couples

An attachment injury occurs when one partner violates the expectation that the other will offer comfort and caring in times of danger or distress, and is characterized by an abandonment or by a betrayal of trust during a critical moment of need. This incident becomes a clinically recurring theme and creates an impasse that blocks relationship repair in couples therapy. The injurious incident defines the relationship as insecure and maintains relationship distress because it is continually used as a standard for the dependability of the offending partner. Personal factors might be previous specific experiences of betrayal, for example sexual abuse in childhood tends to make issues of trust and dependency particularly problematic and the nature of working models of self and other in general.

Link: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3658/is_200104/ai_n8933404

This article talks about secondary trauma and secondary victims - i.e. partners and others in relationship with survivors of sexual abuse. It found that couples, in which one or both partners are survivors, reported significantly lower marital satisfaction, higher individual stress symptoms, and lower family cohesion than couples with no abuse history. They found that many of the problems reported by survivors also are reported by their partners, including individual stress symptoms, isolation, poor relationship quality, and reduced intimacy.

Link: findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3658/is_200004/ai_n8884701