Multiple Voices

Making A Link Between Sexual Abuse And Mental Health Problems

A big obstacle to recovery is that often survivors of sexual abuse do not know that the problems they have are related to past experiences of sexual abuse. In fact, in my research 60% of the participants did not link their mental health problems to their history of sexual abuse. They were completely unaware of the significant impact sexual abuse had in their emotional, physical, and mental life.

Sexual Abuse Statistics

Here are some new statistics about child sexual abuse. I have to warn you, the number are very shocking. I have taken these statistics from the the website darness2light. The following statistic is just a short excerpt. Please visit this site for more information and for some ideas how you can help:

Carnival Edition November 2008: Parenting

It's hard to believe, but another month has passed. The new edition of the Sexual Abuse Blog Carnival is published now.

Hopp over to the Recovery From Sexual Abuse Blog Carnival and check out the submissions. You will find many interesting posts that explore the difficult issue of parenting. To read more got to the November Edition.

Confronting the Abuser: Learned Helplessness

I just saw the last comment by ..... to the first post of confronting the abuser. You wonder why you weren't able to stop the other kids to hurt you because you were the same age. Let me explain the concept of learned helplessness. Its a hideous dynamic that leads to a sense of helplessness and giving up.

It has all to do with knowing that you have control over the outcome. They've done heaps of research with humans and animals whereby the research subject has been given electro shocks independently from what they did, whether they completed a task successfully or not. The subjects learned that whatever they did or didn't do, nothing would prevent them from being hurt. They had no way of controlling whatever happened to them. As a result they gave up, became passive, and did not make any attempt to protect themselves. They have learned no matter what they did, they wouldn't be able to affect the outcome.

Self-Care: Baking A Gingerbread House!

As the days go by, Christmas is coming closer and closer. I would like to share with you what we do in Germany around this time of the year: We bake Christmas Cookies and Gingerbread Houses. It's a really relaxing activity, and when you have children, you will create unforgetable memories for them.

 
 It's easy, so give it a go and enjoy: It's never too late to have a happy childhood :)

Go here for the Download Gingerbread recipe.

Avoidance or Self-Care?

Have you ever thought about when you are avoiding and when you do 'self-care'?. It's a fine line, isn't it? A whole industry is concerned with distress tolerance and emotional regulation skills. The most commonly known are the Linehan DBT skills. They teach you to use such as

For The Kids!

      For all the little ones that feel a bit

      under the weather or  . . . . .

      that have done some hard work lately

      here a little teddy greeting for you!

       GET WELL SOON

Survivors Are Heros That Change The World

I have received some great, supportive comments on the post “Sexual abuse: A Her&HisStory of Suffering”.  I would like to expand a wee bit on that topic today.

There is the myth floating around, that previous centuries were all wonderful and many people dream of living in the ‘Jane Austen’ world of carriages, dances, and fine needlework in the free time between cucumber sandwiches, lunches, and supper. Can you hear a violins playing some lovely baroque tune the background?? Aaaahmmm, yes, wasn’t it wonderful? If only ….

Carnival Edition October 2008: What helped-what didn't

The October 2008 edition of the Blog Carnival "Recovery From Sexual Abuse" is now out. The topic was 'What helped, what didn't help'. Although this month's carnival was hampered by difficulties the blog carnival people had with their website, I have received many interesting submissions.

Go to the blog carnival "Recovery from Sexual Abuse" homepage and read the blog posts that have been submitted by readers.

The deadline for the November Edition is the 25th of November. The Subject is about how sexual abuse survivors cope with the issue of PARENTING!. Feel free to submit your own blog posts or from someone else's blog. You can also submit comments you've made on someone's posts.

I can't wait to see what people have found.