The Hidden Wounds of Child Abuse

“I just hate myself. I keep thinking there’s something I should have done, should of said to stop it. I just feel so dirty.” – Lisa. “Childhood sexual abuse is…an overwhelming, damaging, and humiliating assault on a child’s mind, soul, and body…The abuse invades every facet of one’s existence,” says the Right to Innocence, by Beverly Engel.

During the early years when a child develops personal worth and learns to love and trust, “this process of trust building gets derailed,” says Dr.J.P. Gannon. The abuser robs the child of any safety, privacy and self-respect. This may lead to depression, low self-esteem, guilt, and rage. Many will turn their destructive feelings on their friendships, marriages, and on their own self.

Statistics are alarming! In one area 84% of prison inmates were found to be abused as children. One in three girls and one in five boys are sexually abused by an adult at some time during their childhood. Most sexual abusers are someone in the family or someone the child knows. Child abuse is far more likely to occur in the child’s home than in a day care center.

Often the severe emotional damage to abused children does not surface until adolescence or later, when many abused children become abusing parents. An adult who was abused as a child often has trouble establishing intimate personal relationships. These men and women may have trouble with physical closeness, touching, intimacy, and trust as adults. They are also at higher risk for anxiety, depression, substance abuse, medical illness, and problems at school or work. Without proper treatment, physically abused children can be damaged for life.