I found this paper when I was doing research into child sexual abuse and PTSD http://www.aifs.gov.au/acssa/pubs/researchsummary/ressum2/ressum2.pdf. I think it is interesting and useful.
I saw myself as a parent (when my children were very young) in several areas of this paper. I definitely wasn't emotionally stable part of the time. I was very immature and reactionary. Something I have talked about in other blog posts. I got involved in a domestic violent marriage and when I filed for divorce the first time I was 27, I got involved with another violent man. I also found it extremely scary to take control over my life. Of course I was dealing with PTSD, agoraphobia, and panic disorder. Which were all undiagnosed at the time.The consequence of prolonged early trauma is a “complex” disorder, sometimes referred to as a
“complex trauma response”. Among victims of childhood sexual and physical abuse, borderline
personality disorder complex and post-traumatic stress disorder are often overlapping diagnoses.
One of the things the paper doesn't cover is that when you survive extreme abuse as a child and your child becomes the age you were when you were being abused. Your mental health suffers terribly. This was part of my complex trauma issues. As my daughter hit 4 and 5 years old my PTSD and panic disorder was out of control a lot of the time. I didn't understand why this was happening. I didn't even know what my mental health issues were. It wasn't until I received the intensive cognitive behavioral treatment and therapy that I was able to understand what was happening. A lot made sense to me at that point. It also allowed me to learn new ways of coping which allowed me to distance myself from my past. This was imperative not only for me but for my daughter.
I knew that if I wanted to break the cycle of intergenerational abuse I had to be willing to get myself help. Get my children help and most importantly get out of the violent marriage. My children were 5 and 8 when I was able to finally get out of the violent marriage. I will carry guilt with me forever that I didn't get them out of that environment earlier. This guilt was very overwhelming at the beginning. It eased up as I got better and my children got better. They were able to see their mother change from a scared, emotionally charged, irrational person into a person; who took complete control and responsibility for her life, who went to college and got a bachelor's and a master's degree that went from very dysfunctional to very functional. Throughout all of this I never tried to convince my children that what they remembered didn't happen. One of the worst things that happens when you suffer multiple traumas as a child is that you are taught not to trust yourself. When I would tell Ruth things about being abused she always told me it was a bad dream or that it didn't happen. When you hear that long enough you believe it. I had to relearn how to trust that inner voice. In doing so it has enabled me to get far in my life. Learning where we come from is so important in preventing repeating cycles and creates better lives for children. Rosie
| Mothers with a history of childhood sexual abuse: key issues for child protection practice and policy |
It specifically examines the domains of mental health, intimate partner violence, substance abuse and homelessness and the overlap with a history of maternal childhood sexual abuse, highlighting the difficulties faced by these women when engaging with statutory and welfare agencies.
Key messages:
- Research highlights that a maternal history of childhood sexual abuse often underpins many of the complex issues that lead to compromised parenting capacities.
- The complex interplay of these issues in known as complex trauma, and is understood to have an impact on the capacity to provide empathic and consistent care, which inevitably impairs the mother-child relationship.
- Victim/survivors of childhood sexual abuse who become shared clients of child statutory agencies and allied health service providers are often difficult to engage in services due to issues of trust and safety.
- By expanding our understanding of the indirect effects of childhood sexual abuse in areas such as mental health, intimate partner violence, substance abuse and homelessness, we can become more informed of the stressors that affect some women's parenting capacities and create service responses that enhance their own lives and the lives of their children.
| Publication type | Report | ||||
| Publisher Type | Academic research centre, APO Member, Government or Gov agency | ||||
| Coverage | Australia | ||||
| Permanent URL | http://apo.org.au/node/29623 | ||||
| Views | 185 | http://apo.org.au/research/mothers-history-childhood-sexual-abuse-key-issues-child-protection-practice-and-policy?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter |
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