Browsing by Author "Edwards, David"

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    A phenomenological case study of the therapeutic impact of imagery: Rescripting of memories of a rape and episodes of childhood abuse and neglect
    (National Inquiry Services Centre (NISC), 2014) Padmanabhanunni, Anita; Edwards, David
    This is a systematic case study of the assessment and treatment of Anna (43), a woman presenting with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following a drug-facilitated sexual assault that occurred over twenty years earlier. She was also diagnosed with avoidant personality disorder. Treatment with cognitive therapy for PTSD and social phobia was supplemented by imagery rescripting (IR) of memories of childhood trauma within a schema therapy approach. The study documents how her intrusive memories of the rape were potentiated by early maladaptive schemas that developed in response to abusive and neglectful parenting. Within a broader narrative, three examples of IR are described which show how, as an emotion-focused intervention, this approach discloses deeper memories and emotional states that are distressing and traumatic and allows them to be transformed through a healing process that is organic and displays what Bohart and Tallman (2010) call “self-organizing wisdom.”
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    Victimisation in the lives of lesbian-identified women in South Africa: implications for clinical assessment and treatment
    (National Inquiry Services Centre, 2013) Padmanabhanunni, Anita; Edwards, David
    Few clinical studies have examined victimisation in the lives of lesbian women in South Africa and whether there are distinct implications for psychological treatment. This paper presents the assessment and treatment of a lesbian-identified South African survivor of childhood sexual abuse who, as an adult, was raped and later gang raped. Her victimisation in adulthood represented ‘corrective rape’ motivated by the prejudiced assumption that the sexuality of lesbian women is pathological and should be ‘corrected’ through rape. This paper lends insights into the role of heterosexism in shaping vulnerability to victimisation and the process of recovery. It provides recommendations for work with sexual minority clients and highlights the implications when there is an absence of safety and support in the external environment.