Understanding family influences can benefit survivors. They can learn how each member of their family contributed to or was affected by the incest. Survivors learn that psychological problems suffered by older family members may have set the stage for incest to occur and to remain hidden. Self-blame is alleviated when survivors realize that what happened to them would have happened to any child of their sex entering the family when they did. This understanding helps free survivors from feelings of guilt and responsibility and thereby allows them to strengthen their identity apart from their family of origin. (35 pp.)