Catherine Chapman, Counseling | Sexual Abuse Therapy

Psychotherapy for Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse and Sexual Assault

The physical, mental, sexual, emotional, and spiritual symptoms that follow a traumatic incident can leave survivors feeling completely out of their own control. Sexual abuse, rape, physical abuse, neglect, inappropriate and/or unwanted touch, and emotional abuse all leave tremendous scars and after-effects. The body can become overwhelmed rendering individuals too anxious to function effectively. Sleep can be elusive and/or fraught with nightmares. Memories of the incident replay and overwhelm the whole system. Beliefs about life, others, and relationships becomes jaded. And hope seems downright foolish. Panic can become the norm. Any faith and/or beliefs that were previously life-sustaining, now waver. Fear and self-preservation take over. Everyday chores, like going to a grocery store, can be unpredictable, scary, and exhausting experiences. Relationships become strained. Life is exhausting. All of these symptoms (and many more) are normal reactions to traumatic incidents.

The frustrating reality is that the traumatic incident(s) may have happened many years ago...all the way back into childhood, and your body is still reeling from them. Your body remembers and stores every trauma that happens to it. If when trauma is experienced, there is no support system, no one to talk to, if there is any shame around what happened, if it was considered a "secret", then it is unlikely that the trauma could be processed soon enough to avoid the above symptoms. So years later you can experience symptoms that seem completely out of sync with your current life.

Is healing possible? Well, let's put it this way... Working through trauma is difficult. Is it worth it? Based on my personal experience, I would answer a resounding YES, but ultimately this is something you will have to decide for yourself. Here are some things to keep in mind if you're questioning whether this work is for you or not. If you are experiencing symptoms of trauma from situations that occurred in the distant past, the symptoms will not just go away. You can't drink or drug them away. You can't replace your pain with new exciting relationships and/or sex. You can't cut your skin enough to find relief for any real amount of time. You cannot over-achieve, excessively exercise, over-eat, overwork, or in any other way distract yourself effectively enough to outrun what happened.

Ask yourself a few questions: Is it worth it to you to try a healing path? Are you tired of your life as it is? Are you ready for the next step?

If so, let's get together and talk about what it would look like to move through and resolve these issues, so you can create the life you want, instead of being driven by what happened to you. Feel free to contact me and set up an appointment.