Survivors of childhood abuse: Their reported experiences with professionalhelp

This article analyzes the self-reports of 384 adults who responded to a sur vey of people abused physically sexually or emotionally by family members i n childhood. Most of the respondents sought help as adults from social work ers and other mental health professionals for the long-term effects of thei r abusive experiences. This article analyses the reports of their help-seek ing experiences against a backdrop of the reports of clinicians and researc hers on working with survivors, as reported in the literature. Although sur vivors of childhood abuse often ave described as having difficulty relating to professionals, these respondents persisted in seeking help and tended t o report at least one experience with professional services that was very h elpful. Their self-esteem and family functioning in adulthood was associate d with having had a very helpful professional or service provider. The find ings describe the responses most valued by survivors, as well as their view s of the limitations of available services.