Healing from Childhood Abuse

Chapter 1

What is abuse?

(extract)

What is abuse? ​Abuse can be threefold: sexual, physical or emotional. All three are tied together, and all three have a violence to them that is impossible to describe in words. Abuse generates post-traumatic stress disorder, and it is the number one reason our clients seek therapy. Abuse is part of the structure of our society, a society based on domination, or the strong exploiting the weak. Perhaps the single most determining factor of whether someone is a victim of abuse is if they can identify as one. If deep in their gut, they know that whatever was done to them is simply wrong. Even if everyone around them tells them that it wasn’t « a big deal », that it was normal, that they are too sensitive or reading too much into things. The victim might also be told that what happened was too long ago to make a fuss about it, that they should just « move on » and forget about it. What no one mentions, however, is that forgetting is easier said than done. The body always remembers. It is the body that will present with a host of symptoms, psychological but also somatic. As clinicians, when dealing with complex post-traumatic stress conditions, we need to first address the most urgent and immediate issues, i.e. the symptoms. Dealing with the symptoms first will ensure that our clients can rapidly function better overall in their day-to day lives.