Along with the trust issues, one of the hardest parts to deal with is the feeling of not being believed or supported, especially by your own grandparents and extended family. When I have been through so much pain and hurt and have to live with the scars every day, I get angry knowing that others think it is all made up or they brush it off because my cousin was a teenager. I was ten when I was first sexually abused by my cousin, and a majority of my relatives have taken the perpetrator's side. I have cried many times about everything and how my relatives gave no support or love to me as a kid when this all came out. Not one relative ever came up to that innocent little girl I was and said I am sorry for what you went through or I am here for you. Instead they said hurtful things: Oh he was young. That is what kids do. It is not like he was some older man you didn't know. Why does age make a difference? It is a sick way of thinking. Sexual abuse is sexual abuse. What is wrong with this picture? It brings tears to my eyes the way my relatives have reacted to this and cannot accept the truth. Denial is where they would rather stay.

~ Erin Merryn

Erin Merryn Abuse Survivor Child Rape Child Sexual Abuse Child Sexual Abuse Survivor Coping Denial Disbelief Disclosure Dysfunctional Families Dysfunctional Family Family Incest Issues Lack Of Support Minimization Molest Molestation Molested Pedophile Protectors Rape Sexual Abuse Society Denial Survivor Triggers Trust

I am releasing my own demons of times gone by and seizing the opportunity to find my own corner, my own fortress, my own calm and peace. Life is not unfair... Life is good. In the end, you only have yourself to search for and find…

~ Trish Kaye Lleone

Trish Kaye Lleone Abuse Survivor Family Life Love Relationships

Naw, I say. Mr ____, can tell you, I don't like it at all. What is it to like? He git up on you, heist your nightgown round your waist, plunge in. Most times I pretend I ain't there. He never know the difference. Never ast me how I feel, nothing. Just do his business, get off, go to sleep.She start to laugh. Do his business, she say. Do his business. Why, Miss Celie. You make it sound like he going to the toilet on you.That's what it feel like, I say.She stop laughing.

~ Alice Walker

Alice Walker Abuse Survivor Direspect Humour Love Rape Relationship Sex Sexual Abuse

Being in a state of denial is auniversally human response tosituations which threaten tooverwhelm. People who were abusedas children sometimes carry theirdenial like precious cargo without aport of destination. It enabled us tosurvive our childhood experiences, and often we still live in survival mode decades beyond the actual abuse. We protect ourselves to excess because we learned abruptly and painfully that no one else would.

~ Sarah E. Olson

Sarah E. Olson Abuse Survivor Child Abuse Defense Defense Mechanism Denial Protection Psychology Repression Secret Secret History Self Protection Survival Survivor Trauma Traumatic Memories Traumatic Stress Victim

This book is dedicated to those who have died as a result of mind control and/or ritual abuse, and those who have lived when they would rather have died.

~ Alison Miller

Alison Miller Abuse Abuse Survivor Death Mind Control Psychology Recovery Ritual Abuse Sra Suicidal Suicide Survivor Therapy Victim

Sounds of depression remembering rejection Hope turns to despair black roses everywhereKeep hearing echoes voices in my mind repeating endless lies evil in disguise

~ Diana Rasmussen

Diana Rasmussen Abuse Survivor Depression Domestic Abuse Domestic Violence Recovery Women

When I deny the seriousness of my abuse I agree with my abuser and those who wouldn't acknowledge it. When I am in denial, I have the tendency to minimize my abuse, believe the lies others have said, as well as deny it ever happened. It is important for me to remember as much detail as I can so I can trust my own perceptions of what really happened and not depend on the validations from others.

~ Patty Hite

Patty Hite Abuse Abuse Survivor Child Abuse Denial Deny Healing Minimise Perception Recovery Survivor Trust

The bottom line was that I was in an abusive relationship.

~ Shannon Celebi

Shannon Celebi Abuse Abuse Survivor Bottom Line Relationship Relationship Quotes Relationships

I am building a healthy support system and learning to use it readily.

~ Maureen Brady

Maureen Brady Abuse Survivor Boundaries Healing Healthy Relationships Psyche Sexual Abuse Healing Sharing Soul Journey Support Support Group Support System

Survivors often develop an exaggerated need for control in their adult relationships. It’s the only way they feel safe. They also struggle with commitment—saying yes in a relationship means being trapped in yet another family situation where abuse might take place. So the survivor panics as her relationship gets closer, certain that something terrible is going to happen. She pulls away, rejects, or tests her partner all the time.

