Adult women survivors of intrafamilial child sexual abuse and their current relationship with the abuser

This article examines the adult perceptions of women survivors of intrafamilial child sexual abuse and their current relationship with the family member who abused them in their childhood. Twenty Jewish Israeli women were interviewed in depth between 2008 and 2009. Interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data analysis produced 2 interrelated continua with regard to the presence of the perpetrator in the women's life: a continuum of his actual daily presence in the woman's living space, ranging from complete absence to a continuous presence, and a continuum of his experiential presence, ranging from a high level of intrusiveness to encapsulation and total dissociation. The 2 continua are discussed and implications for practice are suggested.