The psychoanalytic approach

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The earliest proposed explanation for the occurrence of sexual abuse was Freud's psychoanalytic theory which derived from his clinical work with female clients who disclosed childhood sexual abuse, often at the hands of their fathers. Freud was the first to postulate that the trauma of childhood sexual abuse resulted in later psychic damage. This was the basis of his 'seduction' theory which he presented along with detailed case studies at a major forum in 1896. The idea that fathers were sexually abusing their daughters caused such an outrage in conservative 19th century Vienna that Freud was ridiculed and shunned by his peers. In fact, Seduction Theory was so poorly received that Freud never again publicly referred to it. In 1933, in his Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis, he stated:

"I was driven to recognise in the end that these reports (of sexual abuse) were untrue and so came to understand that the hysterical symptoms are derived from fantasies and not from real occurrences."

Freud took the step of disbelieving the reports of his clients but he couldn't deny the traumatic effects or psychic damage he had observed. What he did to explain this is develop his now classic theories of psycho-sexual development in which the theoretical constructs of 'penis-envy' and the 'Oedipus Complex' are central. These theories claim that children pass through a stage of being sexually attracted to their parents (boys to their mothers and girls to their fathers). Freud argued that it is the inability to successfully resolve this psycho-sexual stage of development that gives rise to the psychic damage he observed in his clients who had reported childhood sexual abuse. In other words, he developed an elaborate theoretical framework to deny the reality of childhood sexual abuse and incest.

The same theoretical framework also serves to explain the behaviour of offenders in 'proven' cases of sexual assault or incest. For sexual assaults the theory goes that offenders' behaviour is the result of castration anxiety as a result of the failure to resolve the Oedipus Complex which gives rise to feelings of sexual inadequacy and the need to be sexually dominant.

Adult sex offenders are viewed as pathologically disturbed and sexually perverted as a result of poor psycho-sexual development. The distortions in the offenders' psycho-sexual development are seen as the result of failure in his mother's parenting.

To explain incest, Freud's Oedipus Complex casts the daughter as the active desiring agent who wishes her father to become her love object. The child is seen as 'seductress' while the father is seen as the passive, innocent object of his daughters' seduction: an overtly displayed invitation which he cannot help but act upon. This normalises sexual acts between parents and children by seeing them as NATURAL rather than ABUSIVE and places the responsibility clearly on the child 'victim'.

Associated with the concept of the seductive child is the view of the mother as being responsible for the occurrence of incest. There are numerous ideas around this but the central idea is that the child has natural affection needs which are not met by the mother. The mother is seen as cold and rejecting of the child who turns to the father as a source of security and affection through sexual channels. Another view is that the mother sexually deserts her husband who must then turn to the daughter for sex. The mother's behaviour is explained essentially in terms of poor resolution of her own Oedipus Complex through which she generates a situation in which her daughter acts out her own incestuous desires.

In summary, the psychoanalytic model attempts to deny the reality of childhood sexual abuse and incest and in PROVEN cases places the blame firmly on the child or the mother.

Limitations

The psychoanalytic model has been adopted by many psychiatrists and psychoanalysts and has had a huge influence on our understanding of sexual abuse. More importantly, many of the myths about sexual assault and incest that are common in our culture can be traced back to this model. There are however, several limitations of this approach and its validity has been seriously challenged by the weight of the evidence. Firstly, research evidence has revealed that childhood sexual assault and incest DO exist and indeed are prevalent. So the 'fantasy' theory has been seriously undermined. Secondly, the psychoanalytic formulation may have explanatory power for father/daughter incest but it fails to explain other types of intra and extra-familial child sexual abuse such as father/son, mother/daughter, sibling abuse, uncle or grandparent incest or sexual assaults committed by neighbours, teachers, clergy or family friends. This is a severe limitation because father/daughter incest accounts for only one third of all child sexual abuse.

A further limitation is the model's narrow focus on the intra-psychic functioning of individuals which ignores social and cultural factors, in particular the fact that sexual abuse is primarily committed by men. Fourthly, and perhaps most fundamentally, the psychoanalytic model places responsibility for childhood sexual abuse and incest on the seductive child or the collusive mother while exonerating the abuser. Another problem is that the psychoanalytic theory views most sex offenders or rapists as disturbed individuals even though the vast majority are free of mental illness. This notion of the sexual psychopath has contributed to false ideas of who rapes. In addition, this view suggests that perpetration of sexual abuse is a treatable condition which will change with therapy. However, the weight of the evidence is to the contrary. Finally, locating the origins of sex offenders' behaviour in the parenting provided by his mother falsely attributes responsibility for sexual assault.

In summary, the psychoanalytic explanations of sexual assault are contradictory, confusing and provide little explanatory evidence which could be used for the prevention of sexual assault. Instead, it has strongly influenced psychiatric and psychoanalytic practice which can result in the denial of a victims experiencing. In recent times, there have been some revisions by feminist analysts which have attempted to re-attribute blame from victim to offender but common psychoanalytic practice has still largely failed to take account of these revisions.

One thing the psychoanalytic approach to sexual assault has contributed, is the notion that the emotions of love and hate towards an abuser can exist simultaneously as a child has natural affection and security needs.

Unfortunately, the psychoanalytic approach has also led to the development of numerous damaging assumptions which serve to perpetuate the conditions for abuse to continue. Some of these myths include:

Myths:

• Women cry about rape.
• Children lie about incest.
• Children are sexually provocative.
• Men who commit incest are sick.
• Rapists are sex-crazed madmen.
• Incest is not harmful.
• Mothers collude etc.

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