Incest lacks all the essential conditions for positive, healthy sexuality. There is no true consent, equality, respect, trust, or safety. Incest perpetrators use their victim’s age, dependence, and immaturity to their advantage. They selfishly exploit the innocence of their victims. (18 pp.)

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.)

This chapter will discuss some coping methods survivors have used during molestation. It will also describe the role these methods later played in hampering sexual satisfaction. Problems can arise when survivors continue to employ old coping methods in adult sexual relations where there is no longer any threat to their well-being. Since coping methods were developed during traumatic situations, they tend to be deeply ingrained and hard to let go of. (19 pp.)

The immediate effects of the trauma of incest are often fear and immobilization. The impact is even more significant because the incest often lasts a long time and may not be addressed for years. It can lead to chronic depression, guilt, a sense of powerlessness, and poor self-esteem. These feelings may be manifested in many self-destructive activities, such as alcohol and drug abuse, suicide attempts, and sexual relationships in which the survivor continues to be victimized.(21 pp.)

Incest profoundly influences what survivors learn about sex and what they come to believe is expected sex role behavior. While no one can erase the past, it is possible with knowledge to break away from the crippling beliefs of the past and to learn to appreciate healthy sexuality.(22 pp.)