ABSTRACT
One of the most perplexing occurrences in Stage I of therapy is the tendency by family members to deny aspects of the incestuous abuse. Many therapists working for the first time with incest families are incensed when faced with a father who denies the abuse ever occurred; or when a daughter who previously reported the abuse recants her story to protect her father from certain incarceration; or when a mother continues to deny the possibility of her daughter being sexually abused even when the father and daughter both admit it happened. However, after working for a while with abusing families, most therapists come to expect a certain degree of denial, and may even learn to put it to “therapeutic use.”
