ABSTRACT
In the present chapter, we will outline a new model on the sequelae of child sexual abuse, in which dissociation, alexithymia and anesthesia are considered as three different manifestations of the same non-feeling state that is so characteristic of traumatized individuals. The new aspects of the model in particular concern the way several lines of research are combined around the idea that individuals who have been traumatized as a young child may, later in life, apply several psychological mechanisms directed at escaping the terror and the horror of reality.
