Child psychiatrists' view of father-daughter incest

Mental health clinicians, charged with treating a growing number of incestuous daughters, have little empirical data on which to base their clinical judgments. The present study explored the hypotheses of child psychiatrists on the impact of incest. The results suggest that these clinicians view incest as almost always causing serious psychological disorder. While there appears to be little agreement on the nature of acute sequela, disturbed heterosexual functioning was frequently cited as a long-term consequence. In addition, the results suggest that psychiatrists consider factors related to the make-up of the incestuous family, and not the actual sexual behavior, as most pathogenic. The implications of the present results for future research are discussed.