The impact of childhood sexual abuse can present itself in various forms. Some survivors may suffer from many mental health issues. While others suffer from a few. Children don’t necessarily need to be physically touched to be sexually abused. Prying on a child when they are undressing or showering counts as sexual abuse. Adults flashing their private body parts to children is also one form of sexual abuse. In the United States of America, about 44% of sexual abuse victims are under the age of 18. Children aging from 7 to 13 are considered to be at the most risk of becoming a victim of childhood sexual abuse in the country. The statistics revealing how often children are exposed to such a traumatic experience is truly horrifying.
Author Denise Shellyann Clarke breaks her silence on the sexual abuse she faced at the hands of the one man, who she considered her hero and protector, her father. In her book, My Protector Was My Molester 978-1-951630-57-7, Clarke goes into detail about the abuse and how it escalated as she grew older. At one point, the situation got so bad, Clarke began avoiding her own home. After school, she picked up extra-curricular activities to escape the clutches of her abusive father. When her father noticed this, he started coming around her school when the day was over. Even after her horrible childhood, Clarke managed to deal with the effects of surviving sexual abuse and overcame her struggles. Today, Clarke has built her life again and lives happily with her beautiful family. With her book, Clarke wants to encourage childhood abuse, sexual survivors, to come forward with their stories and find a community that supports them through their troubles. So often, survivors are shamed in our society and blamed for the trauma they suffered. The blame is continuously misplaced. Instead of holding the abusers accountable, we tell survivors to stay down and stay quiet. This needs to stop now. Clarke is asking survivors to reach out to her with their stories.
According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, here are several ways that experiencing childhood sexual abuse impacts a person:
· Trust—Abuse may impair your sense that the world is a safe place and impair your ability to trust others. This may be particularly difficult if you had a close relationship with the abuser.
· Self-esteem—You may blame yourself for the abuse, even though it isn’t your fault. You may have a hard time feeling good about yourself or hopeful about your future.
· Coping with stress—You may have a lot of negative feelings, which may make it hard to cope with everyday stress.
· Impulsivity—Impulsivity means acting on urges before thinking through the consequences, which can lead to risky activities.
· Anger—You may have a hard time controlling your anger.
· Dissociation—With dissociation, your mind “separates” itself from painful events to protect itself. You may have a hard time remembering what happened, feel like the world around you isn’t real, or feel like you aren’t connected to your body. It’s a common reaction to pain and fear.
· Self-harm—You may harm yourself, but not intend to end your life. It may be a way to cope with difficult thoughts or feelings.
· Mental illness—Experiencing childhood sexual abuse does not mean that you will develop a mental illness, but it is one of many risk factors. People who experience childhood sexual abuse may have a higher risk of experiencing anxiety disorders (such as post-traumatic stress disorder), depression, eating disorders, dissociative disorders, and personality disorders.
· Substance use problems—Survivors of childhood sexual abuse are at greater risk of developing problems with alcohol and other drugs and may be more likely to start using substances at a younger age. There may also be a link between your response to childhood sexual abuse (such as depression, low self-esteem, or post-traumatic stress disorder) and the risk of experiencing problems with substances. Substances may be a way to cope with difficult experiences.
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