Abstract
Despite its high prevalence rate, the sexual abuse of boys is underrecognized and undertreated. This paper will examine the relational aftereffects of boyhood sexual abuse that emerge in adulthood. The vicissitudes of relational restructuring through the transference and countertransference are explored, with examples discussed of the various transference/countertransference paradigms often encountered.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Balint, M. (1968). The basic fault: Therapeutic aspects of regression. London: Tavistock.
Briere, J. (1995, October 5). Treating Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse. A workshop presented at the Sixth World Interdisciplinary Conference on Male Sexual Victimization, sponsored by the National Organization on Male Sexual Victimization, Columbus, OH.
Brod, H., and Kaufman, M. (Eds.). (1994). Theorizing masculinities. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Bromberg, P. M. (1991). On knowing one's patient inside out: The aesthetics of unconscious communication. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 1, 399–422.
Bromberg, P. M. (1993). Shadow and substance: A relational perspective on clinical process. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 10, 147–168.
Bromberg, P. M. (1995). A rose by any other name: Commentary on Lerner's “Treatment issues in a case of possible multiple personality disorder”. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 12, 143–149.
Bruckner, D. F., and Johnson, P. E. (1987, February). Treatment for adult male victims of childhood sexual abuse. Social Casework, 68, 81–87.
Courtois, C. (1988). Healing the incest wound. New York: W. W. Norton.
Crowder, A. (1995). Opening the door: A treatment model for therapy with male survivors of sexual abuse. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Davies, J. M., and Frawley, M. G. (1994). Treating the adult survivor of childhood sexual abuse: A psychoanalytic perspective. New York: Basic Books.
Dimock, P. (1988). Adult males sexually abused as children. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 3, 203–221.
Ehrenberg, D. (1992). Abuse and desire. In D. Ehrenberg, The intimate edge (pp. 159–191). New York: Norton.
Ferenczi, S. (1930). The principles of relaxation and neo-catharsis. In M. Balint (Ed.), Final contributions to the problems and methods of psychoanalysis (pp. 108–125). New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Ferenczi, S. (1933). Confusion of tongues between adults and the child. Reprinted in Contemporary Psychoanalysis (1988), 24, 196–206.
Gabbard, G. O. (Ed.). (1989). Sexual exploitation in professional relationships. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.
Ganzarain, R., and Buchele, B. (1990). Incest perpetrators in group therapy: A psychodynamic perspective. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 54, 295–310.
Gartner, R. B. (1994, April). When the analyst and the sexual abused patient are both men. A paper presented at the spring meeting of Division 39 (Psychoanalysis) of the American Psychological Association. Washington, DC.
Gartner, R. B. (1996a). Incestuous boundary violations in families of borderline patients. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 32, 73–80.
Gartner, R. B. (1996b). The de-masculinization of sexually abused men: Crises about gender identity and sexual orientation. A paper presented at the spring meeting of Division 39 (Psychoanalysis) of the American Psychological Association. New York, April.
Gartner, R. B. (1997a). Considerations in the psychoanalytic treatment of men who were sexually abused as children. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 14, 13–41.
Gartner, R. B. (1997b). An analytic group for sexually abused men. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 47, 373–383.
Gartner, R. B. (1999a). Betrayed as boys: Psychodynamic treatment of sexually abused men. New York: Guilford Press.
Gartner, R. B. (1999b). Cinematic depictions of boyhood sexual victimization. Gender and Psychoanalysis, 4: 253–289.
Gartner, R. B. (1999c). On masculine strength, emotional detachment, and the praise of incest. Gender and Psychoanalysis, 4: 307–316.
Gartner, R. B. (in press). Sexual victimization of boys by men: Meanings and consequences. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Psychotherapy.
Gelinas, D. (1983). The persisting negative effects of incest. Psychiatry, 46, 313–332.
Glaser, D. (1998, March 21). Unfinished business: Erotophobia vs. erotophilia. A presentation at “Trauma and Intimacy: Self/Other Adaptations,” a conference sponsored by the Masters and Johnson Treatment Programs at River Oaks Hospital, New York, NY.
Hastings, A. S. (1998). Treating sexual shame: A new map for overcoming dysfunctions, abuse, and addiction. Northvale, NJ: Aronson.
Herman, J. L. (1992). Trauma and recovery. New York: Basic Books.
Holmes, W., and Slap, G. (1998). Sexual abuse of boys: Definition, prevalence, correlates, sequelae, and management. Journal of the American Medical Association, 280, 1855–1862.
