We Are Adult Survivors of Child Abuse and Neglect

As is common in incestuous families, there are multiple issues at play simultaneously.  As the oldest child in my family, I was made to feel it was my responsibility to maintain some sense of peace and stability in our home at all times.

In 1983, Dr. Roland Summit formulated a theory about how sexually abused children view their abuse and attempt to cope with it. He appropriately called this the Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome.[1]  He stated:  “A child molested by a father and rejected by the mother is psychologically orphaned. . .

I highly encourage all survivors and those who care for them to read the new 20^th anniversary edition of The Courage to Heal by Laura Davis and Ellen Bass.  It includes a preface outlining the many additions to their groundbreaking original book which they began in 1984.

The ethics of responsible conduct in research has been a long-term issue.  In January 2002 the Association of American Medical Colleges approved a report by its task force stating:  “Financial conflicts of interest of clinical investigators. . . [is] the single issue that poses the greatest threat to maintaining public trust in biomedical research.”^[1]

I am very happy to hear that President Obama will be placing a high priority on improved school performance. What will be missing from these efforts, I’m sure, will be a discussion on how child abuse in the home negatively affects school performance and puts additional strain on keeping teachers in the classroom.

Approximately 1,600 publicly traded corporations “self-insure” for employee benefit healthcare by establishing a trust for the payment of healthcare expenses.  This is cheaper than buying insurance from a commercial insurance company.  It also means their policies are not regulated by state commissions.

Child abuse and neglect have been part of our country’s practices from the very beginning.  As towns and cities were developed across America, it was the great land of opportunity for white men.  For everyone else, it was a nightmare.  White men exacted stern control over Native Americans and blacks.

Does media violence condition teenagers to “enjoy” the thrill of the chase, the annihilation of the “bad” guy, or is it becoming a conditioned method of desensitizing and glamorizing violence as an acceptable way to solve problems? Do violent media games reinforce to boys who were sexually abused and physically beaten that violence is an appropriate method of expressing anger?

Every day you read newspaper articles and see TV commentaries about the unfair treatment of the detainees at Guantánamo Bay. Torture and the silencing of their claims of abuse are big news stories. And yet, the same treatment of millions of children in the United States, who grow up to be adult survivors of abuse, is not “newsworthy” as many editors have told me.