The Norms of Morality and the Concept of Sexuality - Essay Example

Art Therapy and Sexual Abuse by Despite its outrageous and unnatural character sexual abuse remains an urgent problem in the whole world and in the third world countries in particular. Sexual abuse is a serious traumatic experience for a child as it is often committed by a close person whom the child trusts. That is why involvement of a familiar person evokes confusing emotions in a child- from guilt, bewilderment, and shame to pleasure as children cannot always understand that some close person can abuse them sexually at first (Sexual Abuse, 2010). Sexual abuse usually leads to adverse effects for the child`s psyche in future. This traumatic experience results in problems with emotional state, cognition, and difficulties building intimate relationships. According to Finkelhor and Browne these are the most common problems of children who become victims of sexual abuse: Traumatic sexualization which means that child`s sexual behaviour and attitudes transform under the influence of sexual offender. For example, a child can be encouraged to behave in a sexually inappropriate way or punished for not performing offender`s requests which results in complete distortion of the concept of sexuality. Feeling of betrayal. When children realize that the person whose love and affection was important to them manipulated their consciousness and misrepresented the norms of morality and the concept of sexuality to them, they may feel overwhelmed with the sense of betrayal. Disempowerment. A child will feel powerlessness having understood that he/she is unable to stop abuse and that her/his private body space is invaded. Inability to prevent abuse, inform others of it, or protect personal space leaves a child with the sense of frustration. Stigmatization. An offender may blame the child and intentionally impose guilt and shame for his/her actions. Manipulating these feeling an offender can even threaten the child with disclosure. The pressure of society may also be strong and the child would have to hide the truth in order to avoid additional blame (1986). Children with sexual abuse suffer from anxiety, depression, frequent bed wetting, low self-esteem, and may have suicide attempts. There are also significant shifts in sexual behaviour of children: they may show sexual aggressiveness, loss of normal sexual boundaries, self-destructive tendencies (Pretorious & Pfeifer, 2010). Adults suffer from similar symptoms and additionally have problems in personal relationships. Lack of intimacy, fear of disclosure, dissociation during sexual intercourse, fear of similar behaviour with own children are typical for adults experiencing sexual abuse in childhood (Hodges & Myers, 2010). Sometimes people advise victims of abuse to “forget about it” or “let go discomforting past experience”, however, such pieces of advice are absolutely futile because even for adults dealing with past sexual traumas alone it is almost impossible. Psychotherapy can be very useful in dealing with traumatic experience as a specialist can help to clarify preset feelings of shame, guilt, disappointment, and grief (Sexual Abuse, 2010). Art therapy can also be very effective in dealing with negative consequences of past sexual trauma because it presupposes non-verbal communication more than verbal and for victims of sexual abuse this is an additional stimulus. According to APA definition, the general aim of art therapy is to help the client acknowledge his/her own feelings, resolve internal conflicts, cope with addiction and behavioral deviations, and improve self-esteem (2014). Previous various studies have demonstrated promising results of art therapy utilization for the victims of sexual abuse. Art therapy is capable to foster communicative skills and encourage social and emotional growth. Moreover, this type of therapy is effective in managing with anxiety and tension because it allows discharging or minimizing it instantly (Snyder, 1997). Most victims of sexual abuse are unable to manage with their emotions of fear, guilt, shame with the help of cognitive mechanisms and are unable to express them verbally. The very act of verbalization can be extremely stressful and intimidating for children especially. That is why art therapy allows children and adults to integrate their past negative experience, unresolved conflicts and hidden emotions through artistic means (Pretorius & Pfeifer, 2010). Group art therapy proves to be effective as well as it encourages social interaction and allows treating “the whole” child. Communication with peers permit children understand and correct their sexual behavior towards others (Yalom, 1998). In the experiment described by Pretorius and Pfeifer a group of girls between 8 and 11 were involved in group art therapy with the same sex instructor. In the curse of the experiments such methods as painting, sculpture, and role-plays were used. All the children had symptoms of depression, anxiety, and sexual trauma. The therapy allowed them to cope with positive and negative emotions by suggesting to depict them as “a happy box” and “an unhappy box” with the possibility to portray an offender in a form of color, an animal, or a shape. Later girls had a chance to express their feelings verbally or physically. Further a role-play during which children had a chance to explore personal boundaries was utilized. This role-play was meant to teach children about appropriate sexual behaviour and prevent further revictimization. The impressions from the group therapy were also expressed in the form of painting or sculpture by children. Overall, the study showed positive results in ameliorating depression and anxiety in children, however, the aspects of self-esteem were not affected (Pretorius & Pfeifer, 2010). The study of Coulson and Morfett also proved that art therapy can be an effective tool for anxiety reduction but in adult patients. Despite the fact that adults can express their emotions verbally they tend to deny and suppress them to avoid suffering. Such simple methods as painting or clay modeling are able to help with the release of the bottled up emotions through catharsis (2013).In this study the researches revealed that art therapy is also effective in dealing with shame and guilt of childhood sexual abuse. While Brooke examined the possibility of self-esteem improvement in female adults with the help of art therapy and received positive results (1995). Thus, sexual abuse in childhood has serious adverse effects for victims. Most of them experience painful emotions of guilt, shame, and disappointment. Traumatic sexualization, disempowerment, stigmatization, and feeling of betrayal are common consequences of sexual abuse. Art therapy proves to be effective with depression, anxiety, low self-esteem provoked by sexual abuse as it helps to release suppressed emotions non-verbally. References “American Art Therapy Association.” (2014). American Art Therapy Association. N.p., n. d. W Brooke, S. (1995). Art therapy: An approach to working with sexual abuse survivors. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 22(5), 447-466. Coulson, L. & Morfett, H. (2013). Group work for adult survivors of sexual abuse in childhood. Mental Health Practice, 17(1), 14-21. Finkelhor, D., & Browne, A. (1986).Initial and long-term effects: a conceptual framework, A Sourcebook on Child Sexual Abuse. Hodges, E. & Myers, J. (2010). Counseling adult women survivors of childhood sexual abuse: Benefits of a wellness approach, Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 32(2), 139-154. Pretorius, G. & Pfeifer, N. (2010). Group art therapy with sexually abused girls, South Africa Journal of Psychology, 40(1), 63-73. Sexual Abuse. (2010).Good Therapy. Retrieved from: http://www.goodtherapy.org/therapy-for-sexual-abuse.html# Snyder, B. (1997). Expressive art therapy techniques: Healing the soul through creativity, Journal of Humanistic Education and Development, 36, 74-82. Yalom, I. (1998). The Yalom reader. New York: Basic Books. Read More