Healing Childhood Sexual Abuse | Incest
By Christina Enevoldsen, Penny Smith & Bethany I live close to Beverly Hills, the plastic surgery Mecca, where the question is, “Are they real?” I’m also a few blocks from where the Academy Awards and many film premieres are held, where celebrities smile for the cameras and wave confidently to the fans, yet we know many of them are shy,Read more
by Christina Enevoldsen When I was a kid, The Wizard of OZ aired on television once a year. I didn’t know any families who missed this event. My family always excitedly anticipated it. We’d eat dinner early, make popcorn and enthusiastically settle in. The Wizard of Oz is an enchanting story of a twelve-year-old Kansas farm girl, Dorothy Gale, whoRead more
by Christina Enevoldsen In the dark children’s tale “Hansel and Gretal”, a young brother and sister are abandoned in the woods by their father at the insistence of their step-mother. She convinces her husband that the whole family will perish unless they reduce the number of bellies to feed. Lost and starving, the children find their way through the forestRead more
by Christina Enevoldsen It was the first time in weeks since my husband and I had been on a date. Don held my hand and I rested my head on his chest while we waited in line for the planetarium show at Griffith Observatory. The young couple a few feet in front of us caught my attention. The woman appearedRead more
by Christina Enevoldsen “Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world’s first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster.” Oscar Goldman in the opening narration to the “The Six Million Dollar Man” If you missedRead more
by Patty Hite Windows and doors, set. Beep Beep, Beep Beep. Motion detectors, set. Beep Beep, Beep Beep. Alarms set. Beep Beep. Beep Beep. My husband had an alarm system put into our home. He is ill and getting weaker and he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to protect me physically if someone were to break in. It givesRead more
by Bethany There I was, twenty-four years old and I’d never had a vaginal exam. I don’t like being touched in the first place, let alone being poked and prodded in my sacred areas. I had avoided the pap smear for years. Going to the doctor should be simple, right? I mean, all I had to do was book anRead more
by Christina Enevoldsen Does time heals all wounds? I’ve heard many survivors of abuse try to soothe themselves by saying, “Soon, this will pass.” It does take time to heal—and lots of it. But time alone won’t repair the soul mutilation of abuse anymore than it will repair the destruction caused by an earthquake. Sexual abuse ravages the depths ofRead more
by Christina Enevoldsen If a friend or family member tells you he or she was sexually abused, please consider the importance of your role in the healing process. Disbelief or disinterest from loved ones can intensify or prolong trauma from abuse. It is emotionally overwhelming when someone you love and trust doesn’t believe you or doesn’t care that something devastatingRead more
Do you suspect you may have been the victim of childhood sexual abuse? Victims of traumatic events commonly repress the memory of the event. Memory repression is a coping mechanism that allows the person to survive mentally, emotionally and physically. This is a list some of the indicators of sexual abuse. Please note that one or more of these doRead more