| Child sexual abuse, quite unfortunately, occurs far too often both here in the United States as well as around the rest of the world. The effects of childhood sexual victimization are wide-ranging, negatively impacting a myriad of facets of development and functioning, including, emotion, cognition, behavior, attachment, and family dynamics. Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is a manualized, structured approach which has demonstrated effective treatment outcomes with this population of children. However, TF-CBT does not come without its limitations, though, with the host of potential treatment challenges, it is arguable that any one treatment strategy could be expected to meet each of these issues on its own. Psychodynamic theory, as well as resilience research and the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale (BERS), offer a rich degree of literature and insight that can be integrated with TF-CBT to serve as effective complementary roles in tackling sexual abuse treatment issues. The present formulation focuses on how to integrate Cramer’s (1991) Defense Mechanism Manual and resilience measures into TF-CBT. An integrative approach is provided that can be used to aid in tracking and monitoring symptoms throughout the stages of TFCBT so to increase the likelihood that clinicians are providing the most effective, appropriate, and considerate care possible. |
