Sexual Abuse Trauma

1531 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Causes and effects of sexual abuse

Sexual abuse is all too common today, believe it or not. Most can’t come to grasp the full effects that normal abuse causes, let alone the effects of sexual abuse. Many question: “why did the ‘victim’ let it happen?” or “Well, if they don’t live with the abuser why continue to go back?”. The reader will soon know the affects sexual abuse has mentally and physically, and the steps someone takes to attempt getting over the trauma. This paper will include my personal experience, as well as others’. So many people know so little about sexual abuse. Surprisingly, the lack of knowledge ranges from how common it is, to what goes on in the “victim’s” head during and after the trauma.
Most people believe sexual abuse or even rape is uncommon, but twenty …show more content…

The way one views trust after the trauma changes the most, in most people’s opinions. Many, if not all, people that go through sexual abuse find it takes an extreme amount of time to re-adjust and cope with certain anxieties. Anyone who goes through any type of trauma experiences PTSD; which is an abbreviation of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD is extremely difficult to cope with for several reasons; hallucinations, anger, depression, social anxiety, flashbacks, night terrors, uncontrollable thoughts of the event, and haphephobia which is the fear of being touched (Joyful Heart Foundation, Effects of Sexual …show more content…

It’s extremely difficult to open up to someone new and share secrets without having any trust with that someone. To have a counselor, you have to “click” with them. Meaning you kind of have to think the same way, react to certain things the same, etcetera. You also have to form a bond of trust with them. With a victim of sexual abuse, trust is hard to come by, so they may go through several counselors or therapists before they find the one that helps them the most. This was a big problem in my case. As a young girl I trusted way too much, thought the world was an amazing, unharmful place, up until I turned thirteen. After that, and the abuse, I didn’t understand what trust was. I locked myself away, closed the blinds and curtains; I barely ate or ate too much. I became extremely depressed, and my first counselor wasn’t helping. My first counselor was more of a child’s therapist; this didn’t work out so well considering I was now extremely mature for my age. We often butted heads, and had hateful and hostile moments. This is a prime example of why some counselors don’t work

Show More
Related

  • Will I Be an Abuser?

    1872 Words  | 4 Pages

    It has been suggested that children who are victims of sexual abuse also become abusers themselves. Children of abuse have a higher probability of becoming a future abuser. Child abuse is characterized as any act that jeopardizes or impairs a child’s physical or emotional health and growth. These acts include any harm done to a child who cannot be rationally explained and is often characterized by an injury or series of injuries seeming to be non-accidental in nature. The behaviors of child abuse can happen in both boys and girls leaving them with severe lifetime symptoms. Treatment is often necessary for them to overcome the actions done to them, but it is not always successful in curing the mutilation. However, the existence of one sign of child maltreatment does not mean child abuse is occurring within a home. Even with proper education, therapy, and validation one has the probability to become an abuser himself/herself.

    Read More

  • Book Review: Spirit Unbroken: Abby's Story

    914 Words  | 2 Pages

    Social aspects take up a big part of everyday life, therefore it is very important. Because of emotional withdrawals that can come from victim abuse, those who suffer from emotional trauma have a harder time feeling comfortable in social situations than those who had a normal childhood. Even those who have gotten over the shy part of things still struggle with finding things in common with others, trusting them, and even putting themselves out there. Especially with romantic relationships, past abuse affects as well. A source says, “Decades later, even when in a loving and supportive relationship, they still cannot erase those false scripts from their heads and wholly embrace a loving partner.” (Berman) Distrust of other people is also a prominent factor that plays a part in his or her life. “When the primary relationship is one of betrayal, a negative schema or set of beliefs develops. This negative core schema often affects an individual’s capacity to establish and sustain significant attachments throughout life.” (Blue Knot) Because someone who was supposed to bring primary support and love turned on him or her and treated them wrongly, trust levels in many relationships have a tendency to be cracked and

    Read More

  • The Effect of Childhood Sexual Abuse during Adulthood

    1293 Words  | 3 Pages

    The effects of childhood sexual abuse carry on with the children forever. To what extent and to what effect does abuse have on children during adulthood? What are the main issues that adults have been abused suffer from in adulthood? Do they have more of a physical issue with preforming with their partner in the bedroom or do they have more of a mental block due to their trauma? The world had been asking these questions for far too long and we need answers on how helping the children of our world. The questions that have been stated have been answered through the two articles that will be summarized below.

