Burman S, Allen-Meares P
Rutgers University School of Social Work, New Brunswick, NJ 08903.
Soc Work. 1994 Jan;39(1):28-34.
Children who witness parental homicides are emotionally traumatized, stigmatized, and deeply scarred by a terrifying event. They often exhibit debilitating symptoms comparable to those of posttraumatic stress disorder. As attention is focused on the deceased and on the perpetrator of the crime, the child witnesses inadvertently become the neglected victims. A case report of two such children who observed their mother being murdered by their father is presented. Theories of psychosocial development and social learning guided the assessment and intervention phases. Behavioral and expressive therapeutic treatment strategies that helped the children work through the resultant anxiety and underlying grief are delineated, and family intervention practices that served to improve interaction and communication patterns are described. Further discussion focuses on the potential intergenerational cycle of violence and on a sociocultural perspective of family violence within an ecological framework.
目睹父母凶杀案的儿童会受到情感创伤、被污名化，并因这一可怕事件而留下深深的伤痕。他们常常表现出与创伤后应激障碍类似的使人衰弱的症状。当注意力集中在死者和犯罪者身上时，儿童证人无意中成为了被忽视的受害者。本文呈现了两个目睹母亲被父亲谋杀的此类儿童的病例报告。心理社会发展理论和社会学习理论指导了评估和干预阶段。阐述了帮助儿童克服由此产生的焦虑和潜在悲伤的行为和表达性治疗策略，并描述了有助于改善互动和沟通模式的家庭干预措施。进一步的讨论聚焦于暴力的潜在代际循环以及生态框架内家庭暴力的社会文化视角。
