A study of incest survivors' experiences in recovering memories of childhood sexual abuse
Date
1990
Authors
Smith, Jenna M.
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Abstract
This study investigated, from a phenomenological perspective, the experience of recovering memories of childhood sexual abuse. As the review of literature indicates, the experience of remembering childhood sexual abuse in adulthood is a highly traumatic but essential process of healing from abuse. Of equal importance is the counsellor's ability co-respond effectively to the client either about to enter, or already in, the process of recovering repressed memories. In spite of this, research examining the experience of remembering memories of childhood sexual abuse has been very limited. This study sought to educate counsellors about incest survivor's experiences of remembering their abuse. No other studies have explored this experience of remembering from a phenomenological perspective.
Previous researchers have suggested that adult survivors suffer from a Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, a result of wishing to avoid the trauma of the past. When this phase breaks down adult survivors may experience flashbacks or nightmares that are often an exact replica of the event. Casual observation of incest support groups suggests that there may be stages which adult survivors go through in processing their memories. Anecdotal interviews with women who were sexually abused as children also suggest that this process of remembering is both complex and traumatic.
The experimental methods used in these previous studies may have precluded the examination of how incest survivors experience this process. Similarly, casual observation and anecdotal interviews, while offering a greater potential for experiential content, lack the necessary structure for obtaining specific information about the subjective experience of remembering. The present study adopted a phenomenological approach in order 10 explore and describe the meaning and significance of the experience of remembering childhood sexual abuse from the perspective of the adult survivors themselves.
Survivors' experiences of remembering were assumed, for the purposes of this study, to include the following aspects: what triggered the memories, form(s) of memory recall, subjective experience of memory recall, and reactions/effects of remembering childhood sexual abuse. Six women who identified themselves as incest survivors were interviewed. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed in relation to the four areas under study, for each participant individually and the group as a whole.
The results indicated that the process of recovering memories was a gradual one, often occurring over a number of years. Participants identified individual life circumstances, dreams, and kinesthetic sensations as the most common memory triggers. Visual flashbacks, kinesthetic sensations, verbal, audio and feeling/knowing memories were experienced with feelings of terror, anxiety, shock, a fear of "going crazy" and being out of control. Recovering memories of childhood abuse had profound effects on the women in this study. Major issues they dealt with included denial, effects on their present and biological families, sexual issues, concerns with their daughters being abused, and feeling consumed with their memories. They attributed both positive and negative effects to their experience of recovering memories.
In the concluding chapter of this study relationships among the present findings and those of previous researchers were discussed, applications of the present findings to training of counsellors were offered, and recommendations for future research were suggested.