Child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome
Encyclopedia
Child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome (CSAAS) is a nondiagnostic syndrome
developed by Roland C. Summit in 1983 to describe how he believed sexually abused children
responded to ongoing abuse.
Roland Summit developed the theory in 1983 to describe how children resolve the experience of their abuse with the effects of the disclosure in real life. Summit posited five stages:
CSAAS is impressionistic, rather than demonstrated by empirical research. CSAAS featured heavily in the satanic ritual abuse
moral panic
of the 1980s and 90s, because it purports to explain both delayed disclosures and withdrawals of false allegation of child sexual abuse
. CSAAS is used to justify any statement made by a child as an indication that sexual abuse had occurred—immediate disclosure was an indication of abuse, as are delayed disclosure, withdrawal and sustained denial.
Syndrome
In medicine and psychology, a syndrome is the association of several clinically recognizable features, signs , symptoms , phenomena or characteristics that often occur together, so that the presence of one or more features alerts the physician to the possible presence of the others...
developed by Roland C. Summit in 1983 to describe how he believed sexually abused children
Child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities , indecent exposure with intent to gratify their own sexual desires or to...
responded to ongoing abuse.
Roland Summit developed the theory in 1983 to describe how children resolve the experience of their abuse with the effects of the disclosure in real life. Summit posited five stages:
- Secrecy
- Helplessness
- Entrapment and accommodation
- Delayed disclosure
- Retraction
CSAAS is impressionistic, rather than demonstrated by empirical research. CSAAS featured heavily in the satanic ritual abuse
Satanic ritual abuse
Satanic ritual abuse refers to the abuse of a person or animal in a ritual setting or manner...
moral panic
Moral panic
A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. According to Stanley Cohen, author of Folk Devils and Moral Panics and credited creator of the term, a moral panic occurs when "[a] condition, episode, person or group of...
of the 1980s and 90s, because it purports to explain both delayed disclosures and withdrawals of false allegation of child sexual abuse
False allegation of child sexual abuse
A false allegation of child sexual abuse is an accusation that a person committed one or more acts of child sexual abuse when in reality there was no perpetration of abuse by the accused person as alleged. Such accusations can be brought by the alleged victim , or by another person on the alleged...
. CSAAS is used to justify any statement made by a child as an indication that sexual abuse had occurred—immediate disclosure was an indication of abuse, as are delayed disclosure, withdrawal and sustained denial.