~ Laura Davis

Laura Davis Abuse Abuse Survivor Anxiety Control Family Fear Healing Panic Reject Rejection Relationship Problems Relationships Survivor Trapped Trauma

The very first part in healing is shattering the silence

~ Erin Merryn

Erin Merryn Abuse Survivor Child Abuse Child Sexual Abuse Erin Merryn Healing Sexual Abuse Silence Trigger Warning

Imagine the message that sent to my sister and me. A cousin violates us, confesses, and walks away with barely a slap on the wrist. I learned at a young age that if I was ever going to see justice for the wrongs done to me, I had to find it myself.

~ Erin Merryn

Erin Merryn Abuse Survivor Awareness Child Rape Child Rapist Child Sexual Abuse Child Sexual Abuse Survivor Crime Incest Injustice Inspirational Juvenile Delinquency Rape Rape Culture Rape Of A Child Rape Survivor Raped Sexual Abuse Trigger Violation

He beat me when you not here, I say.Who do, she say, Albert?Mr ____, I say.I can't believe it, she say. She sit down on the bench next to me real hard, like she drop.What he beat you for? she ast.For being me and not you.

~ Alice Walker

Alice Walker Abuse Abuse Survivor Envy Jealousy Violence Wife Beater

I lived through this horror, and no one can tell me I have to stay quiet.I have been silenced long enough, and I will not allow that family to silence me again. I will continue to speak out and make sure my voice is heard.

~ Erin Merryn

Erin Merryn Abuse Survivor Child Abuse Survivor Empowerment Inspirational Rape Rape Culture Speak Out Trigger

It all I can do not to cry. I make myself wood I say to myself, Celie, you a tree. That's how I come to know trees fear man.

~ Alice Walker

Alice Walker Abuse Abuse Survivor Change Comfort Defence Dehumanisation Persona Tree Wood

While a psychiatric diagnosis can serve a purpose in treatment plans, it should not become a tool to discredit a person's disclosure of abuse.

~ Lee Ann Hoff

Lee Ann Hoff Abuse Survivor Disclosing Disclosure Discredit Mental Disorders Mental Health Stigma Mental Illness Mental Illness Stigma Psychiatric Disorders Ptsd Survivors Survivors Of Abuse

Victims”, by definition, are those that have just experienced a trauma of some sort. They are going through an entire array of emotions and circumstances that are happening to them internally and/or externally. They are trying to wrap their mind around what just happened to them. They are trying to regain some sort of balance in their mind. They feel violated, cheated, confused, scared, insecure, ashamed, guilty, impotent and at a loss for words/actions/thoughts. Many times, they even feel numb and in shock. Their mind is in a state of crisis and chaos. They are in the “victim stage”. They are truly a “victim” by definition.

~ Melisa Mel

Melisa Mel Abuse Survivor Abused An Encouraging Role Model Ashamed By Definition Cheated Confused Drugs Guilty Insecure Rape Victim Rape Vivtims Readied Scared Traumatized Using Crutches I E Alcohol Victim Victim Mentality Victimhood Victimized Victims Victims

There is so much that is still silent between Jaja and me. Perhaps we will talk more with time, or perhaps we never will be able to say it all, to clothe things in words, things that have long been naked.

~ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Abuse Survivor Siblings Speech

At times I am flabbergasted that my memory is considered false and my alcoholic father's memory is considered rational and sane. Am I not believed because I am a woman? If Peter Freyd were a man who lived in my neighborhood during my childhood instead of my father, would he and his wife be so believable? If not, what is it about his status as my father that makes him more credible?

~ Jennifer J. Freyd

Jennifer J. Freyd Abuse Survivor Child Sexual Abuse Child Sexual Abuse Survivor Crazy Making Emotional Abuse False Memories False Memory False Memory Myth False Memory Syndrome False Memory Syndrome Campaign False Memory Syndrome Foundation False Memory Syndrome Society Gender Bias Gender Inequality Gender Inequality Quotes Gender Stereotypes Incest Parental Abuse Parental Authority Patriarchy Rape Culture Rape Of A Child Sexism Society Denial Stigma Survivor Survivors Of Abuse

While my sister and I were reminded we did not cause this pain, it was knowing that because we broke our silence about what had been done to us, our parents were hurting. That knowledge was hard on us.

~ Erin Merryn

Erin Merryn Abuse Survivor Child Abuse Child Sexual Abuse Empathy Family Pain Pain In Others Survivor Sympathy Trigger