    Read More

  • Effects of Childhood Sexual Abuse in Adulthood

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    Child abuse is a serious issue in today's society. Many people have been victims of child abuse. There are three forms of child abuse: physical, emotional, and sexual. Many researchers believe that sexual abuse is the most detremental of the three. A middle-aged adult who is feeling depressed will probably not relate it back to his childhood, but maybe he should. The short-term effects of childhood sexual abuse have been proven valid, but now the question is, do the long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse affect middle-aged adults? Many contradicting views arise from the subject of childhood sexual abuse. Researchers and psychologists argue on this issue. Childhood sexual abuse has the potential to damage a child physically, emotionally, and behaviorally for the rest of his or her childhood, and the effects have been connected to lasting into middle-aged adulthood.

    Read More

  • Melinda Sordino Trauma

    1526 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Often it isn’t the initiating trauma that creates seemingly insurmountable pain, but the lack of support after.” (Harrell) There is a lot of trauma a victim of sexual assault goes through. This trauma can last years if not dealt with properly, in fact, ninety-four percent of women who are raped experience post-traumatic stress disorder and seventy percent of victims experience moderate to severe distress. Melinda Sordino is also a victim of sexual assault, she’s seen going through the life of a grade nine girl trying to fit into a new environment, make new friends, and find herself, all while coping with her past. Melinda’s distant relationship with her parents leads to her lack of confidence to ask for support and becomes one of the major

    Read More

  • Long Term Effects of Childhood Sexual Abuse

    561 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, an estimated 777,200 children were determined to be victims of abuse or neglect by a protective service agency in the United States in 2008, and 9.1% of these children were determined to have been sexually abused (Draucker, 2011). Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a prevalent problem in the United States that is associated with many long term psychological, behavioral, social and physical effects on men and women (Draucker, 2011). These effects can make a person’s life a living hell. They turn someone into a person that they may not have been if the tragic event didn’t happen to them.

    Read More

  • Trauma In Social Work

    623 Words  | 2 Pages

    With my past social work experience I understand that trauma can affect many people in different ways. Traumatic life experiences can vary with everyone and their way of coping and reacting. I worked a children services for about two years. I have been able to witness the effects of trauma on a lot of the children I worked with. For example, I had to remove 5 children from their mother. Their mother was using meth at the time leaving the oldest child, who was thirteen years old, taking care of the youngest. The mother was in an abusive relationship with their father. The father was very emotionally abusing by threatening the kids and mother. Removing the children from their mother was a traumatic life experience.

    Read More

  • Modern-day Witch Hunts

    1302 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many counselors attribute their clients' woes to long-buried "repressed" memories of childhood sexual abuse. They help clients to unlock these, and rewrite their pasts. Clients sever all former ties with "families of origin" and surround themselves only with other "survivors", to prevent confirmation or denial.

    Read More

  • Rape Trauma Syndrome

    1706 Words  | 4 Pages

    You can most commonly find dictionaries defining rape as a sexual act committed by force especially on a woman (American Heritage). Until a few years ago it was limited to penile penetration of the vagina. Penal Code two hundred sixty-one defines rape as "an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a person who is not the spouse of the perpetrator without the lawful consent" (Roberson). Penal Code two hundred sixty-three goes on to say that "the fundamental wrong at which the law of rape is aimed is . . . the violation of a woman's will and sexuality" (Roberson). All other sexual assaults are categorized under different names, yet the result is most often the same.

