ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the research evidence in a positive manner, and highlights the myriad ways in which people demonstrate their courage and resilience in the face of adversity. It looks at the factors that make people resilient and emphasises these, over and above the risk factors that make people vulnerable. The book takes a strength-based approach and explores the narratives that people tell, to themselves and to others about their experiences, which help them to live satisfying lives. It draws a distinction between childhood sexual experiences with adults and child sexual abuse. The book finally enables a variety of divergent narratives about childhood sexual experiences, and their meaning and impact, to emerge. It develops a better understanding of resilience and the narratives that people tell about their experiences following childhood maltreatment of this kind.