Childhood Abuse Essay

When I began working in this field many years ago, I was told that if I hadn't already picked a specialization, it would pick me. And that is exactly what happened.

I worked in a non-profit clinic where we had big caseloads, having to see many more people each week than one would ordinarily see in private practice. Within weeks I realized that a significant number of the people I met with had been abused as children. When I probed deeper with other clients, more of them revealed they had been abused - if not sexually, than emotionally or physically. I was drawn to these people. They felt like kindred spirits, because I too had come from an abusive past. And so, it became a logical decision to follow this path, and to make childhood abuse

And they grow up believing that they are bad - different - something is inherently wrong with them. At the same time, they are not taught healthy interactive behaviors or tools to use in society. So when they go out in the world, not only do they have trouble engaging in relationships, but when they do, they are apt to repeat the unhealthy behaviors that they were taught. If your primary role models in life were unhealthy adults, then how are you supposed to grow up and suddenly become a healthy adult yourself? You may have been born with good instincts. But you were forced not to listen to those instincts and just do whatever you had to do to

Being stuck is not a natural instinct. Therapy helps us to gain a perspective on how we behave, where those behaviors originated, and how they are hurting or hindering us now. People usually don't enter therapy unless they have run through all of their other coping devices. Their back is against a wall, and there is nowhere left to go but to change from within. Addictions no longer work. And by addictions, I don't just mean substance abuse, but any behavior that is repetitive and feels shameful or secret. Whether it is sex, food, spending money, self-abusing or abusing others, it is a coping devise, and it is