Autorentext

Lea Getu, PhD, is an integrative psychotherapist and a registered member of UKCP who has worked within primary care, colleges, and in private practice for over 20 years. She is also an Assistant Professor and the foundation course leader of the Psychotherapy and Counselling Foundation Certificate at Regent's University, London.

Klappentext

This book provides a guide to working with survivors and perpetrators of female-to-female child sexual abuse (F-FCSA), examining the clinical challenges of treating perpetrators and survivors of F-FCSA and how to overcome them.

Divided into two parts, the first part of the book sets F-FCSA in its historical, societal, and intra-psychic context, reviewing why some women abuse children, the barriers to recognising this, and the prevalence of F-FCSA. The second part sets out ways to work more effectively with survivors and perpetrators by drawing from in-depth interviews with prominent therapists working in the field. Topics addressed include working with extreme splitting, enmeshment, and integration; complex countertransference and transference; recognising embodied feelings; and processing the extreme impacts of the work on the therapist and the therapeutic relationship. Through the heartfelt voices of the therapists and clinical case studies, this book teaches clinicians how to manage the extreme emotions evoked by difficult narratives and behaviours of the clients and how to have a new and deeper understanding of empathy as the key within this difficult work.

This is an important read for clinical psychologists, psychotherapists, forensic psychotherapists, counsellors, social workers, and other professionals working with this client group.

Inhalt

PART I - THE CONTEXT

CHAPTER ONE

Can anyone see? Can anyone hear?

CHAPTER TWO

An exploration of why some women sexually abuse children

CHAPTER THREE

Baby Berta: trapped in the duck decoy

PART II - CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

SECTION 1: BETWEEN SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS

CHAPTER FOUR

Ruth struggles with the Five-Headed Monster: the relational splits

CHAPTER FIVE

The breaking and making boundaries = the whirlpool feels like enmeshment

CHAPTER SIX

Working process and progress = between the devil and the deep blue sea

SECTION 2: HORROR AND SORROW: REQUIRES COMPASSION AND UNDERSTANDING

CHAPTER SEVEN

Do we see? Do we hear?

CHAPTER EIGHT

The mind-blowing venom of the FCSA

CHAPTER NINE

Many faces, many levels

SECTION 3: WAY FORWARD

CHAPTER TEN

Bold empathy

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Conclusions and recommendations: guidance for clinicians

Epilogue