Child Sexual Abuse And Survivors

The effects of childhood sexual abuse carry on with the children forever. To what extent and to what effect does abuse have on children during adulthood? What are the main issues that adults have been abused suffer from in adulthood? Do they have more of a physical issue with preforming with their partner in the bedroom or do they have more of a mental block due to their trauma? The world had been asking these questions for far too long and we need answers on how helping the children of our world. The questions that have been stated have been answered through the two articles that will be summarized below.

I shadowed a social worker who was interviewing a mother coming from a polish background who's child had been referred to the social services by the school ,as being suspected of child abuse. Despite of the child's outstanding academic performance and his good overall appearance ,the boy in question disclosed to his teacher that he sometimes get smacked by his parents. When mother was questioned about the concerns raised, she said that in her culture this act wouldn't be considered as a form of abuse. She attributed her behaviour to her religious beliefs, to a collective understanding of her people about correction and discipline concept which is transmitted from generation to generation. Apart from the communication difficulties that occurred inevitably due to the mother's poor English, the social worker was not very confident in challenging the parents harmful practices which , especially when no visible signs of abuse or distress had not been

Every day children around the world are being abused by their parents, trusted adult, caregiver and peers. Children are constantly suffering when there are things that everyone as a community can do help them. Psychologists, social workers and the victims to childhood abuse have studied and worked together to establish precautionary measures to execute child abuse all together.

This paper reviews several articles that discuss the lasting effects that sexual abuse can have on a child into their adult years. The articles agree that victims of child sexual abuse (CSA) will most likely suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and/or experience revictimization. This paper will also address the common forms of coping that victims of child sexual abuse take part in. Some research will touch on proper healing techniques for victims of CSA to receive.

An estimated 39 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse exist in America today (Darness2Light, 2009a ). This figure continues to grow daily as perpetrators of this crime continue in this destructive path. The definition of child sexual abuse is the force, coercion, or cajoling of children into sexual activities by a dominant adult or adolescent. Sexual abuse of children includes touching (physical) sexually including: fondling; penetration (vaginal or anal using fingers, foreign objects or offenders organs; oral sex, or non-physical contact including: sexual comments; indecent exposures; masturbating in a child’s presence; child prostitution or child pornography (Child Welfare, 2009a).

Within the United States, child maltreatment is becoming more and more commonly reported as there is over 3 million reports each year. Due to the constant increase of child maltreatment reports, society has become more aware of the issue, which has led to awareness campaigns. (Payne, 87). Even with societies’ knowledge of such abuse there are still serval child maltreatment cases that are not reported. The children that are victims of maltreatment pertains any sort of harm to the child whether it is by injury, neglect, physical, emotional, or even sexual abuse by someone who holds a major role in the child’s life, a parent or guardian figure (“What is Child Abuse”).

As many as one in three females have experienced sexual abuse by the age of 18 (Russell, 1986). Many survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) experience negative psychological symptoms (Browne & Finkelhor, 1986; Kendall-Tackett, Williams, L. M., & Finkelhor, 1993). These women may later in life engage in relationships. The negative impact of sexual abuse could result in challenges faced by the relationship due to shame and difficulty with trust (Kochka & Carolan, 2002; MacIntosh & Johnson, 2008). CSA may also result in sexual challenges for the couple (Kochka & Carolan, 2002). Research has found that couples therapy can be of significance to the healing of the CSA survivor as well as functioning and growth in the relationship (Kochka &

Per the electronic files, the SSA only requested records from a crisis stabilization program facility, which did not provide any information. There was no indication that SSA attempted to obtain records from other sources such as primary care providers, Emergency Room records, school records, obstetrical or other specialist’s records.

Child sexual abuse is an ever-present, psychologically and physically damaging event that occurs daily to hundreds of children. Unfortunately, child sexual abuse is not going away any time soon and the lives of so many precious children are altered forever. These abused children often grow up to be psychologically damaged adults with emotional, cognitive and physical issues that may never be able to be conquered. Far too many adults live with the pain of their secret and it can be quite debilitating. Adults who were abused as children may have many problems in their

The changes a young adults body is going through puberty can already be stressful and even cause depression. Depression is having feelings of severe despondency and dejection. Some may even consider depression a disease. Depression is not unheard of in our society today. There are various stressors that can cause depression. Adolescents have a lot on their plate emotionally and physically. Stressors have a severe impact on adolescents, especially pubertal timing, family stressors and school stressors. Depression is so common, it often goes unnoticed, which can cause many health problems.

Victims can exhibit all sorts of mental and emotional reactions to the unwanted violation of assault. Mentally, the most common effects are PTSD, depression, and dissociation, all of which are not remediable overnight and ordinarily require outside help (Effects of Sexual Assault and Rape, 2017). Outside help includes speaking with a psychiatrist. However, the healing process is lengthened unnecessarily because it takes at least a year for 75% of child victims to tell someone what happened (The Assessment Center, 2016). For all ages, this waiting time before attempting to receive help serves the prevention of the healing process, thus prolonging the span of time spent in pain.

An adult who functions inappropriately in society victimizes a childhood sexual abuse victim. When the victim spirals into shame and guilt related to PTSD, as a child or an adult, their emotions and actions will affect the society they come into contact with. What is hoped to be understood is that childhood sexual abuse does not only effect the short term. Those that do not have a healthy relationship to turn to in order to disclose the abuse will come to an end where their daily life is consumed by guilt and shame.

Child abuse crosses all ethnic racial, cultural, and socioeconomic lines. According to Ramen & Hodes (2012), in today’s multicultural society, healthcare professionals are often faced with the challenge of “exploring and resolving the tension between definitions of harm in child protection practice and various cultural and child-rearing practices” (p. 30). For example, many

Child sexual abuse has been reported up to 80,000 times a year, but the number of unreported instances is far greater, because the children are afraid to tell anyone what has happened (American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry). Childhood sexual abuse is a traumatic experience affecting the lives of not only the victim, but those close to the victim as well. Many think there is only one person truly traumatized, but in fact, everyone involved is affected. The victim has to deal with their experience the rest of their lives. They may be more at risk for other mental issues as well, including depression. The family involved has to deal with its pain, often causing hardship and discord within the family. This is especially true

Although child abuse has soon become a more discussed issue, it is nothing new in today’s society. Dating back to ancient times, physical child abuse has always attributed to lives of people around the world. Approaching and understanding child mistreatment has changed as societies have modernized and progressed; whereas one thing remains an unalterable issue, child abuse happens constantly and continuously worldwide.