The mental health system is filled with survivors of prolonged, repeated childhood trauma. This is true even though most people who have been abused in childhood never come to psychiatric attention. To the extent that these people recover, they do so on their own.[21] While only a small minority of survivors, usually those with the most severe abuse histories, eventually become psychiatric patients, many or even most psychiatric patients are survivors of childhood abuse.[22] The data on this point are beyond contention. On careful questioning, 50-60 percent of psychiatric inpatients and 40-60 percent of outpatients report childhood histories of physical or sexual abuse or both.[23] In one study of psychiatric emergency room patients, 70 percent had abuse histories.[24] Thus abuse in childhood appears to be one of the main factors that lead a person to seek psychiatric treatment as an adult.[25]

~ Judith Lewis Herman

Judith Lewis Herman Child Abuse Child Sexual Abuse Childhood Trauma Mental Health Mental Health System Metal Illness Physical Abuse Psychiatry Psychotherapy Survivors Survivors Of Abuse

Denial forces victims to retreat in lifeless existence, dieing in the shadows of buried trauma and painful memories.

~ Trudy Metzger

Trudy Metzger Child Sexual Abuse Denial Rape Rape Culture Sexual Abuse Sexual Assault Shame Society Denial Survivor Survivors Of Abuse Trauma Traumatic Experiences Traumatized Victim Victim Blaming

I can sit in denial of my life because in looking around I see how lucky I am to have survived it.

~ K. Farrell St. Germain

K. Farrell St. Germain Blessings Count Your Blessings Survivor Survivors Of Abuse

People who have survived atrocities often tell their stories in a highly emotional, contradictory and fragmented manner.

~ Judith Lewis Herman

Judith Lewis Herman Atrocities Ptsd Survivors Survivors Of Abuse Trauma Trauma Memories Traumatized

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

People may not realize the damage that they are doing by placing the blame on the victim ~ but that doesn't lessen the damage that they cause by doing it.

~ Darlene Ouimet

Darlene Ouimet Abuse Survivors Blame Blame The Victim Healing Insights Rape Rape Survivor Sexual Abuse Sexual Assault Survivors Survivors Of Abuse Victim Blaming

Many survivors struggle to believe the abuse happened. They don’t want to believe it. It’s too painful to think about. They don’t want to accuse family members or face the terrible loss involved in realizing “a loved one” hurt them, they don’t want to rock the boat.

~ Laura Davis

Laura Davis Abuse Survivors Avoidance Child Abuse Survivors Denial Denial Of Abuse Denial Of Child Abuse Denial Of Incest Disbelief Facing Reality Parental Abuse Rock The Boat Survivors Survivors Of Abuse Trauma Memories

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

My view is that the false memory campaign is a spent force. It failed to realise its key goals, failed to renew itself and has largely faded away. Of course, the false memory campaign has left behind the sedimentation of doubt and disbelief that we will have to keep chipping away at. However it is important to recognise that we are witnessing an increasing, not decreasing, number of investigations and prosecutions for cases of organised and ritual abuse. Adults and children who disclose sexual abuse are more likely to be believed now than they were ten or twenty years ago, and that includes victims who describe organised and ritual abuse.Source: Interview with Lynn Schirmir

~ Michael Salter

Michael Salter Child Abuse Disclosure False Memories False Memory False Memory Myth False Memory Syndrome False Memory Syndrome Campaign Organised Abuse Organized Abuse Ritual Abuse Ritualistic Abuse Satanic Ritual Abuse Sexual Abuse Survivors Survivors Of Abuse Victims

You're a survivor because every day you make a choice not to be governed by their harsh words or actions. No one has the right to take away your happiness

~ Assunta Harris

Assunta Harris Abuse Recovery Bullying Child Abuse Inspirational Inspirational Quotes Rape Survivor Survivor Survivors Of Abuse