Therapy For Sexual Abuse
Friday, November 13, 2009
Sexual abuse survivors have a myriad of issues. Some people are very in touch with the abuse they have experienced, and some people come in with only a sense of something that has happened to them and vague memories of what that was. But people begin to recognize that they do have problems with the abuse they have suffered when they have sexual dysfunction in their marriage, or emotional issues such as anxiety, depression or relationship issues.
A Safe Place
What they are needing is a safe place to talk about their experiences, their confusion and their feelings. What we call people who have suffered sexual abuse are sexual abuse survivors, because part of the therapeutic process in treating them is teaching them that being sexually abused does not make them "less than" something, or make them a victim.
Dealing with some of the memories can be hard. People with graphic memories need to process those in a safe place. Those people who cannot access specific memories need to understand that all they need to deal with to get better is have the sense of memories they do have. We don't try and make them recover those memories.
Respect Your Feelings
What they need to understand is the reason they cannot remember those things is because their mind and body are not ready to do that yet. If or when their mind or body is ready, those memories will become present. Until then, it will only cause them trauma to try and force them to remember things they are not ready to remember.
What they do need to do then is to respect the feelings they have that something did happen to them, to honor that and believe themselves. They also need to discover that they are not responsible for the abuse that occurred. One of the common feelings is guilt that they should have done something differently. They need to get in touch with themselves as children and recognize they did not have any power as children, they do not own any responsibility.
Linda Miller-deBerard is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an Expert Guide [http://www.local.yodle.com] or more Mental Health articles at Yodle Consumer Guide.
A Safe Place
What they are needing is a safe place to talk about their experiences, their confusion and their feelings. What we call people who have suffered sexual abuse are sexual abuse survivors, because part of the therapeutic process in treating them is teaching them that being sexually abused does not make them "less than" something, or make them a victim.
Dealing with some of the memories can be hard. People with graphic memories need to process those in a safe place. Those people who cannot access specific memories need to understand that all they need to deal with to get better is have the sense of memories they do have. We don't try and make them recover those memories.
Respect Your Feelings
What they need to understand is the reason they cannot remember those things is because their mind and body are not ready to do that yet. If or when their mind or body is ready, those memories will become present. Until then, it will only cause them trauma to try and force them to remember things they are not ready to remember.
What they do need to do then is to respect the feelings they have that something did happen to them, to honor that and believe themselves. They also need to discover that they are not responsible for the abuse that occurred. One of the common feelings is guilt that they should have done something differently. They need to get in touch with themselves as children and recognize they did not have any power as children, they do not own any responsibility.
Linda Miller-deBerard is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an Expert Guide [http://www.local.yodle.com] or more Mental Health articles at Yodle Consumer Guide.
Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Linda_Miller-DeBerard
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