Solution focused brief therapy for mothers of children who suffered sexual abuse

Abstract

This work presents a case report and the therapeutic process based on the model Solution Focused Brief Therapy in which the mother of two daughters who were sexually abused was supported. The process was carried out in Mexico, the country that obtained the first position in child sexual abuse, among the countries conforming the OCDE. The importance of this work is that when a mother notice that her daughter or son was a victim of sexual violence, enters a stage of vulnerability, so the help they get to cope with the situation in the better possible way for them and their children is fundamental, since maternal support is the most important factor in the process of repairing the consequences of sexual abuse in children. However, there are difficulties in offering it, since there is a tendency towards pathologization and a position that blames mothers for abuse, derived from social expectations about motherhood. In addition, in the investigations of the subject, as well as on the part of health professionals, there has been a significant neglect of the suffering and difficulties that mothers experience in this situation. Therefore, it is essential to recognize the strengths and resources that mothers and their families have to face the adversities derived from child sexual abuse. For that reason, this work focuses on applying the model of Solution Focused Brief Therapy as it is a novel and promising approach that focuses on strengths, resources and capabilities of customers, being a more human and optimistic form of supporting people in comparison to other therapies that focus on deficit and pathology.