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Screening for Interpersonal Violence-Reply
Louise Acheson, MD
Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, Ohio
Arch Fam Med. 1993;2(10):1022-1023.
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| Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings. |
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In reply
Denial is different from repression. Our society has repeatedly denied both the prevalence of woman abuse and the magnitude of its effects. Women who are beaten, controlled by insults and threats, or sexually assaulted by their intimate partners can feel isolated and somehow blameworthy; they can doubt their right to safety and protection, but they do not generally repress the memory of what is happening to them.
To survive violent childhood sexual abuse or extremely traumatic events at any age may call for extreme psychological defenses such as repression. Skill, experience, and discretion are essential to anyone who works with a person remembering and reexperiencing traumatic events that have been repressed. The article in The New Yorker, "Remembering Satan," indeed documents a lack of these attributes in those who investigated this particular case, discredits the survivors' "memories" of cult rituals (which were suggested to them by the investigators), but leaves
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
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