Other Related Research

Directed forgetting. (MacLeod,1998).
Impact: In a review of over 30 years of literature, Colin MacLeod writes that “Unlike many memory phenomena, I believe that we now understand directed forgetting quite well… forgetting is important, perhaps just as important as remembering… intentional forgetting is a key element we use broadly in orchestrating our memories.” [6]

Telling the secret: Adult women describe their disclosures of incest. (Roesler & Wind, 1994).
Impact: This study explores the circumstances of disclosures of sexual abuse. Women disclosing to their parents were likely to tell in childhood, which was often met with disbelief or blame, with the incest continuing for more than 1 year in 52% of cases. Disclosing abuse to friends, other family memories, partners, or therapists was more likely in adulthood, and these disclosures were met with better reactions than those of women disclosing to parents in childhood.

Women survivors confronting their abusers: Issues, decisions, and outcomes. (Cameron, 1994).
Impact: In a series of three surveys, participants were asked about their relationship to confronting abusers over time. Recommendations regarding helping clients to plan, practice, and carry out confrontations safely are discussed, as well as the aftermath of confrontation, debriefing, confrontation, and cases involving recovered memories of abuse.

Therapeutic Consequences of Civil Actions for Damages and Compensation Claims by Victims of Sexual Abuse - An Empirical Study (Feldthusen, Hankivsky, Greaves, 2014). Full Text.
Impact: This article investigates how survivors of sexual abuse experience the legal system when they make claims from compensation. Almost all respondents reported that financial goals had been secondary to therapeutic expectations. Most reported significant therapeutic consequences, some positive and some negative. The study concluded that “it is simply inaccurate to conceptualize, design, operate, and evaluate civil law suits or compensation schemes on the assumption that they exist only to provide monetary compensation to deserving victims.”

Justice From the Victim’s Perspective (Herman, 2005). Full Text.
Impact: Herman strives to understand the meaning of justice to survivors of sexual assault, and whether or not that justice could be found within the legal system. “Of the four basic aims of criminal justice: deterrence, retribution, incapacitation, and rehabilitation, this group generally endorsed only one: incapacitation. Their priority was safety, both for themselves and for others.” It is argued that survivors’ views of justice do not fit well into either retributive or restorative models.