Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk › Scientific
Description
Victims of sexual abuse are traumatised; the very nature of sexual abuse causes trauma, in that the abuser person uses the victim exclusively for his/her own ends, while disregarding the welfare of the victim. This trauma manifests itself in a variety of pervasive ways, which will be addressed in this article. The victim ends up in a desperate situation in which he/she was forced by a person with power or a person with whom he/she was in a close relationship (1). All traits of trauma (2) can be found in sexually abused persons: in their feelings and in the influence the abuse has on the innermost self (3). Trauma in early relationships make people vulnerable; they cannot defend themselves against the traumatizing characters anymore (4). This is why abused persons suffer from all consequences of trauma (5) and it takes a long time to regain a self-directed life (6).