Incest Warning Signs: Q&A With Incest Researcher and Social Worker LeslieBeth Wish
Dr. LeslieBeth Wish, Ed.D, MSS is a social worker based in Sarasota, FL. She has been a speaker for non-profit, corporate and university organizations. Dr. Wish offers sound, research-based relationship advice that makes sense — specializing in issues such as smart dating, women’s relationship advice, career coaching, healthy families, sexual dysfunction, and leadership training.
Dr. Wish is the author of Incest, Work and Women: Understanding the Consequences of Incest on Women’s Careers, Work and Dreams.
Q. Actress Mackenzie Phillips announced that she had incestuous relationships with her father John Phillips. How common is this situation? Do most of these relationships involve father-daughter rather than mother-son?
A: Although childhood sexual abuse includes mother-child incest, more men commit child-family member sexual abuse. The most frequent male family offenders are step-fathers, fathers, uncles and grandfathers.
Q. What are the warning signs?
A: From a child’s perspective, warning signs include sudden or increased physical contact that might pass as acceptable with a family member. For example, suddenly Grandpa wants you to sit on his lap more often. Or, an uncle wants to caress a child’s hair or cheek more often.
Other forms of physical contact are more blatantly sexual, such as Mackenzie Philip’s intercourse with her father. Childhood sexual abuse can also include fondling of breasts, rubbing up and down against a child and sexual comments. Children often have a good sense that something is “wrong,” but they may not tell anyone about these sexual experiences. Children learn rather quickly that the sexual activity with a family member is not normal.
Some offenders make it very clear that if a child reveals their “secret,” the offender will harm the child and/or the family. Children also come to realize that telling someone puts the family in terrible jeopardy. What, for example, would Mom do if she knew about it? Would the family break up? How would the family get along without Dad? A great deal is at stake, and no child wants the responsibility of causing a crisis in the family. If a child does reveal “the secret,” it is not uncommon for other family members to deny or not accept that sexual abuse occurred.
Some siblings, for example, side with the offender, saying that no evidence or hints of abuse exist. To be fair to these supportive siblings—and even spouses—it is highly possible that the offender kept the secret very well-hidden. Often, the abuser selects one or two favorite children for sexual and emotional gratification and never violates the other siblings. As a result, the other siblings never experience or even suspect that abuse is occurring.
Finally, when a family member abuses a child sexually, the abuse is not solely about sex. Offenders are often looking for comfort, closeness and approval from someone whom, in the mind of the offender, offers an opportunity for unconditional love. The closeness and need for comfort can rapidly become sexualized. Many offenders are, however, also looking for sexual gratification, power and control.
Q. What can be done to protect the child?
A: All parents and caregivers should talk with each child about sexual behavior that is “wrong.” Children should be taught early about unwanted touches. Parents and caregivers should let children know that they want to know about any kind of touching or interaction with someone who makes them feel uncomfortable physically and emotionally or who touches them.
When parents set the emotional rules and establish an environment of care, children are more likely to let a family member know. Parents can also tell a child that if they are afraid to tell a family member that they can tell another adult whom the child trusts such as a teacher, minister, etc. (And no jokes, please—yes these two groups have a history of being sexual predators, but there are still good teachers and religious leaders who can help a child in need.)
Q. What is the likelihood that an incest victim will eventually seek counseling? Also, when victims seek help do they immediately admit the incest or rather do they come to treatment for issues like alcohol or drug abuse which they’ve sought to cope with the pain of the incestuous relationship?
A: Statistics can vary about the incidence of abuse, but roughly one in twenty-five women will experience some kind of sexual abuse by the time she is 18. For men, the numbers are about one in seven or eight. Since sexual abuse carries such a high degree of shame, it’s highly likely that clients will not mention it. Substance abuse, as well as suicide attempts, is a failed effort to manage the emotional pain of sexual abuse.
