ABSTRACT
In the first part of this chapter, I offer an overview of the literature that I have found to be relevant to my own work, while in the second part I discuss three theoretical models that attempt to conceptualise the long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). In the final part of the chapter I focus on my own clinical experience with the survivors I have already introduced, with particular reference to their subjective reports relating to the aftermath of their abuse. Here, special attention will be given to survivors’ differing levels of self-efficacy or "coping", and it is hoped that the discussion of subjective as well as clinical observations will impart a body of information that might be helpful to other practitioners.
