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In recent years, our society has undergone a profound reorientation in our awareness of childhood sexual abuse and incest. Although analysts had always recognized the existence of these problems, prior to the past decade, they had not paid sufficient specific attention to them (Levine, 1990). For example, it was only a few years ago that I had occasion to note that the psychoanalytic literature in this area had “barely begun to emerge. In particular, questions of technique and studies of the analytic process in adults who were sexually abused as children [had] yet to be thoroughly raised and examined” (Levine, 1990, p. 4).
Given the deluge of books and articles on this subject that have subsequently appeared, such a statement no longer applies. Through careful observation and reporting of clinical experience, numerous authors, of which our contributors are among the foremost, have significantly advanced our knowledge of the consequences and treatment of childhood sexual abuse. Clearly, the papers presented in this volume will further add to our understanding and to the expansion of our therapeutic efforts.
In spite of all that we have learned, however, we are left with much that remains to be understood. In this issue, for example, despite the significant contributions made by Parens' description of the organizing power of oedipal conflicts on the structure of posttraumatic pathology, Novick's moving presentation and insightful discussion of the ego disruption caused by sexual trauma in her little patient, Taylor, and Coates and Moore's discussion of the effects of nonsexual trauma on gender identity formation, we remain painfully aware that we have only begun to address questions of major developmental import. These include: