Posted by Wittgenstein on September 30, 2007, at 19:51:14
In reply to Re: horrible things.. triggers and more, posted by rskontos on September 30, 2007, at 18:08:27
Dory,
All abuse is essentially 'mental' - neglect and physical/sexual abuse might leave physical scars but long after any physical impact has healed it is the mental scars that remain with us. Personally, having experienced emotional and physical 'abuse' (and abuse is also a word I find hard to use and accept), the emotional sticks with me far more vividly than the physical - I can 'forget' the physical more easily - and for me it was the emotional side of the physical that hurts me now.
I think a lot of people, regardless of the particular form of abuse, have big problems coming to accept that it was abuse - that it wasn't their fault. You see, to accept such things is to challenge many long-standing beliefs. We essentially assume our parents are 'good' - we have to. So we live with this illusion and fit our experiences to it - which can lead us to assume we are bad and deserving of abuse/neglect. In therapy, now everything is being put on its head and that can be extremely confronting and distressing.
I'm sorry you are having such a hard time of this Dory, but this is part of the process. At some point you will be able to accept what happened to you, that it was real and that it wasn't your fault.
Witti
poster:Wittgenstein
thread:785960
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20070929/msgs/786139.html