Chronic child sexual abuse case studies

Describes the interferences with normal developmental processes that occur in every subsequent developmental phase throughout life as the result of chronic child sexual abuse. Through the presentation of detailed case histories of individuals ranging in age from five to the early sixties, Colarusso demonstrates that the effects are lifelong. Sections on normal development for childhood, adolescence, young, and middle adulthood are followed by case histories, arranged chronologically according to the age of the victims at the time they were evaluated. Then the effects of the sexual abuse are traced through subsequent developmental phases to the chronological present. Shows how the passage of time actually increases the pathological effects of chronic child sexual abuse due to interferences with the developmental tasks of adolescence and adulthood.