blame

Most therapy methods for sexual abuse survivors exclude partners; this article studied the success of brief couples therapy while the survivor was in recovery, as well as the partner's perspective on the survivor's individual therapy. The 'Results' section of the article has some really good information for partners of sexual abuse survivors.

Link: findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3658/is_199610/ai_n8752195

This article - Childhood sexual abuse and couples' relationships: Female survivors' reports in therapy groups - is a review of five therapy groups for female survivors of sexual abuse. It's goal is to identify the most frequent themes that arise in terms of relationship difficulties. It found that survivors who are in therapy experience a great deal of turmoil and dissatisfaction in their relationships. The two most frequent relationship issues were difficulties with emotional communication or intimacy, and polarized positions on control; those issues correlate to survivors' primary coping strategies of avoiding threatening or dangerous feelings and the management of feelings of helplessness, powerlessness, and lack of control.

Link: findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3658/is_199810/ai_n8822970