Expressive Therapy with Children who were Sexually Abused: An Overview

R. R. Trivedi, T.G. Rejani

Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) is considered a grave issue demanding immediate attention and action to attenuate the prevalence rate. Despite of increasing level of awareness regarding Child Sex Ratio (CSR), the imbalance in this ratio in India and other parts of the world are increasing [1, 2]. Also, even though there are initiatives taken at the primary preventive level, there is a dearth of focused research on exploring the intervention approaches for psychological healing of children who have been sexually abused. Therefore this paper is just a drop in the ocean, attempting to provide a review of the current research base of Expressive Therapies with children who were sexually abused. This overview attempts to familiarize practitioners with various options of contemporary approaches other than therapies based on cognition and behavioral. It also provides support for the effectiveness and feasibility of Expressive therapies with children who have experienced sexual abuse.