Some facts to guide clinicians in dealing with child and adolescent abuse

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Emmanuel de Becker Published in the journal : April 2025 Category : Psychiatrie infanto-juvénile

Summary :

The issue of child and adolescent abuse still elicits a wide range of reactions from professionals and the general public. Epidemiologically, the prevalence of child and adolescent abuse remains high, despite prevention and awareness campaigns and training programs. Based on the experience of an SOS-Enfants team, we propose some guidelines to help professionals deal with these complex situations. As clinicians, we need to pay attention to the relational knots, the impasses, and the "side roads" that the family system sets up to thwart the therapeutic process. This is definitely a risky clinical situation, especially for the child. The demands placed on the professionals and their commitment are such that we can metaphorically qualify their intervention as "therapeutic tightrope walking". 

Keywords 

Intervention, abuse, multidisciplinarity, neglect, parenting, network, professional secrecy