You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
As we have noted, it is a relatively new phenomenon to find contemporary psychoanalysts engaged in a spirited yet reflective dialogue about the treatment of adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. That an issue of a psychoanalytic journal is centered around an exchange of ideas on this topic bespeaks a long overdue and welcomed acknowledgment of the sometimes central role played by early sexual trauma in the psychopathology of adults presenting for psychoanalysis or psychoanalytically oriented treatment. It was thus gratifying for us to note the extent to which our work elicited intense and challenging responses from our colleagues.
Gabbard, Grotstein, and Shengold provide us with a number of substantive comments regarding our understanding and treatment of dissociative processes in adult survivors of childhood sexual trauma. We are pleased to have the opportunity to reflect on their thinking and will do so in the following pages. Since, however, each of these writers also focused to a varying degree on what was not in our article, we feel it is important to clarify, out of respect for our colleagues whose work was not included, the intent and self-imposed limitations on our review of the literature.
The authors are currently writing a book that attempts to integrate contemporary psychoanalytic theory with four other areas of confluent research and investigation: (1) the preanalytic writings of Charcot, Janet, and Freud on the psychological sequelae of early childhood trauma; (2) the extensive empirical research on childhood sexual abuse; (3) the literature on the nature of trauma and posttraumatic stress disorders; and (4) the emerging literature on specific dissociative conditions, including