Women Survivors Confronting Their Abusers:

This article presents data from a longitudinal study of 72 women who entered therapy in the mid-1980s to deal with the longterm consequences of childhood sexual abuse. Voluntary participants, who were initially reached through their therapists, were surveyed in 1986, 1988, and 1992. With the help of their therapists, the women whose abusers were alive and available faced the questions of whether to confront them, and if so, when and how. In general, responses to the first survey were characterized by a desire to confront without the readiness to do so, responses to survey two by completed confrontations, and responses to survey three by reconfrontations. Findings supported recommendations regarding helping clients to plan, practice, and carry out confrontations safely. They also showed that more recognition should be given to the aftermath of confrontation, debriefing, and reconfrontation, and to survivors with specialized needs, such as women formerly amnesic to their abuse. Clinical implications of these findings and recommendations for clinicians are discussed.