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Defense mechanisms used by sexually abused children

Children Today,   Jan-Feb, 1985   by Christine Adams-Tucker
Studies of groups of sexually molested children have described the immediate and long-term effects of their abuse--symptoms, diagnosis and problem areas projected into their future adult lives. Findings from groups convey valuable descriptive data on molested children, particularly on how much and for how long they suffer psychological harm from sexual abuse during childhood. Individual case reports of sexually victimized children deepen our perspective by constructing an unfolding scenario of the coping strategies employed by each child. In such reports, inferences are made about psychic defenses that aid or obstruct children in grappling with their abuse. Defenses are ordinarily studied as part of a larger motivational or psychodynamic exploration, but taken by themselves, defenses make a good beginning toward the dynamic assessment of a child.

This article discusses the psychic defense strategies used by a group of 27 children, ranging in age from 2-1/2 to 15-1/2, who were sexually molested. By looking at them both individually and as a group, we may be helped to understand not only what sexually abused children usffer but also how they internally defend against their unhappiness.

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Defense Mechanism, in psychoanalysis, any of a variety of unconscious personality reactions which the ego uses to protect the conscious mind from threatening feelings and perceptions. Sigmund Freud first used defense as a psychoanalytic term (1894), but he did not break the notion into categories, viewing it as a singular phenomenon of repression. His daughter, Anna Freud, expanded on his theories in the 1930s, distinguishing some of the major defense mechanisms recognized today. Primary defense mechanisms include repression and denial, which serve to prevent unacceptable ideas or impulses from entering the conscience. Secondary defense...