I Know That my Redeemer Lives: Relational Perspectives on Trauma, Dissociation, and Faith

This paper focuses the lens of multiplicity on patients’ religious experience in relation to the psychic realities of early or pervasive trauma, where dissociation is not just a normal means of self-regulation, but becomes an entrenched structuring mechanism through which the trauma survivor experiences every relationship, including any relationship to God. What might God or faith look like from the perspective of the traumatized self? This paper considers issues of multiplicity and dissociation as they affect the processing of religious or spiritual experience, with a few brief clinical illustrations, and offers a reading of the biblical book of Job as a metaphor for the inner world of the survivor of early trauma.     

Disorganized attachment as a diathesis for sexual deviance: Developmental experience and the motivation for sexual offending

Recently, researchers and theorists have begun to focus attention on the early attachments and developmental contexts of sexual offenders. Attachment theory provides a unique conceptual perspective from which to derive possible motivation for some sexual offense behavior, as well as explore the inter- and intrapersonal contexts that contribute to deviant sexual behavior. The quality of attachments in childhood and adolescence is well known to impact development of critical self-regulatory functions such as emotional definition and control, cognitive self-definition, and interpersonal expectation. In this paper, in an effort to contribute to an extant etiological model of sexual offending [Trauma, Violence, Abus 1 (2000) 250], attachment disorganization is identified as a marker for severe attachment insecurity, a specific diathesis in the etiology of sexual offending. We hypothesize that individuals with disorganized attachment experiences do not adequately develop and/or fail to adequately internalize self-regulatory skills, and thus may be more likely to rely on externally based means of self-regulation. In particular, sexual offending is identified as one of several possible strategies of externally based intra- and interpersonal control, emerging primarily in adolescence in response to several pressures: a frightening experience of the self, poor interpersonal relationships, childhood experience with adult sexuality, and the biological and social push of puberty.     

SEXUAL ASSAULT EXPERIENCE IN ADULTHOOD AND PRIOR VICTIMIZATION EXPERIENCES

Several retrospective investigations of sexual assault have assessed the extent to which a sexual victimization experience early in life is a risk factor for a subsequent victimization experience. The present investigation was an attempt to extend previous work by conducting a prospective analysis of sexual assault in a sample of 857 college women to assess the pathways through which victimization experiences become linked. The design was such that both victims'and nonvictims'history of child and adolescent sexual victimization experiences were assessed prior to their most recent assault experience. Psychological functioning was also assessed utilizing standardized measures of depression and anxiety. After the assault experience, psychological functioning of victims was reassessed, and nonvictims were reassessed after a comparable period of time. Results of the path analysis indicated that a sexual victimization early in life is a risk factor for an adult victimization experience. Furthermore, the results revealed a link between psychological functioning and victimization experiences. The discussion emphasizes clinical implications of these findings and suggested avenues for future research.     

Early sexual experiences among pregnant and parenting adolescents.

One hundred sixty-six pregnant or parenting adolescent females completed a survey regarding early sexual experiences (wanted and unwanted), family dysfunction and violence, and health-risky behaviors occurring prior to age 18. Fifty-three percent had at least one unwanted sexual experience. Younger age at first unwanted sexual experience was associated with younger age at first wanted sexual experience. Adolescent females with an unwanted sexual experience, as compared to those without, were more likely to be victims of physical violence, to have run away, to be substance abusers, and to have family members with drug or alcohol problems. Four factors explained 39% of the variance in age at first pregnancy: presence of a family member with a drinking problem, age first got hit with a belt or other object by a family member, age first got drunk, and age at first wanted sexual experience. It was concluded that the prevention of teenage pregnancy entails a multifaceted approach that addresses family life, early sexual experiences, and health-risky behaviors.     

Silenced by Betrayal: The Path from Childhood Trauma to Diminished Sexual Communication in Adulthood

Betrayal traumas (Freyd, 1996), abuses that violate trust or dependency, predict numerous negative outcomes, including dissociation and revictimization (DePrince & Freyd, 2007; Gobin & Freyd, 2009; Goldsmith, Freyd, & DePrince, 2012). No previous empirical research examines the relation between betrayal and sexual health, including dissociation during sex. This article addresses this gap with 2 studies, which provide support for a multiple mediation model where high betrayal in childhood predicts worsened sexual communication in adulthood through trait dissociation and sexual dissociation in serial. In both studies, the direct path between betrayal and sexual communication was nonsignificant; only when accounting for trait dissociation overall and sexual dissociation in particular does childhood betrayal predict diminished communication with sex partners in adulthood.     

