- What is childhood abuse? It constitutes of any authoritative action of an adult towards a child. It includes revilement of a child in forms like neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse or any kind of emotional jesting etc. It severely damages the self esteem of the child and the suffering haunts the child for a long period. Needless to say, it demands a lot of courage to decipher because at times, the hurt from the childhood abuse becomes hard to cope up when you grow up. Some parents beat their children regularly and some never bother to provide basic affection rather they just want to gain control over their children. Mistreatment totally changes the child’s psyche and continue to do so for years to come.
Do you show the following symptoms of childhood abuse?
- • Learning problems
- • Deep sense of insecurity
- • Get oversensitive
- • Unable to trust people
- • Becomes violent and abusive
- • Get nightmares, sleeping disorder
- • Manic depression
- • Lack of self confidence
- • Low self esteem
- • Subdued Anger
- These signs indicate that you went through a serious trauma in your childhood days. In many cases, the above characteristics become a personality trait and take a very long time to heal. We need to realize that child abuse is not just about scares or bruises; the impact lasts far beyond the physical pain. Experts have revealed that at least 30-80 percent of the childhood survivors develop anxiety disorder, which leads to depression. In most serious cases, adults exhibit the signs of chronic stress disorder.
- Post traumatic disorder is invariably experienced after physical or emotional abuse. The person who had experienced child abuse will continue going through an unbearable pain for years. Abused survivors ironically feel certain amount of guilt and ashamed. The story remains untold because of the deepest fear of being ridiculed or laughed at. Many studies indicate that while going through the healing process an individual will experience number of negative emotions; flashback of all those traumatic times will haunt you. All these reactions will be normal – don’t get dishearten, you are not alone.
- Instead of going through the hurt in isolation, it will be better if you can share your story with any of your trusted friend or a family member. Never allow the negative feelings to devour you in any ways. You have confronted a great challenge and it’s a courageous step to muster up strength to relive the abuse and heal yourself from the torture. If you don’t really trust someone you can always consult a trusted counselor or you can easily write bogs online and share your story, this way you can let out your emotions without disclosing your real identity.
- It is important to take out your subdued emotions from your mind and heart, if you compose it down in some way you are reliving yourself. If you are still in touch with the sexual abuser, then you will have a burning spirit to take revenge. Many victims don’t really want to face the abuser again in their lives; they prefer eradicating the picture of the abuser from their mind. In some cases you can’t avoid the abuser, for example if he/she is your family member or your friend.
Do you ever ponder if the abuser is still harassing someone? The possibility is yes.
Do you want one more person to go through the same suffering which you have faced for many years?
Don’t you want him to be punished before he/she again entraps one more innocent child?
- Indeed it’s difficult to confront the abuser, but remember! It will make you a stronger person, and you will actually be saving many more children from going through the same trauma. Seek support from your family who care for you and the community you are living in, the support system is very essential. People who commit these immoral acts have to be held responsible, and the only way we can make them accountable is by stopping them.
- In most cases the abuser will never admit that he/she actually committed the crime. These days you have number of organizations like NGO’s safeguarding the interests of the sexually abused victims, childhood abuse is a dreadful crime and punishable by law. In most countries there is enough legal precedent to prosecute the crime. Don’t be afraid, you need to combat this stage in your life by punishing the one who had damaged your soul. You need to stand up and fight it out before someone else gets trapped in the abusers immoral deeds.
- Child abuse is completely an act of human degradation; all of us should come forward to help those people who have suffered. Your life and your past childhood moments are precious and no one else has a right to damage that innocence. I really hope that all of us will discuss it more openly so that victims of sexual abuse will not hesitate or get scared to share their horrendous experiences. Unfortunately, not many people come forth to share their stories, don’t feel isolated you can provide a new lease to your life.
I wrote this article in April2008 for a blog called embraceyourlove.