Horsley, K. C. (1997). A place for healing: Group leaders perspectives on groups for men sexually abused as children. Unpublished master's thesis, Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, MA.
Isely, P.J. (1992). A time-limited group therapy model for men sexually abused as children. GROUP, 16, 233–246.
Johanek, M. (1988). Treatment of male victims of child sexual abuse in military service. In S. Sgroi (Ed.), Vulnerable populations (Vol. 1, pp. 103–114). Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
Hegeman, E. (1995). Transferential issues in the psychoanalytic treatment of incest survivors. In J. Alpert (Ed.), Sexual abuse recalled: Treating trauma in the era of the recovered memory debate (pp. 185–213). Northvale, NJ: Aronson.
Kluft, R. (1990). Incest and subsequent revictimization: The case of therapist-patient sexual exploitation, with a description of the sitting duck syndrome. In R. Kluft (Ed.), Incest-related syndromes of adult psychopathology (pp. 263–287). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.
Lew, M. (1988; 2d ed., 1990). Victims no longer. New York: Harper and Row.
Levant, R. F., and Brooks, G. (Eds.). (1997). Men and sex: New psychological perspectives. New York: Wiley.
Levant, R. F., and Kopecky, G. (1995). Masculinity reconstructed: Changing the rules of manhood—At work, in relationships, and in family life. New York: Dutton.
Levant, R. F., and Pollack, W. S. (Eds.). (1995). A new psychology of men. New York: Basic Books.
Lisak, D. (1993). Men as victims: Challenging cultural myths. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 6, 577–580.
Lisak, D. (1995). Integrating a critique of gender in the treatment of male survivors of childhood abuse. Psychotherapy, 32, 258–269.
Lisak, D., Hopper, J., and Song, P. (1996). Factors in the cycle of violence: Gender rigidity and emotional constriction. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 9, 721–743.
Lymberis, M. (1994). Boundary violations in psychotherapy: Sexual and nonsexual. In A. Sugarman (Ed.), Victims of abuse: The emotional impact of child and adult trauma (pp. 165–186). Madison, CT: International Universities Press.
Maletzky, M. (1991). Treating the sexual offender. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Pizer, S. (1998). Building bridges: The negotiation of paradox in psychoanalysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.
Pleck, J. H. (1981). The myth of masculinity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Pleck, J. H. (1995). The gender role strain paradigm: An update. In R. F. Levant and W. S. Pollack (Eds.), A new psychology of men (pp. 11–32). New York: Basic Books.
Pollack, W. S. (1995). No man is an island: Toward a new psychoanalytic psychology of men. In R.F. Levant and W. Pollack (Eds.), A new psychology of men (pp. 33–67). New York: Basic Books.
Pollack, W.S. (1998). Real boys: Rescuing our sons from the myths of boyhood. New York: Random House.
Price, M. (1994). Incest: Transference and countertransference implications. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 22, 211–229.
Rusinoff, J., and Gerber, P. (1990). Crossing typological boundaries in treating the shame cycle. In M. Hunter (Ed.), The sexually abused male (Vol. 2, pp. 99–115). Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
Sands, S. (1994). What is dissociated? Dissociation, 7, 145–152.
Sepler, F. (1990). Victim advocacy and young male victims of sexual abuse: An evolutionary model. In M. Hunter (Ed.), The sexually abused male (Vol. 1, pp. 73–85). Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
Shapiro, S. (1999). When the therapist is a woman and the patient is a man. In R. Gartner, Betrayed as boys: Psychodynamic treatment of sexually abused men (pp. 279–294). New York: Guilford Press.
Siegel, E. V. (1996). Transformations: Countertransference during the psychoanalytic treatment of incest, real and imagined. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.
Smith, S. (1984). The sexually abused patient and the abusing therapist: A study in sadomasochistic relationships. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 1, 89–98.
Struve, J. (1990). Dancing with the patriarchy. In M. Hunter (Ed.), The sexually abused male (Vol. 1, pp. 3–45). Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
Urquiza, A., and Keating, L. M. (1990). The prevalence of sexual victimization in males. In M. Hunter (Ed.), The sexually abused male (Vol. 1, pp. 89–104). Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
Wright, D. (1997, September 19). Homophobia: The socially embedded barrier to recovery. A workshop presented at the Seventh World Interdisciplinary Conference on Male Sexual Victimization, sponsored by the National Organization on Male Sexual Victimization, Orinda, CA.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gartner, R.B. Relational Aftereffects in Manhood of Boyhood Sexual Abuse. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy 29, 319–353 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022982806437
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022982806437