Dating age and stage as correlates of adolescent sexual attitudes and behavior

Dating experiences, especially the type or stage of dating, have consistently been found to be related to premarital sexual behavior. Findings regarding the age at 1st date and sexual behavior have been less consistent. This paper examined the age at which dating began and the type of dating relationship as correlates of premarital sexual attitudes and behavior among mid-teen adolescents. The analyses were based on a sample of high school students (n=836), most of whom were between the ages of 15 and 18 when the surveys were conducted. Early dating, especially early steady dating, was related to permissive attitudes and to premarital sexual experience among both males and females. The relationship between early dating and intercourse experience was particulary strong among Mormons, a religious group which has institutionalized age 16 as the legitimate age to begin dating.     

The relationship between traumatic experiences, dissociation, and borderline personality pathology among male forensic patients and prisoners

In the present study the relationship between traumatic experiences, dissociation, and borderline personality disorder pathology is examined in a group of 39 male forensic patients and 192 male prisoners. Sexual and emotional abuse are significantly more common among forensic patients than among prisoners. Patients also report a broader range of different kinds of traumas. Prisoners report significantly more dissociative symptoms. Analyses of the relationship of type of trauma on the one hand and dissociation and borderline personality pathology on the other show that sexual abuse is significantly associated with borderline personality pathology but not with dissociation among the patients. In the prison sample these associations are found only for familial but not extrafamilial sexual abuse. When the subjects are grouped on account of presence or absence of a borderline personality disorder, highly significant differences on dissociation are found between both groups. The results from this study lend support to the hypothesis that sexual abuse is not related to dissociative symptoms but merely to borderline personality pathology. Because most subjects in this study are not patients, these findings are not likely to be confounded by false memories of traumatic events that are recovered by psychotherapy. Furthermore, dissociative symptoms are found to be related to borderline personality pathology and not to the experience of traumatic events.     

Archetypes of the pandemic

This paper attempts to read the psychological and emotional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic through the archetypal images contained in patients’ dreams. In these dreams, symbols related to the power of nature and to extreme danger are paired with feelings of detachment that seem to point to a traumatic dissociation, due to the archetypal experience that erupts in familiar surroundings. Through the humanization of the ineffable experience, dissociation, which in the beginning of the pandemic showed in high levels of anxiety, panic attacks and depersonalization, can be transformed into the overview needed for the search for meaning. The container for this process of transformation is the analyst, the real, virtual or imagined one, and his or her ability to relate and feel.     

Are memories for sexually traumatic events "special"? A within-subjects investigation of trauma and memory in a clinical sample

According to a long-standing clinical tradition, sexually traumatic experiences are processed and recalled differently from other experiences, often leading to memory impairment. In this study, we compared the characteristics of traumatic memories for sexual violence and two other types of emotional experiences. N=44 women recruited from a local sexual trauma agency were asked to recall and describe three autobiographical events: sexual abuse/assault, a non-sexual trauma, and a positive emotional event. The characteristics of the three memory types were compared on both subjective and objective measures. Further, the potential influences of level of traumatic impact and dissociation were assessed. Results indicated that memories for sexual trauma were not impaired or fragmented relative to other memories. Instead, memories for sexual trauma were associated with a remarkably high level of vividness, detail, and sensory components. Further, high levels of traumatic impact were not associated with memory impairment. Implications for the ongoing traumatic memory debate are discussed.     

Sexual Experience and Couple Formation Attitudes Among Emerging Adults

In this study, we explore the relationship between attitudes toward both marriage and cohabitation and sexual experience during emerging adulthood. Results from 990 emerging adults indicated only moderate evidence that marital attitudes are related to sexual experience but strong evidence of a relationship between attitudes toward cohabitation and sexual experience. In particular, sexually active emerging adults were more likely to have positive attitudes toward cohabitation. Furthermore, it was found that both religiosity and dating status moderate the relationship between couple formation attitudes and sexual experience. For highly religious emerging adults, sexual activity was associated with higher endorsement of cohabitation; however, this pattern was not present for emerging adults with low religiosity. Dating status was found to have some impact on the relationship between sexual behavior and attitudes toward marriage but did not greatly impact the overall pattern of relationships.     

