Category: Sexual Abuse
The Good Therapy Blog
December 14th, 2010 |
Let’s face it. Compared to gays and lesbians, straight people have it easy when it comes to the practical nuts and bolts of relationships and marriage. They go to school, find a job, fall in love, get married, have kids, send them to college, retire to Boca Raton and call it a day. The path is well trodden, worn into place by generations of “traditional” couples who have set the cultural standard. Even divorce and the minutia of dissolving a relationship are spelled out in great detail by the legal system in each state.
From an emotional and interpersonal perspective, being in... Read More
November 23rd, 2010 |
“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” - Louisa May Alcott
There is a multitude of ways to work through stuck places. I use the phrase “stuck places” here as an umbrella under which all reasons people enter into therapy may be categorized. Our reasons are stated in the many and various ways we speak of our particular motivation for calling a therapist. These can range from individual to relationship issues, anxiety to depression, phobias to addictions, loss of identity to gender identity issues, PTSD to Bipolar Disorder….. a longer list of issues or circumstances... Read More
November 8th, 2010 |
A GoodTherapy.org News Summary
Perceptions of therapy and counseling are not without stereotype, and one of the most common misconceptions is that therapists will always blame an issue on the patients’ parents. While this is certainly an over-reach, it’s well documented that things we experience in our childhood do impact how we experience the world from there forward. This includes positive influences such as hobbies and values, but also includes psychological baggage from particularly traumatic experiences. Understanding the connections between childhood trauma and adult mental health... Read More
© Copyright 2010 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist San Antonio Bureau - All Rights Reserved.
November 5th, 2010 |
When November arrives, depression is not far behind. Something about the turn of the season, less daylight, less outdoor activities, the holiday bustle nudging its way back into consciousness can make some people turn inward and find deep dissatisfaction in their lives. Deep dissatisfaction can show up as a persistent weight pulling you down. Sometimes it is hard to get out of bed, to do anything. Most people are able to cope with these feelings by ‘pushing through’ or ‘acting as if’ they are feeling alright. Enrolling in new classes, filling calendars with arts, sports, theater, shopping... Read More
November 2nd, 2010 |
A GoodTherapy.org News Summary
It is well-documented that sexual abuse, especially during childhood, is one of the traumatic life experiences that make a person far more likely to suffer symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder later down the line. Psychotherapists and counselors regularly work with people who have spent their whole lives responding, both psychologically and emotionally, to the abuse they suffered years and decades earlier. In addition to treating abuse survivors for their current conditions, therapists and mental health professionals can also learn from abuse survivors to... Read More
© Copyright 2010 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Nashville Bureau - All Rights Reserved.
November 2nd, 2010 |
Recent interest in sexual addiction has drawn attention to a variation called Sexual Anorexia. Also called sexual “acting in,” sexual anorexia is characterized by a severe aversion sexual contact and the obsessive avoidance of sex. Other signs of sexual anorexia include:
-shame and loathing after sex
-rigid, judgmental attitudes about sex
-excessive fear about sexually transmitted disease
-body distortion
-obsessive self-doubt
-self-destructive behaviors to limit, stop, or avoid sex
-episodes of sexually acting out or “bingeing.” Read More
October 19th, 2010 |
Since my last blog post several of you (all female) have logged onto my website and then called to express relief that I’m writing about something – women and pornography addiction – that many people and the popular media don’t recognize as a real problem. The Washington Times recently published results from a 2006 Internet Filter Review poll which found that 9.4 women access adult websites each month, and 13 percent of them admit to accessing pornography at work. And remember folks, this was 4 years ago!
Another sobering fact has surfaced as I continue to help women who have been... Read More
October 10th, 2010 |
A GoodTherapy.org News Summary
Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) and animal-assisted activities (AAA) are increasingly used to boost the benefits traditional psychotherapy and counseling. People from diverse backgrounds and facing a wide range of physical, emotional, and psychological struggles have found not only comfort, but also growth and healing through animal-assisted psychotherapy. The premise is simple: the bond between humans and animals reaches beyond words, and an animal’s presence can offer a powerful level of comfort... Read More
© Copyright 2010 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Oakland Bureau - All Rights Reserved.
September 30th, 2010 |
While many adults perceive kids to either be “too young to understand” or otherwise resilient in the face of serious situations, PTSD is surprisingly common. One in five children who have experienced a car accident, physical assault, sexual assault, a sports injury, or who have witnessed violence is likely to have serious trouble overcoming the experience. But a new approach, which works with both children and families, seeks to prevent PTSD by intervening in the time between the trauma itself and the onset of psychological distress.... Read More
© Copyright 2010 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Baltimore Bureau - All Rights Reserved.
September 9th, 2010 |
A GoodTherapy.org News Summary
Postnatal depression is well-known for mothers, but what about fathers? New research shows that both mothers and fathers can become depressed after their child is born. While the rates for men are lower than women across the board, depression peaks for both genders at the same time: within the first year after the child’s birth. The study looked at almost 87,000 families in the U.K. over a course of 14 years, and tracked parents’ reports of depression from the time of childbirth up... Read More
© Copyright 2010 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Rolling Hills Estates Bureau - All Rights Reserved.
September 3rd, 2010 |
In my practice, people trace depression back to trauma most of the time. Emotional trauma is an overwhelming shock to a person’s equilibrium. This may mean getting attacked emotionally, physically or sexually, or witnessing such attacks. It can happen in war, rape, murder, accidents, and even well-intentioned medical procedures. It can also happen in single or repeated incidents of shaming or emotional/verbal attack. It can even happen when heart-breaking losses of any kind occur.
When people are traumatized, it often shapes something they believe about themselves or about life. These trauma-induced... Read More
July 14th, 2010 |
Mayo Clinic recently released a report linking sexual abuse, at any age, with subsequent psychiatric trouble later in life. A number of major mental health issues are strongly associated with sexual abuse, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, sleep disorders, suicide attempts, and post-traumatic stress. Rape strengthens the likelihood that such conditions will develop. Interestingly, researchers also find that some people seem genetically predisposed to overcoming sexual abuse without developing major... Read More
© Copyright 2010 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Chapel Hill Bureau - All Rights Reserved.
July 8th, 2010 |
A GoodTherapy.org News Summary
The need for treatment after traumatic childhood experiences has been highlighted by two studies, released within weeks of one another, which draw striking connections between childhood hardship and serious behavioral and mental health problems later in life. The first, published in the open-access journal Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, looked at over 9,000 individuals aged 12-19 living in four different sub-Saharan African countries. This was one of the first studies to specifically address... Read More
© Copyright 2010 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Santa Monica Bureau - All Rights Reserved.
July 7th, 2010 |
As discussed in an earlier article, "How Trauma Impacts My Sense of 'Me-Ness'”, surviving a traumatic event often results in your beliefs about yourself becoming altered in a negative, harsher direction. Another reason that your sense of “me-ness” changes, due to a traumatic life experience, is that a traumatic event impacts your sense of worth, meaning, and trust.
After a traumatic experience you may believe that you are no longer worth anything. That you do not deserve things and do not have a right to have your needs met,... Read More
