How do children cope with sexual abuse?
Summary: Explores coping strategies of sexually abused children as described by adult survivors of child sexual abuse. Discusses minimising, rationalising, disassociation, splitting, denial, creating chaos, misusing substances, supervigilance, disappearing, running away, fantasy and lying. Concludes that coping mechanisms are the child’s way of surviving but that some strategies stop being helpful in adulthood.
| Publication details: Protecting Children Update Volume 84, 2011 pp 9-10 |
| Authors: Whitehead, Jenni |