The impact of individual trauma symptoms of deployed soldiers on relationship satisfaction.

Research traditionally has focused on the development of individual symptoms in those who experienced trauma directly but has overlooked the interpersonal impact of trauma. The current study reports data from 45 male Army soldiers who recently returned from a military deployment to Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom) or Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom) and their female spouses/partners. The results indicated that increased trauma symptoms, particularly sleep problems, dissociation, and severe sexual problems, in the soldiers significantly predicted lower marital/relationship satisfaction for both soldiers and their female partners. The results suggest that individual trauma symptoms negatively impact relationship satisfaction in military couples in which the husband has been exposed to war trauma.     

The Return of Dissociation as Absence within Absence

My aim is to translate Ferenczi’s central concepts of the intrapsychic impact and imprint of early developmental trauma into both revived and contemporary conceptualizations. The concept of dissociation was renounced by Freud, yet it is returning as a cornerstone of recent trauma theories. Ferenczi used the concept of “repression,” but used it in the sense of an intrapsychic imprint of early external trauma that fragments consciousness, that is, as dissociation. Furthermore, early trauma is double: an absence of protection that threatens existence of the self, combined with an absence of attachment and of recognition of this threat and terror; thus it is an absence-within-absence. This contemporary conceptualization entails a widening of the intrapsychic realm to include an intersubjective one, and regards dissociation as a unique and complex intrapsychic absence, which is a negative of the external absence-within-absence in the early environment.     

Trauma as an objective or subjective experience: The association between types of traumatic events,personality traits,subjective experience of the event,and posttraumatic symptoms

The study aimed to examine the discrete effect of objective (type of trauma and demographic characteristics) and subjective (proximity to the trauma, subjective experience of the trauma as a threat, the Big Five personality traits, and dissociative symptoms) factors on the risk for PTSD among 1,210 undergraduate students. The findings indicate that survivors of physical/sexual assault scored the highest on proximity to the trauma, subjective experience of the trauma as a threat, neuroticism, dissociation, and PTSD symptoms. In addition, subjective experience of the trauma, proximity to it, type of trauma, dissociation, and neuroticism were associated with the risk for PTSD symptoms. The findings point to the significance of both subjective and objective variables in the risk for PTSD symptoms.     

Childhood Sexual Abuse and Revictimization In Adolescence and Adulthood

Abstract

Childhood sexual abuse must be seen as a pervasive risk factor in children's lives: No demographic or family characteristics have as yet been identified to rule out the possibility that a child will be or has been sexually abused (Finkelhor, 1993). The adverse consequences of sexual abuse, both immediate and long term, have been documented by a large body of research. After a summary of the main findings from this research, the main objective of the present chapter is to examine the impact of childhood sexual abuse on a particular aspect of psychological functioning: the development of sexual behavior and sexual relationships. In this analysis, special consideration is given to the question of whether individuals who were sexually abused as children are at greater risk of experiencing sexual victimization in later life than individuals without experience of abuse. This question has generated a substantial body of evidence (see Messman & Long, 1996, for a review), and researchers are beginning to understand pathways from the experience of abuse in childhood to revictimization in adolescence and adulthood.     

Conceptualizing the role of early experience: Lessons from the Minnesota longitudinal study

We draw upon data from a prospective, longitudinal study to evaluate the role of typically occurring variations in early experience on development from birth to adulthood. Such an evaluation is complex for both methodological and conceptual reasons. Methodological issues include the need to control for both later experience and potentially confounding third variables, such as IQ or temperament. Conceptual complexity derives from the fact that the effects of early experience can be both direct and indirect, can interact with other factors, and because whether an effect is found depends on what early experience and what outcomes are assessed. Even direct effects are probabilistic and are more in evidence with cumulative than with single measures. Often early experience has its effect indirectly by initiating a chain of events, by altering the organism in some way, and/or by promoting the impact of later experience. We provide examples where early experience is moderated and mediated by other factors and where it shows latent effects following developmental change. We illustrate developmental processes through which early experience has its effect and conclude that despite the complexity of development variations in early experience retain a vital place in the study of development.     

