Talk:One Child's Unending Abuse - From Disney World Girl to Drifter
According to What Works in Child Welfare, the leading book on social service delivery by the Child Welfare League of America, "research findings on the treatment of children who have been sexually abused indicate the following:
- Specific, focused treatements produce superior results compared with nonspecific therapy;
- Post-traumatic stress symptoms improve more when children are the direct recipients of therapy, even if their parents do not receive treatment;
- Parallel treatment for parents improve outcomes; and
- No advantage is found for any particular modality.
Research suggests that the following components characterize effective sexual abuse treatment:
- Psychoeducation regarding the nature of sexual abuse, offenders, and the process of victimization;
- Direct discussion of the traumatic event. The underlying principle is that gradual exposure to the memories or reminders of the experience reduces negative emotional associations and the need to use avoidance coping.
- Stress management training. Relaxation techniques and cognitive coping strategies increase children's capacity to handle natgative emotions so that they can participate in direct discussion of the traumatic event. These skills are also transferable to other stressful live experiences.
- Corrective cognitive distortions. Negative emotions and maladaptive behavioral repsonses often are the reulst of inaccurate and distorted beliefs about the event, the child's role, or the meaning of the expreience. Replacing maladaptive attributions alows the experience to be put in a proper perspective.
- Behavior management training for parents. Parents who learn to effectively manage abuse-related behavioral reaactions help their children recover and are able to reduce negative parent-child interactions."
It sounds like both Ms. Allen-Ginn and Masha need this kind of therapy and a lot of it. It appears that some judge with a Christ-complex thought the blind could lead the blind. In this case the result was closer to hell then heaven.
The APSAC Handbook on Child Maltreatment, 2d ed., reports that "sexually abused children do not always self-report clinically significant levels of emotional distress" even though "they have more depressive symptoms and more anxiety or lower self-esteem than nonabused children." p. 59. This might explain why no one has done anything to help ths poor child. Everyone assumes she looks and acts fine so she must be fine. And without any meaningful therapy (for YEARS) who would know otherwise?
The posttrauma effects of Masha's well-known abuse might manifest iteself through (a) nightmares, flashbacks, and intrusive thoughts of abuse; (b) avoidance and numbing; and (c) autonomic hperarousal. She probably has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (along with a lot of troops returning from Iraq). The government helps our troops, why aren't they helping this child?
Masha is also at risk of dissociation, severe feelings of helplessness and victimization. If she doesn't feel that way from what Mr. Mancuso did to her, she's definitely feeling that now.
Sexual abuse not only produces immediate difficulties but also consitutes a significant risk factor for the development of subsequent health, psychiatric and life-functioning difficulties. In other words, Masha Allen is going to need every dime she can get from Allegheny county and all the other "helping" institutions which so tragically failed her.
The link to the congressional testimony is no longer operational, but the PDF can be retrieved from the Web Archive