Overview

Abstract (English)

Growing recognition of male sexual abuse and its potentially debilitating effects has underscored the need to develop effective treatment interventions for this population. The present study describes an individual treatment programme that was developed for adult males who have experienced childhood sexual abuse. The treatment programme focused on three areas related to sexual abuse, specifically feelings of self-blame, anger and anxiety. The study also presents preliminary findings on treatment effects, using self-report measures that five participants completed prior to treatment and at various assessments following treatment termination. Overall findings indicated improvements in behavioural self-blame, anger, state anxiety and trait anxiety. Treatment did not appear to have an effect on characterological self-blame over the long term. The study’s findings are limited by the reliance on self-report data and the absence of a comparison group. As such, our findings should be viewed as an initial contribution to the currently limited empirical data on treatment effects for sexually abused adult males.

Abstract (French)

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