"An issue of grace" : mental representations of self and others in emerging young adults exposed to domestic violence in childhood
Date
2015-09-04
Authors
Durbach, Carla
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Abstract
Exposure to domestic violence in childhood is believed to have deleterious effects upon
child development and long term adult functioning. The implications for disturbed relating
and intergenerational transmission patterns of violence are considerable, yet few studies
thus far have comprehensively examined the personal stories of young adult South Africans
exposed to domestic violence in childhood with a view to understanding the effects of this
domestic violence from their perspectives, and how they have made meaning of these
experiences. The individual case studies of seven such adult women are investigated within
this study through a psychoanalytic lens which explores attachment states of mind through
the Adult Attachment Interview, object representations through the psychoanalytic
research interview and sense of coherence through administration of the SOC-29.
Experiences of domestic violence in childhood by participants were characterised by role
reversal dynamics between parents and children as well as diminished quality of parenting
at times. Adaptation to this entailed marked caregiving and protective roles being adopted
by children which extended into adulthood relationships. Earned security of attachment was
present in most cases, with expressed fears of intimacy and compromised trust in others.
The latter being made evident in the exploration of outlook on life and sense of coherence
scores. Forgiveness for parents and memories of benevolence characterised oscillations
between paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions, this being a developmental transition
process for participants, which appeared to have been made more complex by the domestic
violence and the relational trauma that ensued.
Description
A PHD THESIS COMPLETED IN 2015, AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND