thank you Claire

• gestalt therapy with sexually abused children by Jungkyu Kim ph.D, 5/20/98
  • Working with abused children by Claire Salisbury, 5/22/98
    
    

thank you Claire ! I appreciate your kind letter much and I agree with you at the point that we have to be very cautious in the work with abused children so we may not become a secondary abuser ourselves. And I also agree with you that it is very important to build rapport with the children first in order to make them feel safe to talk about their experiences with the therapist. However sometimes it is very hard to decide whether you should go further to encourage children to speak about and explore their experience of abuse or wait longer until they are ready to come out by themselves. Because sometimes children develop very strong avoidant behavior as a coping strategy. At present I have an 11 years old girl who was raped two month ago by a stranger and has visited me 6 times since April. According to her mother she used to be somewhat reserved and silent child, but after the incidents her behavior changed to the opposite and now she speaks loud and a lot and a little bit hyperactive, which makes her mother feel strange. She likes to visit my office, because she feels comfortable with me and with the playtherapy I offer, but she prefers 'playing' with toys and games etc. to talking about the incidents, "because it reminds her more of the uncomfortable feelings". I understand her unwillingness to think about the events any more, but I don't think it is the best way to wait long enough until she is ready to come out. Because first she will not be able to come out alone without help, second the avoidant behavior which she developed is also an important problem which should be dealt with even though it shouldn't be prematurely intervened. I am looking forward to an help or discussion of any kind from anybody who has interest in this case or the subject in general. thank you for having read my message.

• Book Resource by Philip Brownell, 5/26/98
  • thank you Philip by Jungkyu Kim ph.D, 5/28/98