The process of meaning making from trauma generated out of sexual abuse in childhood

Pages:366-370
Sudeshna Das (Clinical Psychologist, Tata Motors Hospital, Jamshedpur)
Soma Pramanik, Deepshikha Ray and Mallika Banerjee (Department of Psychology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata)

The study tries to explore the process of constructing meaning from the experience of being sexually abused in childhood. The focus of this study is to explore the dispositional characteristics to identify what helped them sustain the integrity of their sense of ‘self’ and ‘existence’ subsequent to intense sexual abuse that they had faced during their childhood. This study is part of a larger study in which the participants were selected through the use of a specially designed ‘screening questionnaire’ which sought information about the participants’ life experiences and demographics in a subtle, non-invasive and non-threatening manner. The purpose of this study was to tap the unique and personal process of coping with a trauma of this stature. Three individuals participated in the present research and they shared their tribulations and unique process of coping with the researcher in an intensive interview that lasted for two hours and thirty minutes. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach was used to interpret the data. Significant themes that emerged after analysis were- the ability to focus one’s psychic energy on alternative pursuits like career and academics, the capacity to obtain sustenance from relationships, the inner strength to free oneself from the vicious cycle of anger and vengeance and to look beyond; practising forgiveness and the ability to consider each experience as learning. Thus the common point in the process of meaning making is the ability of all these persons to make use of the positive repertoire of personality.