Sexual abuse within the family

The consequences of these episodes of cruelty are more serious than those occurring outside the family.

Nowadays, child sexual abuse is becoming a scourge, with the consequences that this entails for the victims. Approximately 25% of girls suffer some type of abuse or sexual aggression before reaching adulthood, and in boys the statistic is approximately 16%. These are very high values that society often does not want to see or finds difficult to digest. Even so, both in books and in films and series, these topics are very well treated and I think that little by little there is beginning to be an awareness of all this.

But what is more difficult to accept is that the vast majority of these sexual abuses take place within the victim's family, which makes the traumawhich makes the trauma even more painful and difficult to overcome.

Sexual abuse within the family

In many occasions the people who abuse the child, are a father, a grandfather, an uncle, a cousin, a family friend, people close to the child, who gain the child's trust sometimes for years, to then use him/her and manipulate him/her, treating him/her as an object.

The psychological damage suffered by the victim of sexual abuse by a family member is tremendous, because not only does it have the consequences suffered by the victims of abuse by strangers, but also their trust is totally betrayed.. Not only is there the incomprehension of what happened, the social isolation, the feeling of being stigmatized or marked, but also the feeling that no one can be trusted and that no one will be able to offer help in a genuine way.

In addition, sexual abuse within the family does not usually occur through a single isolated event that does not happen again, but becomes a lifestyle that children can suffer for years, with the incongruity that the person who abuses may be the only one who actually pays attention to the victim at home, or is the same person who at the same time takes care of the victim when she is sick, feeds her, feeds her and continually tells her how much he loves her.

The psychological consequences

These are some of the consequences of sexual abuse:

• Concentration problems.
• Problems to integrate in the group of equals.
• Night terrors and fears in general.
• Serious self-esteem problems.
• Depersonalization.
• Anxiety attacks..
• Depression.
• Sexual problems.
• Problems in healthy bonding with other people.
• Eating disorders and problems in the perception of body image and body rejection.
• Addictive disorders: alcohol and drug use, compulsive gambling, kleptomania.
• Self-harm.
• Suicide attempts..
• Problems with impulse control.
• Possible development of personality disorders, such as BPD, avoidant disorder, emotional dependency disorder...
• Serious difficulties in self-care.
• Problems in relationships.
• Irritability.
• Sleep problems and strong nightmares.
• Difficulty in setting limits for others.
• Great social isolation.

After-effects in adulthood

In fact, I have only mentioned some of the repercussions that sexual abuse in childhood can have, especially when it has been committed by a family member, obviously the closer the family member, the worse it is. That is not to say that all victims have these symptoms.But surely if any victim is reading this article, he or she is probably identified by several of these points.

In addition, the fact that this symptomatology begins during the processes of abuse does not mean that it ceases when the abuse has disappeared, not even when the person reaches adulthood. In fact, it gives rise to problems that are dragging on, and that generally worsen with time and create new traumas that the person accumulates.

Even so, all this can be treated, but it is necessary to face the problem, to see that the symptomatology can be due to this and not to other causes that seem more superficial. Of course, it is everyone's job to help, to denounce, and to help heal people who in their own home have had to live in fear.