PSYCHOLOGICAL AFFECTS OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE As a child, there are a lot of things you look forward to. As a child I never had a worry in the world and most of my friends didn’t either. No one ever considers the fact that their child could ever be sexually abused, because most of the time there are no signs to it. A child can be abused in many ways but in my opinion I think sexual abuse is the worst. Child sexual abuse will effects a child for the rest of their lives. Sexual abuse has many long term and short term effects. Sexual abuse involves forcing, tricking, threatening or pressuring a child into sexual awareness or activity. Sexual abuse can be physical, verbal or emotional, and occurs when an older or more knowledgeable child or adult uses a child for sexual pleasure. The abuse often begins gradually and increases over time. It can include sexual touching and fondling or exposing children to adult sexual activity including pornographic movies and photographs. When a kid is sexually abused they can often have trust issues with adults and that is why most wait until they are older to tell people that they were sexually abused. Abusers have been known to tell children that it is the fault of the child that they are abused, shifting the blame away from the abuser and making the child think that they are the ones doing something wrong. Along with this, abusers may threaten or bribe the child into not speaking up. They try convincing the child that no one will ever believe them. The bribes may continue as the child gets older too, maybe giving them money for new things that their parents won’t buy them just so they will continue to keep their mouths shut. Children are taught not to question authority and they believe that adult... ... middle of paper ... ...st circumstances the victim never discussed the abuse with others while it was occurring. Many survivors don’t remember the abuse until years after it happened and may never be able to clearly recall it. After being triggered by a memory, this individual learns how to deal with the effects of the abuse after they’ve entered adulthood. I say this because the only treatment that could help them even begin to deal with this problem is to discuss it with a therapist or counselor of some sort. This way they can get tips of coping with their guilt or shame they may feel from it. Just remember, if you’ve been sexually abused as a child, you are not alone. In fact, 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys is a victim of child sexual abuse. Remember, this is only the sexual abuse that gets reported. Every year there are thousands upon thousands of sexual abuse cases that go unreported.
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.
Being molested can really take a toll on a person and can also bring out the worst in a person. Different ages go through different outcomes. Age 9 and up experience so much and much more than younger kids do. Outcomes are depression, nightmare, sleep disturbance , poor school performance, promiscuity, substance abuse ,aggression, running away from home , fear of attack recurring, eating disturbance, early pregnancy, early marriage, suicidal gestures, anger about being forced into a situation beyond one’s control, psuedo (not genuine) mature behaviors stress,Unwillingness to submit to physical examination, withdrawal and mistrust of adults, difficulty relating to others except in sexual or seductive ways,unusual interest in or avoidance of all things sexual or physical,refusal to go to the doctor, neurotic reactions (obsessions, compulsiveness, phobias), unusual sexual knowledge or behavior, prostitution,Forcing sexual acts on other children,extreme fear of being touched, and early trauma changes to the brain. Those outcomes could be life threatening to a person. Molestation can extend far beyond childhood. “sexual Abuse” creates a loss of trust feeling of guilt self abusive behavior, it can lead to antisocial behavior identity confusion where questions will pop up in your head like am i gay does this mean i like boys/girls now since this has happen to? sexual confusion doesn 't always happen but it can happen to a
Child abuse is a serious issue in today's society. Many people have been victims of child abuse. There are three forms of child abuse: physical, emotional, and sexual. Many researchers believe that sexual abuse is the most detremental of the three. A middle-aged adult who is feeling depressed will probably not relate it back to his childhood, but maybe he should. The short-term effects of childhood sexual abuse have been proven valid, but now the question is, do the long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse affect middle-aged adults? Many contradicting views arise from the subject of childhood sexual abuse. Researchers and psychologists argue on this issue. Childhood sexual abuse has the potential to damage a child physically, emotionally, and behaviorally for the rest of his or her childhood, and the effects have been connected to lasting into middle-aged adulthood.
Ever since it was thought of by psychologist Sigmund Freud the topic has been a debatable one for some time now with critics on both sides arguing over its validity. Many psychologists have claimed that the research is preposterous and impossible to prove. One researcher in particular, Dr. Richard J. McNally, is quoted in an article saying, “The notion that traumatic events can be repressed and later recovered is the most pernicious bit of folklore ever to infect psychology and psychiatry” (Media Report). In the past 30 years individuals have begun coming forth claiming that they were victims of childhood sexual abuse, CSA, years prior to sharing with media. The victims claimed that they had not recalled the abuse until recently and had been repressing the memory of it. Ever since then researchers have been looking for answers in...
The victims often times do not report that they are being abused for many reasons. Children are often abused by people they know. The people who are supposed to take care of them are the ones that end up hurting them. One can only imagine the amount of distrust a child can grow for anyone, if their own family can abuse them. The lack of trust for authority figures is a barrier that children face when reporting their abuse. The shame and blame that the victims put on their selves is also a barrier. They might feel ashamed by what has been done to them. Children may also feel like they deserve the abuse because they are "bad." Even when children break through all these barriers and manage to tell an adult, there are instances where they are not believed. The adult may do nothing with this information and the child loses more hope in ever being saved. The adult may not report the abuse because they are not comfortable with the situation. This leads to even more underreporting.
