and for a very long time and had head injuries by the
molester.

The questions that were raised were answered that the abusers with amnesia could not recall the
incident till the age of 18. Abuse specific amnesia was related to violent abuse like physical
injury and fear of death. Early molestation at an early age increased the presence of amnesia.
And amnesia about sexual abuse was related to greater symptomatology.

The current data reveals that the difference between amnestic and non-amnestic participants
abuse started at less than 2 years and the incident later recalled by amnestic participants was
more violent and it can be the main cause of increase in the memory. It suggests that memory
disturbance arises from the cognitive mechanisms in order to avoid recalling those events of
sexual abuse. And this concept also agrees with Freud’s theory of symptomatology. But it is still
not clear if the cause of amnesia is due to repression or dissociation.
References
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF02093360
 Date: April, 20 2021

PLAGIARISM SCAN REPORT

Excluded Url : None

Content Checked For Plagiarism

Article Aim This article is about the childhood sexual abuse and its psychological effects even after many years. Freud also said that the
children with who were seduced by adults were prone to having hysteria in adulthood and mostly it is repressed by the children if it happens in
early age. It is known to be very common in our society and that such victimization has a lot of impacts like depression and anxiety. Through a
study, Freud’s speculation about the seduction hypothesis it was found that 53 female patients with sexual abuse histories and out of the them
64% have been least amnestic. Hypothesis There were questions raised by using the database of sexual abuse survivors that whether
repression is a common characteristic of childhood sexual trauma and if it does then is repression a defense against physical conflict. Does
early age onset of abuse increase the likelihood of repression. And is repression of abuse associated with greater symptomatology. Procedure
Participants for the study were recruited by their therapists and a questionnaire was given to them who had experience of childhood sexual
abuse. The sample had 430 females and 30 males of the mean age of 34. Sexual abuse started at the age of 6 till the age of 10. And the
abuser was almost 25 years older than the victim. The study consisted if a questionnaire and had 90 questions. They were asked the
parameters of the abuse, how the victim responded, how the abuser behaved or if he gave any threats and the extent of coexisting physical
abuse. And the abuse related to amnesia was asked if after the first abuse happened and between your eighteen birthdays was there ever a
time you remembered your sexual abuse experience. Analysis was done by using discriminant functional analysis and by post hoc ANOVA.
Results The results showed that if there are variable of victimization or injury by the abuser then it results in having amnesia. But if there is a
variable like enjoyment during abuse then there is no presence of amnesia. Out of 450 participants 267 participants said there was a time when
they did not remember anything about their abuse. It was because the participants with amnesia history had been molested at an early age and
for a very long time and had head injuries by the molester. The questions that were raised were answered that the abusers with amnesia could
not recall the incident till the age of 18. Abuse specific amnesia was related to violent abuse like physical injury and fear of death. Early
molestation at an early age increased the presence of amnesia. And amnesia about sexual abuse was related to greater symptomatology. The
current data reveals that the difference between amnestic and non-amnestic participants abuse started at less than 2 years and the incident
later recalled by amnestic participants was more violent and it can be the main cause of increase in the memory. It suggests that memory
disturbance arises from the cognitive mechanisms in order to avoid recalling those events of sexual abuse. And this concept also agrees with
Freud’s theory of symptomatology. But it is still not clear if the cause of amnesia is due to repression or dissociation