The effectiveness of dialectical behaviour therapy in dealing with the consequences of childhood sexual abuse and intellectual giftedness: A case report

Pages: 546-554
Anwesha Bhattacharyya (Clinical Psychologist, Clinical Psychology Centre of University of Calcutta, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal)

The purpose of the case study was to evaluate the effectiveness of dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) in dealing with the trauma and psychological consequences of experiencing childhood sexual abuse; coupled with the challenges of presence of intellectual giftedness in a 12 year old adolescent girl. An intellectually gifted, highly imaginative and creative 12 year old adolescent, with a history of repeated incidence of childhood sexual abuse, and presenting complaints of being overly sensitive, heightened reaction to stress provoking situations, psychosomatic reactions to stress, self harming behaviour, feeling of subjective distress, pervasive feeling of loneliness and lack of trust in people; was undertaken for psychological intervention. The above mentioned symptoms and the added vulnerability and susceptibility with respect to intellectual giftedness were addressed within the framework of dialectical behaviour therapy. The challenge was to address the symptoms of the adolescent, keeping in mind the additional dimension of her intellectual superiority and associated psychological features. Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) was found to significantly reduce incidence of self harming behaviour and successfully address low frustration and distress tolerance, emotional dysregulation, feeling of subjective distress and psychosomatic reactions to stress.