...e child emotionally and physically and is perhaps the hardest to overcome, because of the significant impact it has on the child it will affect the way they behave for the rest of their life. Without good counselling a child that has been sexually harmed will often have a severe negative body image of themselves, leading to them to distrust people and cover themselves up as much as they can, or they feel the need to seek approval of their image and may go the entire opposite way; looking for attention and doing whatever it takes to obtain it. Either way this leads them on a dangerous road and many times it doesn’t have a happy ending.
Child Abuse is something that children all around the world have to deal with every day. Child abuse can cause physical and mental affects on a child. It occurs very frequently and can happen for many different reasons. There is a law now stating that reporting child abuse is mandatory and you should report it immediately. There are thousands of child abuse victims every year. The abuse usually can leave permanent damage on the rest of the child's life. Child abuse is a very serious crime, and affects children everyday with positive and negative affects.
This paper outlines the consequences of child sexual abuse (CSA) based on the examination of results from multiple researches previously fulfilled concerning the psychological and physical impact of this crime, information of statistics, warning signs detected, victims’ performances, and emotional state. Sexual abuse causes severe trauma on child victims that will last for the course of their lives, therefore it is critical to identify and improve the therapeutic methods utilized to treat CSA survivors.
Child abuse, while having many different forms and levels of severity, can be basically defined as the maltreatment of a child by a parent or other adult. When one thinks of child abuse, usually the first thing that comes to mind is physical harm, but the issue is actually much more complex. The abuse of a child can also be manifested in verbal and emotional forms, as well as in sexual molestation. All forms of child abuse generally result in similar emotional disorders and behavioral issues, but the major consequences of sexual abuse, such as mental or emotional scarring, promiscuity, and the tendency of former victims to become sexual abusers, cause it to be the most severely damaging form of child abuse.
For many victims of sexual assault, they are too scared to report the incident. They don’t want their families to know what happened to them and they feel ashamed. Some victims feel that nobody will believe them so they don’t feel like telling anybody will help. According to the Journal of American College Health, only about 28% of sexual assault victims seek healthcare assistance after being sexually assaulted (Sable 158). Many victims try to hid the incident, but by trying to hide something so traumatic they start to have mental and phyiscal problems.
According to an article from Psychology Today, “Studies show that one in four girls and one in eight boys are sexually abused before the age of 18, and that approximately one in 20 children are physically abused each year.” Child abuse is a very real issue that affects many children. In many cases, the abuse can go unreported and sometimes children do not even know they are being abused. A lot of abused children do not receive the help they need which can cause many issues for them in the long run. Some of these issues could involve depression, decreased mental state, suicide, and much more.
The effects of child abuse are multiple. The pain and trauma the abused child goes through is just a small part of how this cauldron of hidden depravity in our society affects all of us. Wrecked lives can be seen in persons of all ages and in all walks of life. Society as a whole is also effected by child abuse both in negative and positive ways. In this essay I will present some of the factor and results of this violent behavior on individuals as well as our culture.
It is most important to understand that children and teens of all racial, religious, ethnic, gender and age groups, at all socio-economic levels are sexually abused. Although there are risk factors that may increase the possibility of sexual abuse, sex abuse can be found in all types of families, communities, and cultures (The Scope of, 2016). Childhood sexual abuse is an important issue to address because the impact of sexual does not end when the abuse ends. Childhood trauma follows into adulthood and can have long-range effects. “Survivors of sexual abuse are at significantly greater risks for severe and chronic mental health issues, including alcoholism, depression, anxiety, PTSD and high risk behaviors” (The Scope Of, 2016). Victims may experience traumatic sexualization, or the shaping of their sexuality in “developmentally inappropriate” and “interpersonally dysfunctional” ways (Effects of Child, 2012). “A child who is the victim of prolonged sexual abuse usually develops low self-esteem, a feeling of worthlessness and an abnormal or distorted view of sex. The child may become withdrawn and mistrustful of adults, and can become suicidal” (Effects of Child, 2012). Overall, the effects and impact of childhood sexual abuse are long lasting and do not diminish when the abuse ends, their childhood trauma follows them into
One of the most obvious and damaging results of child abuse is death; however, research illustrating the effects on a growing child who has been abused has demonstrated many other lifelong negative factors (Felitti, Anda, Nordenberg, Williamson, Spitz, Edwards, Koss, Marks, 1998). In consonance children who suffer from abuse can show signs of depression, social withdraw, and even violent behavior. As a child grows older, they may suffer from poor physical health, such as high blood pressure, obesity, stress, and psychological disorders and disabilities (Herronkohl, T., Hong, Klika, and Herronkohl, R., 2013). Child abuse and neglect have also been associated with depression, anger disorders, and post-traumatic
Child abuse is a very serious problem that continues to happen all over the world. The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, defines child abuse as a failure to act as a parent or caregiver which results in physical/emotional harm, sexual abuse, and in some cases death. There are many different types of child abuse such as emotional, physical, neglect, and sexual. With each type of abuse there are warning signs you can spot before it is too late. When a child is abused there is a huge possibility that it can cause them to have many long term effects.