Posted by shadows721 on April 23, 2004, at 18:02:07
In reply to Re: Sex abuse - effect even if not realized?, posted by spoc on April 19, 2004, at 19:40:58
If it's sexual abuse, yes, it will affect a person. One may not have been "traumatized" by it, but it did affect them. It shapes who they are today.
Here an example: *poss. trigger*
A four year old goes in a store with her mom. She is in the toy section and sees a man behind her exposing himself to her. He follows her around the store. The child never tells her mom.
Yes, there will be an effect from this. The feelings shut down. The child does what it can at the time. Later in life, this young woman may go into stores and get scared for no reason. The reason is the "feelings" are being felt as an adult. Of course, there are other problems that may arise from this scenerio. Like, the woman may feel scared if she sees a man in a store and doesn't know why. To the child inside, stores, men and maybe even toys are considered not safe.
Even though, this child was never touched or told anything. This defiantly affected this child. Most sexual abuse victims shut down. They may remember things, but they still shut down some part of themselves. As for this woman, the child in her remembers how altimately scary this was to be stalked by a man exposing himself.
In this case, it was fear and domination. But, in others situations, it may have been enjoyment. This can lead to shame, panic attacks, revictimization, or anger problems later in life.
If the effect is not cognitively realized, it went into a form of denial for protection.
That's my thoughts.
poster:shadows721
thread:336255
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040419/msgs/339299.html