It is no secret that childhood abuse in the past can affect a survivor’s mental health in the present. Though everyone’s responses to trauma are different, understanding how childhood sexual abuse impacts the brain and survivors’ mental health is an important first step in healing from traumatic events involving abuse.
What is trauma?
According to the American Psychological Association, trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event. These emotional responses can vary, though some key characteristics that someone is suffering from trauma related to childhood sexual abuse are as follows:
- An increase in nightmares and/or other sleeping difficulties
- Withdrawn behavior
- Angry outbursts
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Not wanting to be left alone with a particular individual(s)
- Sexual knowledge, language, and/or behaviors that are inappropriate for the child’s age
These behaviors and their severity are dependent on a number of factors, including the child’s age when they were abused, how long the abuse continued, and if there are other adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), like parental drug use or domestic violence, in the home. These factors can intensify characteristics brought on by childhood trauma and make the behavioral coping mechanisms more severe.
What is the impact on a survivor’s mental health?
The long-term consequences of childhood abuse can be devastating. Though a majority of child abuse occurs inside the home, sexual abuse perpetrated by community leaders often involves an adult grooming a child and the child’s family in order to hide the abuse. Often involving isolating a vulnerable child, currying favor with the child’s guardian, and forging a bond of trust between the abuser and victim, grooming can keep abuse hidden for years and can even prevent the victim from seeking justice against their abuser. Grooming and other emotional manipulations can traumatize a victim for decades and make it difficult for them to forge healthy relationships with others in the future.
Survivors of childhood sexual abuse also have to cope with mental illnesses like depression, anxiety, PTSD, and behaviors such as substance abuse at higher rates than their non-abused peers. These mental health struggles can lead to drug addiction issues, homelessness, and an increased likelihood of being victimized again in the future. In addition, many studies have also identified numerous physical health consequences of childhood sexual abuse which can shorten the lifespan of survivors.
What can survivors do?
Oftentimes, survivors of childhood sexual abuse feel intense shame about their experiences. For decades this shame was weaponized by powerful institutions and individuals that kept the blame off the abuser on the victim. Survivors were shamed further when they would attempt to seek mental health treatment for the trauma they endured. These feelings of shame are misguided and often are influenced by the societal stigma surrounding mental health and mental health treatment. At Healthy Within, we examine the brain and the conditions that influence it like trauma, depression, and PTSD in the same way physical conditions are examined and treated.
Find more information on how Healthy Within can help you cope with childhood trauma here.
