The Persisting Negative Effects of Incest

The Persisting Negative Effects of Incest

After decades of shadow existence, incest is receiving direct scrunity and those who have looked are apalled - at its prevalence, dynamics and effect on all concerned, especially the victim. Recent work with adults who were victims of incest has demonstrated that they show serious negative effects arising from such sexual abuse, but these accounts have remained at the descriptive level. No model has emerged to integrate the various descriptions into a coherent, explanatory and heuristic framework to identify and explain the negative effects of incest on the victim. This is particularly unfortunate because prevalence rates for incest are higher than previously thought, and its victims tend to seek psychiatric treatment without disclosing the early sexual abuse. Instead, they usually show a characteristic 'disguised presentation'; if this presentation is made the focus of treatment, therapy tends to be relatively unsuccessful and the patient is at risk to become a repetitive treatment seeker with a life course increasingly impaired by the incest. If, however, the clinician assists the patient to disclose, the 'disguised presentation' tends to recede and the underlying negative effects of incest begin to emerge and be available for treatment. When these negative effects are addressed directly, treatment tends to be very successful. The present paper will identify and explain the underlying, persisting negative effects of incest and then review the characteristic 'disguised presentation' to assist the clinician in recognizing when a patient might be an undisclosed incest victim.

Psychiatry and Mental health