Some have asked the about the effects of being sexually abused as a child, and how this may compare to those abused victims who manage (or seemingly manage) to lead normal productive lives as adults, or what real effects are there on victims of childhood sexual abuse. In the following, I will briefly address some of the common questions. Following this I am providing a more detailed discussion which cites source references:
1. How is pedophilia any different from other sexual conduct traditionally regarded as wrong? A sexual crime against a child causes many of the same symptoms that an adult will experience. In this respect, the crime is not that much different. Where the difference is, is that a child is still in the stages of mental and emotional development. That development will be altered, and often skewed permanently into problematic directions. The discussion below helps in understand this issue.
2. Is it really that damaging? Absolutely yes, without question. The harmful effects are discussed below. Some children seem to grow up to lead normal and productive lives and do not exhibit all of the problematic behavior. But, they are still damaged emotionally and mentally for life. If they get help they can mitigate the effects or if they get help young enough, the effects can be almost cured.
3. Is it just a culture thing--okay in some cultures? No. Sexual abuse cuts across cultural lines. Those cultures that seem to permit sexual abuse of young children have serious societal problems, but they do not understand the connection. Modern medical science is just getting a good handle on this problem and its effects, and are just developing good treatment. So, as this science develops more and becomes available in scientific and medical journals around the world, then hopefully those nations that have accepted such abuse as part of their culture will start to see the damage and make changes.
4. What about people using it for an excuse--I'm messed up, violent, etc., because I was abused as a child? In the USA, in many jurisdictions, one can use this history to some degree in certain defense situations to mitigate the level of punishment the court will mete out. But, it is hard to make this case, because it falls into the same logic as those who attempt to use 'mental state' when defending against murder allegations. Diminished mental capacity is not that easy of a defense to make these days.
In non-criminal situations, such as divorce due to adultery, or in cases of mistreatment of one's own children by claiming that one was also abused as a child, or the abuse of alcohol and drugs, etc., the claim is RARELY just an excuse. These effects are traced directly and clearly back to how one was treated as a child and how that child then developed into a messed up adult. Various 12 Step programs can help an adult having problems to move forward, and cease being an eternal victim. While an adult survivor is making legitimate claims, at the same time there is always potential that they will, for a period of time, link every problem in their life to childhood sex abuse, be it problems with their former religion, their mother and father, financial institutions, employers, landlords, etc. When they get help they are able to learn to deal effectively with the actual effects, and how to balance this out against other unrelated factors in life that cannot be linked to such abuse.
The following is taken from one of many web sites I have on the topic. I selected it because it represents the most concise amount of information that addresses much of the above questions and also provides some useful statistical data. bwt: The statistics are alraming, and show that my previous extrapolations of data from polls of ex-JWs is consistent.
Impact of Child Sexual Abuse
Source:http://www.prevent-abuse-now.com/stats.htm#Impact
It is estimated that there are 60 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse in America today. Source: Forward, 1993.
Approximately 31% of women in prison state that they had been abused as children. Source: United States Department of Justice, 1991.
Approximately 95% of teenage prostitutes have been sexually abused.
Source: CCPCA, 1992.
It is estimated that children with disabilities are 4 to 10 times more vulnerable to sexual abuse than their non-disabled peers.
Source: National Resource Center on Child Sexual Abuse, 1992.
Long term effects of child abuse include fear, anxiety, depression, anger, hostility, inappropriate sexual behavior, poor self esteem, tendency toward substance abuse and difficulty with close relationships. Source: Browne & Finkelhor, 1986.
Clinical findings of adult victims of sexual abuse include problems in interpersonal relationships associated with an underlying mistrust. Generally, adult victims of incest have a severely strained relationship with their parents that is marked by feelings of mistrust, fear, ambivalence, hatred, and betrayal. These feelings may extend to all family members. Source: Tsai and Wagner, 1978.
Guilt is universally experienced by almost all victims. Courtois and Watts described the "sexual guilt" as "guilt derived from sexual pleasure" Source: Tsai and Wagner, l978.
Sexuality is regarded not simply as a part of the self limited to genitals, discrete behaviors, or biological aspects of reproduction, but is more properly understood as one component of the total personality that affects one's concept of personal identity and self-esteem. Source: Whitlock & Gillman, 1989.
Sexual victimization may profoundly interfere with and alter the development of attitudes toward self, sexuality, and trusting relationships during the critical early years of development. Source: Tsai & Wagner, 1984.
If the child victim does not resolve the trauma, sexuality may become an area of adult conflict. Source: Courtois & Watts, 1982; Tsai & Wagner, 1984.
There is the clinical assumption that children who feel compelled to keep sexual abuse a secret suffer greater psychic distress than victims who disclose the secret and receive assistance and support. Source: Finkelhor & Browne, 1986.
Early identification of sexual abuse victims appears to be crucial to the reduction of suffering of abused youth and to the establishment of support systems for assistance in pursuing appropriate psychological development and healthier adult functioning. As long as disclosure continues to be a problem for young victims, then fear, suffering, and psychological distress will, like the secret, remain with the victim. Sources: Bagley, 1992; Bagley, 1991; Finkelhor et al. 1990; Whitlock & Gillman, 1989.
