ABSTRACT
We present a case example of a 9-year-old, biracial girl and her mother. We integrate data collected from rating scales (e.g., Child Behavior Checklist; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001), a free response measure (Thematic Apperception Test; Murray, 1943), and a direct observation measure (Parent-Child Interaction Assessment-II; Holigrocki, Kaminski, & Frieswyk, 1999, 2002) and reveal how a child sexual abuse victim's internal representations and symptoms manifest in both an interpersonal context and in the realm of play. We discuss assessment findings regarding how they provide for an idiographic understanding of the child.
Subject(s)
Child Behavior/psychology , Parent-Child Relations , Sex Offenses/psychology , Child , Female , Humans , Psychological Tests , United StatesABSTRACT
Cognitive-affective, defensive, and neurobiological aspects of victim-victimizer relational dynamics are illustrated. Observations of a 26-year-old mother and her 9-year-old son during a semistructured play task and projective and objective assessment data provide the sources of inference regarding how the parent and child's thematic structures are relationally expressed, maintain their psychopathology, and foster a victim-victimizer interactional cycle. By way of complementary interpersonal, psychological, and neurobiological processes, a victim-victimizer relational dynamic is maintained and intergenerationally transmitted.