Sexual Abuse Effects

Sexual abuse effects are far reaching. Victims are likely to experience one if not more of these problems:

* trust issues* difficulty forming healthy relationships* addiction* psychiatric disorders* homelessness* prostitution * in extreme cases, death.

Sexual abuse is extremely damaging to a person’s core sense of safety in the world. It is a traumatic experience and can cause fragmentation to a person’s ego.

The trauma of sexual abuse denies the ego of its first priority - to believe it is good and strong enough to get us safely through the world.

The effects of sexual abuse mentioned above are linked to the fact that the ego has been severely damaged. This is why victims of sexual abuse often blame themselves for what happened.

Sexual abuse effects can also be found in a person’s parenting. Adult survivors of child sexual abuse have special relationship dynamics they share with their own children.

Often, the damage caused by their early childhood wounding stays with them into adulthood and they discover that their own children, too, have fallen victim to sexual abuse.

More and more in my private practice I am treating families who are coping with adult sexual abuse, sibling sexual abuse and child sexual abuse.

Often families initially come for help for other problems such as relationship conflict, stress or addiction. These are the sexual abuse effects that finally caught up with them.

Coming to terms with sexual abuse can be a life long process. There are many emotions to confront, and thoughts about oneself in relation to the world that are self harming and irrational, but based on the abusive experience. These thoughts and emotions can in turn create problems that end up leading an individual to seek treatment.

Throughout the course of treatment, it is not uncommon for a person to find out that their family system has not escaped the effects of sexual abuse. Sibling sexual abuse and child sexual abuse are more likely in families with one or more parents who are adult survivors of sexual abuse.

The shock and anguish these parents feel may trigger memories of their own child sexual abuse. A great deal of research indicates that children who have been the victims of childhood sexual abuse likely have parents who've been sexually abused as children.

Other Sexual Abuse Pages on this Site