Listening and Talking to Your Sexually Abused Child

By Lynn Daugherty

Your child was sexually abused!
You want to help . . . but how?

Respected Clinical Psychologist Dr. Lynn Daugherty guides you as you listen and talk to your sexually abused child. Develop a stronger relationship with your son or daughter as you start the journey toward recovery from child molestation, rape, or incest. You can . . .

Support your child, through listening and talking.
Gain confidence in your own communication skills.
Build a solid foundation for future healing.

This brief beginning book (10,000 words, about 40 pages if it were a paperback) also includes:
~ answers to basic questions about child sexual abuse,
~ resources for parents of sexually abused children,
~ guidance in choosing a mental health professional, and
~ selections from Dr. Daugherty’s other books (about 10 additional pages).

Listen to your child. Talk to your child. Help your child heal.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lynn Daugherty
• Release date: May 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476165905

Lynn Daugherty

Clinical psychologist Dr. Lynn Daugherty, an award-winning author and an internationally respected expert on child sexual abuse, has been bringing hope and healing to victims and their families for more than twenty-five years.

Book preview

Listening and Talking

to Your Sexually Abused Child

by

Dr. Lynn Daugherty

Author of the award-winning bestseller

Why Me?

Help for Victims of Child Sexual Abuse

(Even if they are adults now)

Copyright 2012 Lynn Daugherty

Smashwords Edition

Table of Contents

Title Page

Warning and Disclaimer

Introduction

Part One. Listening to Your Child

Part Two. Talking to Your Child

Afterword

Appendix A. Questions and Answers about Child Sexual Abuse

Appendix B. Choosing a Mental Health Professional

Appendix C. Additional Resources

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Extended Copyright

BONUS SECTION: Selections from Dr. Daugherty’s Other Books

Voices of Survivors

Why Me? Help for Victims of Child Sexual Abuse (Even if they are adults now)

Child Molesters, Child Rapists, and Child Sexual Abuse

Warning and Disclaimer

Dealing with any aspect of child sexual abuse, including reading this book, can bring on strong, unpleasant thoughts and feelings. These could even lead to thoughts of suicide or other injury. If you find yourself overwhelmed by these thoughts or feelings, or suspect that your child, or anyone in your family, may have them, please seek professional mental health services immediately!

This book is not intended to replace the services of a mental health professional, or to provide professional psychological services to you. If you need expert professional help, you should seek the services of a competent mental health professional.

Every effort has been made to make this book as accurate as possible. However, it may contain mistakes, both typographical and in content. Furthermore, this book contains information current only up to the date of publication. Therefore, this text should be used only as a general guide to understanding child sexual abuse and not as the ultimate source of information. Please learn as much as possible about child sexual abuse from all available sources and tailor the information to your own individual needs.

The author and Cleanan Press, Inc. shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused, or alleged to have been caused, directly or indirectly, by the information contained in this book.

Return to Table of Contents

Introduction: Child Sexual Abuse Discovered!

Your child was sexually abused!

A terrible shock!

You are stunned, confused, frightened, angry.

You feel overwhelmed!

You want to help your child . . . but how?

You ask yourself, "What can I do? Is there anything I can do that will help?"

The answer is Yes!

Yes, you can help your child through this difficult time. Yes, you can help your child recover from the trauma of child sexual abuse. You may not know exactly how to help right now, but you can learn!

Good communication is one key to assisting your son or daughter. Good communication between you and your child strengthens your relationship and creates a solid foundation for working toward recovery from the negative effects of this abuse.

You and your son or daughter need to communicate well with each other as—together—you face the reality of the abuse and aftermath events (the things that have been happening since the abuse became known). Your good communication can aid both of you in getting through this demanding time. Good communication will also be vital in the future as you continue helping your child work toward recovery.

Of course, good communication is only one of the keys to helping your child. You also need to believe your child about the abuse, protect your child from further abuse, understand what happened to your child and what effects it may have on him or her, make decisions about what will happen to your child now that you know about the abuse, and get your child whatever professional assistance he or she may need to make recovery a reality.

So, good communication is only one of the keys to recovery, but it is an important key. This book can help you start helping your child during the first critical days, weeks, and months after you learn about the sexual abuse. It can help you improve your communication with your child by guiding your listening and your talking.

In this brief, beginning book, you will find practical, concrete, easy-to-understand steps you can take now to make sure you communicate—through both your listening and talking—in ways helpful to your child.

Of course, as you communicate with your child, you will both listen and talk. In real life, the two usually occur together. However, listening and talking are examined separately in this book to identify and emphasize specific issues surrounding each.

You already know much of the information in this book. Although you may learn some new skills here, this book’s primary value lies in helping you identify specific skills you already possess, and reminding you how you can use them to help your child.

Use this book along with support services available to you and your family in your own community. Do not consider it a substitute for

Reviews for Listening and Talking to Your Sexually Abused Child

[av0415 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is somewhat like a documentary or a guide for parents on how to approach their child or other people in that matter who suffered from abuse particularly sexual abuse. This book contains two parts which discusses separately the processes of listening and talking to the victim. I salute the the author for taking the initiative to write something about this sensitive topic. There are not much books I know of that tackles child sexual abuse like how this book does. It's a great eyeopener even to a bystander like me. Oh I would like to thank the author for sending me a code in smashwords that enabled me to read this gem, the author said that I won it on LibraryThing. Thanks Dr. Daugherty for sharing this wonderful book!

[hjvanderklis_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This giveaway is a short introduction to Lynn's other books like Voices of Survivors, read and reviewed in 2012. Listening skills and talking with empathy are indeed competencies to start with. I'd prefer full books.

[neverstopreading-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this book for information (I am a teacher and a parent), not for direct use. It is short, but it is to the point and direct. It gives information that is accurate and necessary, but I cannot attest to how much it does or doesn't help you when talking to your own child.(NB: I received it as a member giveaway.)