Abstract:
Narrative therapy as a discourse for dealing with sexual abuse: rewriting the own story. Sexual abuse changes the victim 's life. All forms of sexual abuse leave a scar, regardless of race or gender. It does not impact in the same way on the lives of all people, but victims are able to report extensively on exactly how such an event has changed their lives; how the incident has caused problems in various facets of their lives. When the question is turned around and the victims are asked to explain how they have handled these problems, what influence they exercise over the problems, the storytelling often ends just there — revealing their inability to cope. When problems are articulated,
the possibility arises that victims may be helped. The aim is to re-establish victims as persons with integrity and to enable them to resume control of their lives after the traumatic event. They are encouraged to write an alternative life story based on their newly found inner strength and on what they desire for their lives. The current research, in which a client who presented with "Sexual disorder not otherwise specified" was helped to create an alternative story, suggests that it is possible to substitute 'unwanted' parts of such a client's life story with a rewritten
narrative with which he /she can identify.
