Women’s Disclosure of Childhood Sexual Abuse Across the Life Course

Book excerpt: Taking a narrative approach, this book explores the role of disclosure in sexual abuse recovery for women survivors of child sexual abuse. Drawing on longitudinal research with sexual abuse therapists and de-identified cases drawn from her clinical practice, Pack emphasises the unique value of both a narrative and life course approach to the topic of sexual abuse recovery. The book explores the ages and stages of life as triggering new challenges to adapt to for adult women survivors, evoking the need to develop new ways of acting and being in the world. Conceptualising disclosure as a process that occurs in relationship with the person disclosed to, it highlights the importance of the quality of the relationship between the survivor and the person confided in and previous disclosure attempts. Further, the chapters outline individual, contextual and environmental factors that impede or facilitate disclosure, as well as different verbal and non-verbal forms that disclosure can take. With a focus on the Australasian context, this book is a resourceful guide for mental health professionals and practitioners who work in the field of sexual abuse recovery, as well as those who work with women in refuge situations and other health and wellbeing services.