Chapter five Empirical research on childhood traumas

EXCERPT FROM http://www.drugtext.org/library/books/karsten/chapter5.htm

Chapter five Empirical research on childhood traumas

The incest traumas of the research subjects varied. Some were abused at a very young age, before they were four years old. Some were abused when they were ten or older. The application of force also varied, one research subjects was threatened with knives, others were mentally forced to keep the incest secret. Some research subjects who told other people about their experiences were not believed. One person was placed in a children's home when she told others about incest with her father.

In the majority of cases the incest was committed by the father or stepfather. In all cases the incest was experienced as traumatic.

 2.  A brother or sister was subjected to incest

Sexual abuse within a family causes psychological harm not only to the victim, but also to siblings who witness the sexual contact between brothers and mother (one research subject) or know that their brother or sister is victim of sexual abuse. One research subject knew that her father abused her sister, and discovered her sister in the act of trying to commit suicide. Another subject, who cared for father and sisters, in fact mothering them, was told when she was about fifteen by a sister that her father abused all her sisters. She felt completely betrayed by her father whom she loved very much and asked herself why he had not abused her and how it was possible that she had not known anything about it. She also felt betrayed by her sisters because they had not told her about it. Her whole former life felt like a lie and when she could no longer live with this reality she started to use drugs

http://www.drugtext.org/library/books/karsten/chapter5.htm

1   Incest by a parent/relative