Abstract

The research aims to explore the meanings of thriving experiences after sexual violence with detailed descriptions. The research participants are six women who are in their 20th to 40th. They participated counseling or special programs for sexual violence victims for certain periods. The data has been collected from December 2011 to May 2014. During the period, I had one or three times of in-depth interviews with each participant. The access for the research participants was through snow balling, the personal acquaintances of mine, or introductions by my acquaintances. In my analysis, the six overarching themes and nineteen specific themes have come up with from the interviews. The higher themes are <playing the variations of healing>, <free from the traumatic memories>, <self-respect>, <communication wholly with others and the world>, <construct the life histories as one hope>, <to move forward for thriving experiences>. The significance and implications of this study is to understand the positive and thriving experiences after sexual abuse within the psychological framework. Heretofore, the qualitative research on the thriving experiences after sexual abuse is at the early stage of discussions and research both nationally and internationally. In addition, the research provides the opportunity for counselors to believe in the resilience of clients, not to be diverted by the symptoms of clients, rather firmly seeking the goals and directions of counseling in the consultation scenes. Suggestions for future research are as follows: Participants of this study are those who have contemplated for a long time about their sexual abuse experiences and participated social activism which provided them the opportunities to empower themselves. If the research participants were those who only have taken psychological counseling, the results would reveal different aspects of experiences.