...repeated trauma in childhood forms and deforms the personality. The child trapped in an abusive environment is faced with formidable tasks of adaptation. She must find a way to preserve a sense of trust in people who are untrustworthy, safety in a situation that is unsafe, control in a situation that is terrifyingly unpredictable, power in a situation of helplessness. Unable to care for or protect herself, she must compensate for the failures of adult care and protection with the only means at her disposal, an immature system of psychological defenses.

~ Judith Lewis Herman

Judith Lewis Herman Abuse Survivors Abused Child Abusive Parents Betrayal Betrayal Trauma Child Abuse Complex Ptsd Coping Defense Mechanism Helpelessness Out Of Control Overwhelmed Overwhelming Parental Abuse Personality Personality Disorders Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Powerlessness Psychological Defence Ptsd Terrifying Trauma Traumatic Experiences Traumatized Trust Unsafe Untrustworthy

She's terrified that all these sensations and images are coming out of her — but I think she's even more terrified to find out why. Carla's description was typical of survivors of chronic childhood abuse. Almost always, they deny or minimize the abusive memories. They have to: it's too painful to believe that their parents would do such a thing.

~ David L. Calof

David L. Calof Abuse Abuse Survivors Abusive Childhood Abusive Parents Avoidance Child Abuse Child Rape Childhood Abuse Defense Mechanism Denial Denial Of Abuse Denial Of Child Abuse Denial Of Incest Dissociated Amnesia Dissociative Amnesia Fear Of Truth Flashback Flashbacks Healing Healing Abuse Healing From Abuse Healing Insights Incest Intrusive Minimization Minimizing Minimizing Issues Parental Abuse Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Psychological Defence Ptsd Reliving The Past Sadistic Abuse Subconscious Subconscious Mind Survivors Trauma Memories Traumatic Experiences Traumatic Memories Traumatized

Shame evokes anxiety about what will happen if someone really knows is, but, because it is impossible to for anxiety and anger to be felt simultaneously, we can dream our anxiety by employing anger or rage in the form of contempt... Contempt, because it feels more powerful has always helped us feel safer and more powerful than the anxiety we feel when we experience shame. [3]

~ Wendy J. Mahill

Wendy J. Mahill Abuse Survivors Ashamed Avoidance Contempt Healing Insights Psychological Defence Self Contempt Shame

A refusal on the part of psychiatrists and therapists to validate the horrors of their patients' tortured past implies a refusal to take seriously the unconscious psychological mechanisms that individuals need to use to protect themselves from the unspeakable. Such a denial is, however, no longer ethical, for it is in the human capacity to dissociate that lies part of the secret of both childhood abuse and the horrors of the Nazi genocide, both forms of human violence so often carried out by 'respectable' men and women.

~ Felicity De Zulueta

Felicity De Zulueta Abuse Deniers Abuse Survivors Child Abuse Childhood Abuse Complex Ptsd Denial Denial Of Child Abuse Dissociate Dissociation Dissociative Dissociative Disorders Dissociative Identity Disorder Genocide Hidden Pain Horror Of Incest Horror Of War Ignore What Is Wrong Invalidation Misdiagnosis Mpd Nazis Not Serious Psychiatrists Psychiatry Psychological Defence Psychologists Ptsd Respectable Men Respectable Women Society Denial Survivors Survivors Of Abuse Therapists Torture Survivors Traumatized Unethical