    Read More

  • Childhood Sexual Abuse

    1005 Words  | 3 Pages

    Childhood sexual abuse, as defined by the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA, 1996), includes using persuasion, enticement, and other inducements to coerce a child to engage in sexually explicit conduct or simulation of sexual acts. Survivors of sexual abuse frequently have a legacy of both psychological and physical problem throughout life. There has been considerable literature published in the past 20 years focusing on the long-term consequences of childhood sexual abuse.

    Read More

  • The Trauma of Childhood Sexual Abuse

    1679 Words  | 4 Pages

    An estimated 39 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse exist in America today (Darness2Light, 2009a ). This figure continues to grow daily as perpetrators of this crime continue in this destructive path. The definition of child sexual abuse is the force, coercion, or cajoling of children into sexual activities by a dominant adult or adolescent. Sexual abuse of children includes touching (physical) sexually including: fondling; penetration (vaginal or anal using fingers, foreign objects or offenders organs; oral sex, or non-physical contact including: sexual comments; indecent exposures; masturbating in a child’s presence; child prostitution or child pornography (Child Welfare, 2009a).

    Read More

  • Tactics Abusers Use to Control Their Victim

    1554 Words  | 4 Pages

    "Understanding Child Sexual Abuse: Education, Prevention and Recovery." Http://www.apa.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2014.

    Read More

  • Long-Term Effects of Child Sexual Abuse

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    This paper outlines the consequences of child sexual abuse (CSA) based on the examination of results from multiple researches previously fulfilled concerning the psychological and physical impact of this crime, information of statistics, warning signs detected, victims’ performances, and emotional state. Sexual abuse causes severe trauma on child victims that will last for the course of their lives, therefore it is critical to identify and improve the therapeutic methods utilized to treat CSA survivors.

    Read More

  • The Severity of Child Sexual Abuse

    1021 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sexual abuse cannot be clearly defined with ease. In fact, sexual abuse is an umbrella term for any sort of situation, whether or not it involves physical contact, in which a sexually immature child is exposed to anything sexual in nature. Because no child is psychologically mature enough for sexual stimulation, the complex feelings associated with it are mentally and emotionally disfiguring. Children who have been sexually abused experience an array of negative emotions such as shame, guilt and anger, and may display oddly withdrawn or distrustful behaviors. They cannot help but feel that they somehow brought the abuse unto themselves (Saisan, et al). One major contributing factor to these severe psychological consequences is the concept of trust. Sexual abuse is, in most cases, committed by a parent or other trusted adult figure. While children are naïve on such adult topics, they can still get an overwhelming feeling that the attention is wrong, yet they are unsure of how to cope with it. If the child has an emotional atta...

    Read More

  • Child Sexual Abuse Essay

    1390 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is most important to understand that children and teens of all racial, religious, ethnic, gender and age groups, at all socio-economic levels are sexually abused. Although there are risk factors that may increase the possibility of sexual abuse, sex abuse can be found in all types of families, communities, and cultures (The Scope of, 2016). Childhood sexual abuse is an important issue to address because the impact of sexual does not end when the abuse ends. Childhood trauma follows into adulthood and can have long-range effects. “Survivors of sexual abuse are at significantly greater risks for severe and chronic mental health issues, including alcoholism, depression, anxiety, PTSD and high risk behaviors” (The Scope Of, 2016). Victims may experience traumatic sexualization, or the shaping of their sexuality in “developmentally inappropriate” and “interpersonally dysfunctional” ways (Effects of Child, 2012). “A child who is the victim of prolonged sexual abuse usually develops low self-esteem, a feeling of worthlessness and an abnormal or distorted view of sex. The child may become withdrawn and mistrustful of adults, and can become suicidal” (Effects of Child, 2012). Overall, the effects and impact of childhood sexual abuse are long lasting and do not diminish when the abuse ends, their childhood trauma follows them into

    Read More

More about Sexual Abuse Trauma

Open Document