"Sexual abuse experienced in childhood is not always consciously remembered by the child, but like uranium, it lives forever. It is a subject of great interest, yet as we see in the Menendez and Epstein cases, one that is extremely difficult to talk about. The searing realities of its victims' experiences are pushed off center stage, referred to in general, but rarely centered in the public or legal discourse."
"When a child's body is used for sexual purposes, the impact goes beyond what has occurred physically. The effects and consequences are not bounded by our narrow conceptions of sexual acts but instead flow into and throughout the being of that child. Every part of the experience-neurobiological, psychological, and cognitive-reaches into every part of the child, yet a child has little capacity for understanding or organizing what is happening and no language or known context in which to situate these experiences."
"Every kind of abuse in childhood is damaging and confounding to its victims. Recovery from the wounds and doubts engendered by physical abuse, emotional abuse, and severe neglect takes years, if not a lifetime. Sexual abuse assaults the person in a very particular way, causing specific additional harms, while carrying within it aspects of physical and emotional abuse as well."
Sexual abuse experienced in childhood is not always consciously remembered, yet it endures and is extremely difficult to discuss; victims' searing realities are often sidelined in public and legal discourse. Sexual abuse affects every part of a child, producing neurobiological, psychological, and cognitive impacts that permeate the person. Children have little capacity to understand or organize these experiences and frequently lack language or context to situate them. When a child's body is used for sexual purposes, consequences go beyond physical acts and flow throughout the child's being. Children cope by banishing memories or internalizing blame, especially when the abuser is part of daily life, and being heard and understood by caring others enables healing from pervasive harms.
Read at Psychology Today
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]