Sexual Abuse: Long Term Effects

Many victims of sex abuse continue to suffer the scars of trauma every day of their lives. Crippled by psychological, social, sexual and physical problems they believe that this is the natural and irrevocable consequence of an event over which they had no control.

The statistics concerning sexual abuse are truly alarming. It is currently estimated that one-third of all children are sexually abused before the age of 18. This includes 40% of all females and 30% of all males. The vast majority of these reports involve very young minors mostly below the age of seven.

Specialists in the addiction field estimate that up to 90 % of their patients have a known history of some form of abuse. Studies by Calam and Blume, point out that substance abuse, including “food abuse,” is a frequent aftermath of early sexual abuse. Research by Koopmans in 1990, demonstrated that the vast majority of children and adolescents who attempt suicide have a history of sexual abuse as well.

The trauma of sexual abuse is something that stays with a person for years after the event, although the effects may manifest themselves in vastly different ways. For instance, those with a clear memory of the event may be obviously psychologically scarred and suffer from depression, panic attacks, and sleeping problems, just as those who repress the event and only have a vague feeling that ‘something happened’ may experience a sense of isolation, withdrawal, problems with relationships, fear of sexual intimacy.

Immediately after a sexual assault, especially in adults, the instant reaction may be one of numbness or the desire to forget it ever happened. This can be a useful coping mechanism, but it is not a way of dealing with what has occurred. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder frequently occurs and is characterised by repression, re-experiencing and irritability – i.e. jumpy, nervous, trouble sleeping. Specially devised trauma therapies such as EFT and EMD can help with this disorder. These therapies were successfully used to help those affected, either directly or indirectly, by the trauma of the London bombings in 2007.

A first hand victim tells her story: ‘I was raped at three years old before I had even started school by my teenage babysitter. I told no one because I was so scared. When I was a teenager I developed depression and bulimia and my parents insisted I went for counselling. One day my counsellor asked: “Were you sexually abused?” I almost said “No” because I was embarrassed and so ashamed. I am so glad I said yes because it was the first step in accepting that I didn’t deserve what happened to me. It slowly clicked that people loved me and that I was an O.K. person, that it was alright to laugh and be happy and be normal.’

Not all victims of sexual abuse avail of professional counselling but unless the event is talked about and de-stigmatised and the victim realises that what happened to them does not define them as a person, they can never move on beyond the abuse.