Opinion ID: 1934304
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Magnitude of the Claimed Injuries.

Text: Ms. Farris and Ms. Fellez have alleged in their complaint that each of them suffered extremely serious harm as a result of Dr. Compton's wrongful conduct. They assert that, by reason of that conduct, they were rendered incapable, until quite recently, of complaining and of seeking legal redress. On appeal, the plaintiffs, as well as amici NOW Legal Defense and Educational Fund, et al., have relied heavily on scholarly literature to support the credibility both of their claims of injury and of their allegations of repression. Presumably, if the case goes to trial, the plaintiffs will endeavor to support their claims with expert testimony. [7] In paragraph 20 of the complaint, the plaintiffs have alleged that the incestuous abuse to which they claim to have been subjected during childhood and in their teens had devastating consequences for virtually every aspect of their lives. [8] According to the materials submitted on behalf of the plaintiffs, the women's claimed inability under such circumstances to recollect the abuse was not at all out of the ordinary. Sexual molestation of children has been described as resembling a time bomb; traumatic symptoms may remain hidden for years after the abuse but may be totally destructive to later adult adjustment. Roland Summit, Recognition and Treatment of Child Sexual Abuse, in Coping With Pediatric Illness 116 (1983). The abuse, and the threats which often accompany it, render the child helpless, and she must accommodate and learn to live with the pain, both psychological and physical, which has been inflicted by the abuser. The victim accomplishes this forced accommodation by blocking her harrowing experiences from her mind in order to protect her developing psyche from being overwhelmed. See Judith L. Herman & Emily Schatzow, Recovery and Verification of Memories of Childhood Sexual Trauma, 4 Psychoanalytical Psychology 1 (1987). Thus, according to one of the authorities relied on by amici, patients, when faced with a situation that has aroused overwhelming grief, despair, or anxiety may respond by a total repression of the memories of the disturbing events, accompanied by a disappearance of painful effect. The experience of incest... is fraught with all these emotions emotions a child finds overwhelming. The fear and pain, and the feelings of abandonment by both the perpetrator and the ... parent who does not rescue the child, cause intense despair. To deal with these fears and emotions, the child must deny their existence by pushing them into her unconscious. Jill Blake-White & Christine Madeline Kline, Treating the Dissociative Process in Adult Victims of Childhood Incest, The Journal of Contemporary Social Work 394 (1985). The result is that [m]any, if not most, survivors of child sexual abuse develop amnesia that is so complete that they simply do not remember that they were abused at all; or ... they minimize or deny the effects of the abuse so completely that they cannot associate it with any later consequences. E. Sue Blume, The Walking Wounded: Post-Incest Syndrome, 15 Siecus Rep. 5 (1986). Indeed, one study of 364 survivors of incest is said to have revealed that the average delay between the end of molestation and the first request for treatment was seventeen years. Kathleen A. Kendall-Tackett, Characteristics of Abuse That Influence When Adults Molested as Children Seek Treatment, 6 J.Interpersonal Violence 488-89 (1991). [9]