The Consequences Of Child Sexual Abuse: Wounds That Bleed
Adults who suffered from childhood sexual abuse (CSA) in their childhood carry with them a wound that bleeds, a pain that, without a correct approach, establishes itself in a tortuous way that affects daily life and that it is difficult to heal, they feel that with this violent situation their childhood has been killed, a death of the soul. As children, they lose confidence, they feel helpless, fear and helplessness appear, and a trauma remains as an experience of horror and brutality of what they were subjected to in a situation in which they did not give their consent, nor were they voluntary participants in the scene.
Infants who were subjected to what they did not understand and feel guilty, perceive themselves responsible for seducing Due to this guilt that emerges in the victim, added to the threats that it is common for them to receive from the abuser, threatening with something that could happen to one of the family members if they find out what is happening, causes them to end up submitting and anchoring themselves in silence, making the suffering indefinable in time, a deep trauma that accompanies him in his life.
The consequences that appear in adult life from this childhood trauma can be expressed, for example: in difficulties in relational ties, in sexuality, self-esteem, self-harm, anxiety disorders, panic attacks, psychosomatic disorders, depression and more. CSA is considered from any form of physical contact, with or without violence, with or without intimidation or consent, including verbal propositions, exhibitionism, exploitation and pornography.
This happens to the victim with someone with whom they have an unequal relationship, whether due to age power or developmental maturity, an abuser who subdues the victim using his power with pressure, deception, imposition of secrecy, intimidation, threats and even physical force.
Does the family know?
Maybe yes, maybe not. But There are cases in which family members become accomplices, they look the other way for some personal convenience, they try to hide it for various reasons For example: the economic support of the abuser in the family is one of the main causes, or, due to the supposed image of the formation of family moral values, in these situations, the victims end up being re-victimized by a tacit pact of silence.
Another issue that can happen is, when you keep the secret and reveal it late, in the best of cases they may understand it, however, there are also those who discredit the version by denying what happened. The horrifying thing is that, in these cases, whoever finds out and does not act becomes an accomplice by concealing the situation, and the victim feels doubly unprotected from an event that happens or happened and seems irremediable if there is no immediate protective intervention.
For all these reasons, The need to talk about these issues is increasing, with the openness, transparency and seriousness that it deserves so that, over time, protection options exceed family complicity to a greater extent.
What to do then?
This damage hopefully transforms into a scar. As? Recounting the traumatic in therapeutic sessions. It is easy? It is difficult for the victim of abuse because he tries to erase it from his memory, due to the very essence of these events, he cannot give it an outlet through words there is something that still cannot be elaborated: guilt, shame, helplessness, complicity, they become sick in body and mind.
This was kept secret for so long that, when they express it, it has such traumatic power that they feel it was a confession as an act of bravery. It is necessary to express the scene that returns to memory and is expressed in symptoms, addressing them one by one specifically and identifying the most urgent points. From there, the objective is to offer a space for active listening, with understanding and empathy, so that the patient gives themselves permission to recover.
Get them to rework the traumatic experience, understanding that the current symptoms have their origin today’s behaviors with emotional affectations in order to be able to subjectively build a new beginning, that what happened deserves to be transformed into a scar that does not bleed, although indelible, but that with this damaged subjectivity can be a subject free of condemnation traumatic.