Q. What type of therapy/counseling is typically used in these cases?
A: There are many therapeutic treatments, including medication for depression, cognitive therapies and emotional reprocessing therapy where the client learns to come to different conclusions and understandings about the self and the experience. There are excellent training programs for therapists to learn about these therapies.
Q. What are the long-term effects of incest?
A: Every person is different, but common, long-term effects include suicide attempts, depression, substance abuse, fear of both emotional and sexual intimacy, promiscuity, prostitution and runaways, lack of career identity, inability to function at work.
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This is kind of shocking. As a forensic social worker dealing with sexual crimes, it’s interesting to note that all the years of research and training have been wrong. Had no idea that the percentage of male victims was nearly triple that of female.
One in twenty-five female victims is bad enough, but one in seven male victims by the age of 18? – has anyone double-checked that?
I believe that the statistic is 1 in 4 females experience some type of sexual abuse in their lifetime, the author may have mistyped 25%. In my practice it’s not uncommon for someone to seek treatment for anxiety, depression or relational issues then later disclose history of abuse. I would sadly estimate that of the children who are victims of child sexual abuse more than half of them have mothers that were also sexually abuse (most of whom never got treatment). Talking out loud about sexual abuse and sexually inappropriate play/touch/talk is important to breaking the stigma so more people seek treatment. Treatment for victims of abuse helps to break the chain of abuse.
I feel that this Q and A with incest researcher, Dr. LeslieBeth Wish, Ed.D., MSS is outstanding in its description of the complex dynamics that occur in families where incest is taking place. I’ve worked with incest survivors in both civilian and military populations and continued to be astounded by the magnitude of frequency with which women report that they are incest survivors. As a man, I sometimes actually feel a degree of embarassment and shame that members of my gender can inflict such horrendous emotional and physical pain upon young female toddlers, children, adolescents and women. The severity of damage these “men” do to females within their own family is all too often life-long. The entire psychological foundation of a woman’s life can be set by the trauma that she was subjected to in childhood. Some of the women incest survivors I’ve worked with are so thankfully, among the most resilient and perservering women one could know. They are doggedly determined to recover from their abuse and often do so in support systems that are mutually emotionally supportive. I pray for the day when “men” who do this will be non-existent.
We have to improve what seems to be a worldwide epidemic of this most cruel and destructive behavior. The enormity of suffering that countless women endure worldwide mandates dramatic improvement in the way we raise our sons.
Ernest A. Wahrburg, MSW, LCSW (NC, NY)
I have also worked with survivors of incest and have found it to be the most painful and challenging work in my practice. Not only does the patient feel shame and humiliation admitting this to the therapist but also to themselves.Two of my female patients had totally repressed being sexually abused or incested by their fathers and it was only after several years of treatment for severe mood disorders (with Borderline Personality Disorder) that it came out with such devastating emotional consequences.Another patient had to be hospitalized repeatedly for Dissociative Identity Disorder after being violently raped in childhood by her grandfather. I found that each patient who ultimately came to reprocess their trauma had had relational problems most of their life, and their character formation had been formed around defending against this memory and having extreme rage when confronted with an emotional reminder of the unconscious event.
It is very sad to see your patient decompensate, though temporarily, but then watch them reevaluate all of their issues and come out stronger. I have found that there will be some women whose trauma was so great that they never really achieve their life goals and suffer chronically. Oher women will only temporarily decompensate when there is a major stressor in their life, like a significant loss, a death (even of a pet), or an emotionally abusive experience with a significant other.
My sister and I are incest victims. My sister profited socially and financially from her consensual incest. I rejected my father because of unjust physical abuse at his hands during preadolescence. The physical abuse became sporadic after I promised physical retaliation the next time he was passed out drunk. The malevolent and vicious verbal abuse continued. My sister is filled with rage which she projects onto me. My mother tries to do “nice” things for me, but favors my sister and refuses to admit the incest. At 62, I have had enough of the madness and am in the process of breaking all ties with my extended Southern Gothic family. Please continue studies of all aspects and nuances of this family problem.