Healing Childhood Sexual Abuse | Incest
If you’ve started to face your past, you already know that it’s very painful. So many survivors think they have to choose between the extremes of being overwhelmed by pain or else avoiding it. I show you how to instantly feel better without relying on unhealthy coping methods so you can follow through with your commitment to heal.
I’m joined again by my daughter, Bethany, who is also the cofounder of Overcoming Sexual Abuse. We continue to share how we stood up to our incest family together with both the painful and yet empowering effects of that. Then we share how that helped us as we started on the healing journey.
This is third in a series about reporting sexual abuse. To read from the beginning, click here. by Bethany I never expected that I’d be reporting my sexual abuse. When I was nineteen, I finally shared the secret I’d kept all my life—my dad had sexually abused me for most of my childhood. My parents had recently divorced so theRead more
This is first in a series about reporting sexual abuse. To read the next in the series, follow the link at the end of the post. by Christina Enevoldsen When my daughter was in her mid-twenties, she reported her dad for sexual abuse. I cheered that she had made that decision. I supported her throughout the nearly two year ordeal,Read more
I like to think of myself as a crusader. The internal image of myself is a fierce woman, charging on horseback toward oppressors, declaring the truth to those they hold bound and inspiring the captives to overthrow the tyrants’ rule. I don’t back down from standing for and with the oppressed. I’d eliminated any residue of abusers from my life,Read more
by Christina Enevoldsen When I started writing publicly about my healing from sexual abuse, I did it to validate my own history and journey and to inspire hope in other survivors. It’s been wonderfully empowering to record my triumphs and to share the process with thousands of fellow journeyers. However, being so public about such intimate feelings and experiences hasRead more
by Caden Ceirdris When I was twelve, I watched the sexually graphic teen film, “Kids” with my siblings. I remember being surprised when my sister described what happened in the end scene as rape. That it was rape to have sex with someone who was passed out, asleep. It seems obvious, but in some unconscious part of my mind, IRead more
by Don Enevoldsen I normally don’t comment on OSA since Christina and I often discuss the subject matter of her posts and the limited contributions I could make, when relevant, are reflected in her words. This time, I want to add some thoughts from a perspective few others could have. The comment posted by Christina’s mother, Mary, on “My StoryRead more
by Christina Enevoldsen When my daughter was nineteen and her father and I were in the middle of a divorce, she shared the horrible truth about what her dad had been doing to her for most of her life. As I tried to wrap my head around the fact that I had been completely blind all those years, a fewRead more
by Christina Enevoldsen When I used to talk about my childhood sexual abuse, I heard familiar accusations: “You just want attention” or “Nobody likes a crybaby.” As I poured out the same story again and again to my friends, I felt guilty for wasting their time. I believed that there was a rule that I was allowed to share aRead more