Religious Experiences of GBTQ Mormon Males

This article examines the relationship between sexual orientation and religious experience of men from early adolescence to adulthood. Data have been obtained from an online survey of 1,042 males who were part of a larger sample of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) persons who are current or former members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‐Day Saints (LDS, Mormon). While early religious experience was essentially identical to that of heterosexuals, the gap between religious norms and experience widened as these men moved through early and mid‐adulthood. Those who married did so at a later age, and experienced a high rate of divorce. Continued participation, integration, and conformity to LDS ideals was not attributable to faith in, or a departure from, fundamental doctrinal belief. Instead, the responsible variable was sexual orientation, measured by the Kinsey Scale scores across behavior, attraction, and identity. For those near the exclusively homosexual end of the spectrum, the failure to change sexual orientation after intense effort over many years resulted in loss of belonging, belief, and participation, along with increased negative emotions and a sense of mistreatment.     

Less is more: The effects of sexual experience on judgments of men's and women's personality characteristics and relationship desirability

One method available to researchers for examining sexual attitudes is to solicit evaluations of others based on information about sexual experience. Differences in expectations about appropriate sexual behavior of men and women measure the so-called sexual double standard. To test the conditions under which a sexual double standard is endorsed, 110 male and 146 female college students (94% white, 3% black, 3% all other ethnicities) responded to vignettes depicting either a male or female target as having a low or high number of past sexual partners within committed or noncommitted relationships. In general, little support for the endorsement of a sexual double standard was found. However, participants consistently made differential judgments on the basis of sexual experience: Targets described as having more permissive sexual histories received more negative evaluations than did those described as having less permissive sexual histories. Results are discussed in terms of media exploitation of sexual information and support for a relational orientation toward sexual experience.The assistance of Nor Ostrowski, Julie Hale, and Kurt Trappenberg is greatly appreciated. I am also grateful for the funding provided by the Department of Psychology to conduct this study.     

Using Intergroup Contact Theory to Reduce Stigma Against Transgender Individuals: Impact of a Transgender Speaker Panel Presentation

Sexual minorities experience significant stigma and prejudice. Much research has examined sexual stigma and prejudice impacting gay and lesbian individuals, but limited research has examined other sexual minorities, such as transgender persons or individuals whose gender identity or expression is incongruent with their assigned gender or anatomical sex. Research has found that interpersonal contact with sexual minorities is associated with lower sexual stigma and prejudice. Intergroup contact theory predicts that interaction between groups can reduce stereotyping and improve intergroup relationships. Using a randomized crossover design, this study compared the impact of exposure to a transgender speaker panel vs. a traditional transgender lecture presentation on transphobia. Results indicated greater immediate reductions of transphobia following the transgender speaker panel than traditional lecture.     

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SEXUAL SELF-CONCEPT INVENTORY FOR EARLY ADOLESCENT GIRLS

The Sexual Self-Concept Inventory (SSCI) was developed to assess sexual self-concept in an ethnically diverse sample of urban early adolescent girls. Three scales (Sexual Arousability, Sexual Agency, and Negative Sexual Affect) were shown to be distinct and reliable dimensions of girls' sexual self-concepts. Validity was established through comparisons with established instruments. Sexual Arousability and Sexual Agency were associated with positive sexual self- esteem, positive future orientation toward sex, intentions to engage in intercourse, and lower levels of sexual experience. Negative Sexual Affect was associated with stronger abstinence attitudes and lack of intentions or orientation toward sex in the near future. The results indicate that the SSCI constitutes a valid means of assessing early adolescent girls' views of their sexuality and sexual behavior and may be of use in studies of health and risk-related decision making.     

Ideology or experience: A study of sexual harassment

“Ideology or Experience” is a replication and redefinition of a study done at the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI), Canada, which examined response biases with respect to the reporting of sexual harassment. In the replication, 192 William Paterson College (WPC), New Jersey, students were used to investigate the role of ideology and previous sexual harassment experiences in reporting sexual harassment incidents. Both studies assessed the relationship between one's experiences, perceptions, and attitudes toward sexual harassment. The WPC study, however, overcame acknowledged potential reporting biases by using face to face scale distribution rather than mailed questionnaires. Findings replicate most of the previous study and suggest that neither the experience of being sexually harassed nor a feminist ideology affects the reporting of sexual harassment. A gender by experience interaction was found with regard to tolerance of sexual harassment suggesting potential differences in cultural, and/or gender, attitudes toward sexual harassment. Further analysis, redefining the experience variable, as suggested by Mazer and Percival, also supports the notion that experience does not affect the reporting of sexual harassment.