Adolescents with a history of sexual abuse are significantly more likely than their counterparts to engage in sexual behavior that puts them at risk for HIV infection, according to Dr. Larry K. Brown and associates, from Rhode Island Hospital, in Providence. Inconsistent condom use was three times more likely among youths who had been sexually abused than among the 55 who had not. A history of sexual abuse was also significantly associated with less impulse control and higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases. According to Dr. Brown, "These results suggest two things. Abused kids need adequate counseling around abuse issues. A lot of these kids keep re-experiencing the anxiety and trauma for years." The second issue, he said, is that "most therapy does not address current sexual behavior" and the anxieties that sexually abused adolescents experience. Source: Larry K. Brown, M.D., et al, American Journal of Psychiatry 2000;157:1413-1415.
Young girls who are forced to have sex are three times more likely to develop psychiatric disorders or abuse alcohol and drugs in adulthood, than girls who are not sexually abused. Sexual abuse was also more strongly linked with substance abuse than with psychiatric disorders. It was also suggested that sexual abuse may lead some girls to become sexually active at an earlier age and seek out older boyfriends who might, in turn, introduce them to drugs. Psychiatric disorders were from 2.6 to 3.3 times more common among women whose CSA included intercourse, and the risk of substance abuse was increased more than fourfold, according to the results. Family factors -- parental education, parenting behavior, family financial status, church attendance -- had little impact on the prevalence of psychiatric or substance abuse disorders among these women, the investigators observe. Similarly, parental psychopathology did not predict the association between CSA and later psychopathology. Source: Kenneth S. Kendler, M.D., et al, Medical College of Virginia Commonwealth University, Archives of General Psychiatry 2000;57:953-959.
Among both adolescent girls and boys, a history of sexual or physical abuse appears to increase the risk of disordered eating behaviors, such as self-induced vomiting or use of laxatives to avoid gaining weight. Among those at increased risk for disordered eating were respondents who had experienced sexual or physical abuse and those who gave low ratings to family communication, parental caring and parental expectations. In light of these findings, the researchers conclude that "strong familial relationships may decrease the risk for disordered eating among youth reporting abuse experiences." Source: Dr. Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, et al, University of Minneapolis, International Journal of Eating Disorders 2000;28:249-258.
Young girls who are sexually abused are more likely to develop eating disorders as adolescents. The findings also add to a growing body of research suggesting that trauma in childhood increases the risk of developing an eating disorder. Abused girls were more dissatisfied with their weight and more likely to diet and purge their food by vomiting or using laxatives and diuretics. Abused girls were also more likely to restrict their eating when they were bored or emotionally upset. Wonderlich suggests that abused girls might experience higher levels of emotional distress, possibly linked to their abuse, and have trouble coping. Food restriction and perhaps other eating disorder behaviors may (reflect) efforts to cope with such experiences. The report also indicates that while girls who were abused were less likely to exhibit perfectionist tendencies (such as making extreme efforts to avoid disappointing others and a need to be 'the best'), they tended to want thinner bodies than girls who had not been abused. Source: Stephen A. Wonderlich, M.D., et al, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Fargo, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 2000;391277-1283.
US Healthcare system missing most mentally ill children and adolescents. More than 7 out of 10 American adolescents with mental health problems are getting no care, according to data released today at the Surgeon General's Conference on Children's Mental Health. See Medscape
Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse--Later Criminal Consequences.
by Cathy Spatz Widom
Source: NIJ Research in Brief
March 1995
Discussed in the Brief: Previous research established evidence for a cycle of violence: people who were abused and neglected in childhood are more likely than those who were not to become involved in criminal behavior, including violent crime, later in life. This Research in Brief, the second in a series on the cycle of violence, examines the criminal consequences in adulthood of a particular type of childhood victimization: sexual abuse. It traces the same individuals studied initially, using official records of arrest and juvenile detention.
Sexual and Other Abuse May Alter a Brain Region.
"Many women and men who have been subjected to severe physical or sexual abuse during childhood suffer from long-term disturbances of the psyche. They may be invaded by nightmares and flashbacks -- much like survivors of war -- or, conversely, may freeze into benumbed calm in situations of extreme stress. Two recent studies find that survivors of child abuse may also have a smaller hippocampus relative to control subjects. If substantiated, the discovery could fill out the profile of an abuse survivor and help define what constitutes abuse."
"Changes in the hippocampus--the part of the brain that deals with short-term memory and possibly the encoding and retrieval of long-term memory--could, researchers suggest, be wrought by hormones flooding the brain during and after a stressful episode."
"Dissociation and PTSD are not sharply separated and often alternate in the same individual. Dissociation, often employed by children who cannot escape from the threat of abuse, is a means of mentally withdrawing from a horrific situation by separating it from conscious awareness. The skill allows the victim to feel detached from the body or self, as if what is happening is not happening to her or him."
"David W. Foy of Pepperdine University notes that within days or weeks of a traumatic experience, therapy seems beneficial in dispelling PTSD. This period, Bremner speculates, could reflect the timescale over which the hippocampus organizes experiences into a person's worldview. Although some functions of the hippocampus are known, its mechanics are poorly understood."
"Psychiatrists contend that if repeatedly invoked in childhood, dissociation prevents memories from being integrated into consciousness and can lead to an altered sense of self. Many normal children play with imaginary companions; abused children can use such creative resources to a pathological extent, in extreme cases falling prey to multiple personality disorder (MPD). Adults may continue to use dissociation as a coping mechanism. Once dissociation or PTSD develops, the majority of psychological symptoms and the hormonal profile are very resistant to treatment."
Reference: Scientific American, N.Y., (273: 4) 10/95, page 14.