AN INCEST CASE STUDY: SUFFERING FROM PTSD

Abstract

People who suffer from childhood sexual abusehave a tendency to later develop post-traumatic stress disorder. They may re-experience the traumatic eventand associated psychological distress, avoid talking about traumatic event, experience low self-worth,andinability to makehealthy relationships. They mayfeel guiltabout the trauma. This article illustrates how a survivor of childhood sexual abuse learned to manage her intrusive symptoms of post-traumatic stress and re-structuredabuse related beliefs and schemas. The present case is an attempt to providetherapeutic intervention to a 20 years old girl who suffered from childhood sexual abuse. The patient came to Center for Clinical Psychology(CCP), University of the Punjab with the complaints of hyper-ventilation, vertigo, blindness and immobility of body upon recalling her childhood traumatic events fromthe last 2 months. It was hypothesized that methodof Imagery Re-scripting(Smucker, Dancu, Foa, &Niederee, 1995) wouldalter patient’s dysfunctional abuse related beliefssuch as feelings of victimizationand powerlessness into empowerment. In the present case study, ABA research design was used. At the first stage (A), psychological assessment was carried outand the patient was diagnosed according to DSM-Vwith Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In the treatment phase (B), the patient was treated withImagery Re-scriptingwhich involves Imaginal exposure and Re-scriptingprocess. A total of 8 sessions were conducted over a period of 2 months. Post assessment (Stage A) showed thattechnique of imagery re-scripting proved to bean effective method for the patientssuffering from PTSD.