We Are Adult Survivors of Child Abuse and Neglect

It is a well established fact (see my series on Dissociative Identity Disorder on this website starting with Dissociative Identity Disorder – Part 1) that survivors of child abuse at times repress memories of their abuse because they are too painful. If the abuse was experienced at a very young age or for

On January 15, 2010 the Supreme Judicial Court in Massachusetts upheld the sexual assault convictions of defrocked Roman Catholic priest Paul M. Shanley, who used the same tried-and-true baloney defense that past Catholic church perpetrators have used - that his accuser had made up his story about being abused.[1] The findings stated that “an individual may

When we were abused as young children, our emotions were very near the surface and visible to others. As we got older, though, and began to understand what was happening to us, we clamped down on our outwardly expression of emotions. Sometimes, if we were abused for a period of time

Within this series that I have been writing, I have been trying to connect the dots to show the contrast between:

• the scientific, documented research for over 100 years of multiple personalities and members of the psychiatric community who support recovery for adult survivors of abuse  with

I have shown throughout this series documented, scientific research of reported incidents of multiple personalities, the causes, and the need for effective therapy. I myself, as a child abuse survivor had about 20 personalities that I integrated into one during 11 of my 23 years in therapy. Thank God, I had a top trauma therapist who knew what she was doing. 

I wrote about Paul McHugh’s support of Catholic priests charged with pedophilia last Monday. Now I want to address Elizabeth Loftus’ role as well. Remember, how in Dissociative Identity Disorder – Part 10 I wrote about her own studies validating repressed memories? Well, with her support of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation

Some major work began to appear in the physical (versus mental) medical field that provided more evidence in the brain’s ability to suppress memories. This is important in the area of child abuse. Remember, researchers in the psychiatric field have been stating this for over 100 years. Another article shown below addresses this issue.

Recently the State of New York, like other states have done in the past, tried to extend the statute of limitations allowing child abuse survivors to sue their long-protected abusers. As usual, they ran into tough resistance from, you guessed it, the Catholic church—the non-existent defender of children.

In my last blog, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Part 15, I talked about the media’s focus on presenting false information about the reality of multiple personalities and the impact on therapists who treat patients with this disorder. I would have preferred that Mike Wallace talk about how therapists were being targeted and harassed

In 1997 the issue of multiple personalities was discussed by the national media. As usual, it was not helpful at all for the millions of adult survivors of child abuse or the therapists who treat them. Paul McHugh was selected by 60 Minutes, I guess because he was the Chief of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins.