Voltar

...repeated trauma in childhood forms and deforms the personality. The child trapped in an abusive environment is faced with formidable tasks of adaptation. She must find a way to preserve a sense of trust in people who are untrustworthy, safety in a situation that is unsafe, control in a situation that is terrifyingly unpredictable, power in a situation of helplessness. Unable to care for or protect herself, she must compensate for the failures of adult care and protection with the only means at her disposal, an immature system of psychological defenses.

Judith Lewis Herman , em Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
out-of-control trust betrayal personality child-abuse coping trauma defense-mechanism personality-disorders abuse-survivors post-traumatic-stress-disorder ptsd posttraumatic-stress-disorder unsafe powerlessness overwhelmed traumatic-experiences overwhelming abused-child traumatized untrustworthy complex-ptsd terrifying abusive-parents parental-abuse betrayal-trauma helpelessness psychological-defence

She's terrified that all these sensations and images are coming out of her — but I think she's even more terrified to find out why." Carla's description was typical of survivors of chronic childhood abuse. Almost always, they deny or minimize the abusive memories. They have to: it's too painful to believe that their parents would do such a thing.

David L. Calof
healing abuse incest denial child-abuse survivors defense-mechanism subconscious abuse-survivors childhood-abuse post-traumatic-stress-disorder ptsd posttraumatic-stress-disorder fear-of-truth subconscious-mind avoidance healing-abuse healing-insights denial-of-child-abuse healing-from-abuse traumatic-experiences traumatized child-rape abusive-childhood minimization abusive-parents parental-abuse flashback flashbacks trauma-memories intrusive denial-of-abuse traumatic-memories dissociative-amnesia psychological-defence reliving-the-past minimizing denial-of-incest dissociated-amnesia minimizing-issues sadistic-abuse

Carla's description was typical of survivors of chronic childhood abuse. Almost always, they deny or minimize the abusive memories. They have to: it's too painful to believe that their parents would do such a thing. So they fragment the memories into hundreds of shards, leaving only acceptable traces in their conscious minds. Rationalizations like "my childhood was rough," "he only did it to me once or twice," and "it wasn't so bad" are common, masking the fact that the abuse was devastating and chronic. But while the knowledge, body sensations, and feelings are shattered, they are not forgotten. They intrude in unexpected ways: through panic attacks and insomnia, through dreams and artwork, through seemingly inexplicable compulsions, and through the shadowy dread of the abusive parent. They live just outside of consciousness like noisy neighbors who bang on the pipes and occasionally show up at the door.

David L. Calof , em The Couple Who Became Each Other: Stories of Healing and Transformation from a Leading Hypnotherapist
healing abuse incest denial addiction child-abuse insomnia mental-illness nightmares mental-health survivor survivors defense-mechanism alcoholism subconscious abuse-survivors childhood-abuse ptsd dissociation self-protection panic-attacks rationalization fear-of-truth avoidance healing-abuse healing-insights dread denial-of-child-abuse effects-of-child-abuse healing-from-abuse traumatic-experiences incestuous conscious-awareness traumatized mental-disorder fragmented child-rape alcohol-addiction abusive-childhood abusive-parent minimization abusive-parents parental-abuse irrational-fears flashback flashbacks trauma-memories intrusive trauma-memory denial-of-abuse dissociative-disorder traumatic-memories compulsive-behavior dissociative-amnesia psychological-defence minimizing body-memories denial-of-incest dissociated-amnesia minimizing-issues sadistic-abuse bad-childhood compulsions compulsive-eating compulsive-overeating intrusions seemingly-inexplicable-behavior sex-addition

Shame evokes anxiety about what will happen if someone really knows is, but, because it is impossible to for anxiety and anger to be felt simultaneously, we can dream our anxiety by employing anger or rage in the form of contempt... Contempt, because it feels more powerful has always helped us feel safer and more powerful than the anxiety we feel when we experience shame. [3]

Wendy J. Mahill , em Growing a Passionate Heart
shame contempt ashamed abuse-survivors avoidance healing-insights self-contempt psychological-defence

A refusal on the part of psychiatrists and therapists to validate the horrors of their patients' tortured past implies a refusal to take seriously the unconscious psychological mechanisms that individuals need to use to protect themselves from the unspeakable. Such a denial is, however, no longer ethical, for it is in the human capacity to dissociate that lies part of the secret of both childhood abuse and the horrors of the Nazi genocide, both forms of human violence so often carried out by 'respectable' men and women.

Felicity De Zulueta , em From Pain to Violence: The Traumatic Roots of Destructiveness
denial child-abuse psychiatry survivors psychologists therapists nazis abuse-survivors childhood-abuse ptsd dissociation dissociative society-denial survivors-of-abuse genocide invalidation denial-of-child-abuse traumatized psychiatrists unethical complex-ptsd torture-survivors horror-of-war misdiagnosis dissociative-identity-disorder dissociative-disorders mpd abuse-deniers respectable-men psychological-defence hidden-pain ignore-what-is-wrong horror-of-incest dissociate not-serious respectable-women