| Common Long-Term Effects of
Childhood Sexual Abuse
Each individual's experiences and reactions
are unique to that individual. However, with so many survivors breaking
the silence and talking about their experiences, it has become apparent
that there are some responses to child sexual abuse that are common to
many survivors.
- Feelings of extremely low self-esteem or
self-hatred are common in survivors. Extreme depression is something
with which survivors also battle.
- Survivors often experience frequent
sleep disturbances and nightmares. Links have been made between this
and the fact that children are often sexually abused in their rooms,
in their own beds.
- Trust is a crucial issue for many
survivors throughout their lives. They were betrayed by the very
people who cared for them, who insisted they loved them even while
abusing them. Often, a sense of a just world is denied children who
are sexually abused. Learning to trust can be next to impossible under
these circumstances.
- Revictimization describes the process
whereby women who were sexually abused as children frequently find
themselves in abusive, dangerous situations or relationships as
adults. There is a strong relationship between incestuous abuse and
later experiences of sexual assault, wife abuse and other forms of
sexual victimization.
- Survivors with disabilities who
experienced sexual abuse in childhood might never have reached a level
of independence to escape this abuse and it has become a way of life.
Even if they do leave an abusive home, they could continue to be
abused by family, caregivers and professionals.
- Flashbacks can be frightening
experiences, not only for the survivors, but for those around them.
During a `flashback', the survivor re-experiences the sexual abuse as
if it were occurring at that moment. It is usually accompanied by
visual images, or flashes of images, of the abuse. This is one of the
ways of remembering the abuse. Flashbacks are often triggered by an
event, action, or even a smell that is reminiscent of the sexual abuse
or the abuser.
- Dissociation refers to the ability to
escape stressful or harmful situations by creating another place for
the mind to go. The intense pain of sexual abuse creates a situation
where the victim, in order to cope, must try to dissociate from her
body to leave the situation the only way she can. In simpler terms, it
can be described as a type of daydreaming, a need to find a place for
the mind (and ultimately one's self) to hide while being sexually
abused.
- Multiple Personality Disorder can occur
among survivors of child sexual abuse. When the abuse is severe,
dissociation or `splitting' can become the only means of escape. By
splitting, other alter personalities develop to help the individual
survive the abuse. In a recent study of 185 people in treatment for
multiple personality, 98% had experienced sexual abuse in childhood.
Multiple personality is described as the process of dividing one's
self up into many different parts to handle the many painful
experiences of the past.
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