Aftereffects of Childhood Abuse: Self-injury

Self-injury is a very common aftereffect of childhood abuse. Most people think that self-injury is synonymous with cutting, but the truth is that there is a wide variety of ways to self-injure that do not involve cutting yourself. Here is a small sample of ways that people self-injure: Banging head Breaking bones Burning themselves Cutting [...]

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Aftereffects of Childhood Abuse: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common aftereffect of childhood abuse. OCD is driven by anxiety, and the OCD symptoms help the anxious person to manage his anxiety. I used to struggle with a number of OCD symptoms. Some would come and go, such as blowing on my hands. Others lingered for years, such as saying [...]

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Aftereffects of Childhood Abuse: Eating Disorders

Many abuse survivors struggle with eating disorders. Eating disorders are a way to manage emotional pain. For many years, the only form of eating disorder that most people acknowledged was anorexia nervosa. However, today we recognize that there are many different forms. Anorexia Nervosa People who struggle with anorexia nervosa greatly limit their caloric intake [...]

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Aftereffects of Childhood Abuse: Dependence & Compulsions

Many abuse survivors struggle with some form of dependence or compulsion. The following is a list of types of dependencies and compulsions. The list is by no means exhaustive: Eating disorders Obsessive-compulsive disorder (phobia-driven compulsions) Self-injury Substance abuse (drugs and alcohol) Suicidal urges Workaholism/Compulsive busy-ness Many people see these symptoms as the problem and try [...]

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Aftereffects of Childhood Abuse: Shame

Feelings of shame is another hallmark aftereffect of childhood abuse. I have never met an abuse survivor who did not struggle with feelings of shame before healing. While I no longer feel shame, I used to live my life with a cloud of shame hovering over me at all times. I was ashamed of being [...]

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Aftereffects of Childhood Abuse: Trust Issues

Having issues with trusting others is a hallmark aftereffect of childhood abuse. I have yet to meet an abuse survivor who did not suffer from issues with trusting others. Many report the inability to trust anyone for anything, which is not entirely true, but as I mentioned in my previous post, Aftereffects of Childhood Abuse, [...]

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Aftereffects of Childhood Abuse

For most of my life, I had a lot of things “wrong” with me. I had no idea that these things were interrelated. My life was screaming the profile of an abuse survivor, but I had no idea. I just believed I was fundamentally f@#$ed in the head but did not understand why. One telltale [...]

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Positive Coping Tools: Yoga & Meditation

Yoga and meditation were, and continue to be, very powerful healing tools for me. Now that I have healed the wounds from my childhood, these tools continue to help me grow into a continually more functional and at-peace person. I am talking about these tools together because they really are part of the same process. [...]

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Positive Coping Tools: Visualization

Visualization is a powerful healing tool that I do not see used nearly often enough. My intuition drew me toward using this tool: I do not recall reading about it anywhere. Adding visualization to your healing toolbox will be very useful along your healing journey. What do I mean by visualization? Let me explain by [...]

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Positive Coping Tools: Therapy

I cannot emphasize this strongly enough: If you are just beginning your healing journey, find a qualified therapist with experience in counseling people with your particular history. The healing process is grueling, and it is very, very hard to heal without a therapist helping you along. I was in the process of waiting to adopt [...]

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