Somatic manifestations of sexual abuse in Latino female adolescents

The purpose of this study was to explore the emotional impact of trauma from sexual abuse on a Latino female adolescent, and how it is manifested in the body. A single-subject design was used to evaluate the impact of a Dialectical Behavioral Therapy targeted treatment on the somatic symptoms of trauma. A seventeen-year-old Latino female adolescent who was receiving treatment at the Clifford Beers Child Guidance Clinic was the participant in this case study. Although the hypotheses were not fully confirmed, the results show that the targeted intervention helped reduce some of somatic symptoms and the impact they had on the participant's quality of life. Further research in this area would be necessary to better understand the impact of DBT on somatic symptoms, yet it is valuable for social workers to begin to identify evidence based interventions that may be effective with Latino female adolescents with a history of sexual abuse.