This paper examines the challenges involved with the Psychoanalytical Family Therapy (PFT) care of a 41 year-old woman, a victim of incest between the age of 7 and 12, followed by two incidences of rape that resulted in one abortion and the birth of a girl, who is currently 7 years of age. The patient presented childlike behavior, no measure of independence and a borderline diagnosis. She could never rely upon her mother for any kind of support. Parents, in perverse and abusive collusion, cause considerable damage to their children's minds, their lives becoming devastated, leading us to believe it is they who have had their psyches damaged, tainted by unthinkable experiences transposed into secrets. To transform and repair is the aim of every Psychoanalytical Family Therapy and, in these cases, there are enormous challenges for the psychotherapist as the family has an acute aversion to reality, it displays intense feelings of persecution and the family psychodynamic spills over into the therapy sessions.
Sex offenses; Rape; Incest; Family relation