ABSTRACT
In child abuse, contact is generally used for the gratification of an adult's perverse sexual desire and/or to placate their anxieties by putting them violently into the child's body. This is true of all victims of child abuse, whether they are a physically, emotionally or sexually abused child. Davies and Frawley (1992) confirm the recurring connection between childhood trauma, particularly physical and sexual trauma, and the process of dissociation. Young-Bruehl (2005) argues that the chief obstacle to the discovery of child abuse and neglect is precisely a shared belief that parents/adults are more likely than not to fulfil their responsibilities as parents/adults – particularly their child's expectation that they will be loved. The chapter illustrates some of the ideas with two clinical examples: first the case of a 5-year-old physically abused child, and second, by approaching the end of a family psychotherapy, where child abuse of one of the family members is uncovered.
