Adult Survivors Of Child Abuse Quotes & Sayings

I look upon the gift of my life as a wondrous journey. — Maureen Brady

Most survivors grew up too fast. Their vulnerable child-selves got lost in the need to protect and deaden themselves. Reclaiming the inner child is part of the healing process. Often the inner child holds information and feelings for the adult. Some of these feelings are painful; others are actually fun. The child holds the playfulness and innocence the adult has had to bury. — Laura Davis

I am filled with truth at my center where I once held shame. — Maureen Brady

Many survivors have such profound deficiencies in self-protection that they can barely imagine themselves in a position of agency or choice. The idea of saying no to the emotional demands of a parent, spouse, lover or authority figure may be practically inconceivable. Thus, it is not uncommon to find adult survivors who continue to minister to the needs of those who once abused them and who continue to permit major intrusions without boundaries or limits. Adult survivors may nurse their abusers in illness, defend them in adversity, and even, in extreme cases, continue to submit to their sexual demands. — Judith Lewis Herman

So often survivors have had their experiences denied, trivialized, or distorted. Writing is an important avenue for healing because it gives you the opportunity to define your own reality. You can say: This did happen to me. It was that bad. It was the fault & responsibility of the adult. I was - and am - innocent. The Courage to Heal by Ellen Bass & Laura Davis — Ellen Bass

A spark is a molecule of matter, yet may it kindle the world; vast is the mighty ocean, but drops have made it vast. Despise not thou small things, either for evil or for good; for a look may work thy ruin, or a word create thy wealth. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

If for no other reason than the energy crisis now facing this country, the federal government should be eager to become partners with us in rebuilding our city. — Jane Byrne

After a victim is made to participate in an act of evil, the people in charge put a lot of energy into convincing the child or adult that he or she is evil and a perpetrator rather than a victim.p324 — Alison Miller

The mental health system is filled with survivors of prolonged, repeated childhood trauma. This is true even though most people who have been abused in childhood never come to psychiatric attention. To the extent that these people recover, they do so on their own.[21] While only a small minority of survivors, usually those with the most severe abuse histories, eventually become psychiatric patients, many or even most psychiatric patients are survivors of childhood abuse.[22] The data on this point are beyond contention. On careful questioning, 50-60 percent of psychiatric inpatients and 40-60 percent of outpatients report childhood histories of physical or sexual abuse or both.[23] In one study of psychiatric emergency room patients, 70 percent had abuse histories.[24] Thus abuse in childhood appears to be one of the main factors that lead a person to seek psychiatric treatment as an adult.[25] — Judith Lewis Herman

I sometimes continue to see myself in split ways; it causes me trouble and contributes to a lack of satisfaction with myself. — Maureen Brady

Why be ordinary when you can be extraordinary? — Alan Dapre

Because children take everything personally, they believe that if they are being mistreated, it's because they haven't been "good enough." Being good as an adult makes them believe, incorrectly, that they have some control in life. They think that they will be rewarded for their goodness and that it will protect them from harm. — Marcia Sirota

It's all interrelated, these destructive things I do. I latch on to people, like I'm collecting them. I'm always looking for a hero, you know? — Jenna Brooks

Simon leveled the gun at Will again. 'Now,' he said casually, 'someone's gonna die here in the next minute.'
On the other side of the two-way mirror, Sammy took aim.
'That's exactly right,' she whispered. — Jenna Brooks

I paid my way through school doing set construction for film and television. I'm a member of Local 44. I was a construction coordinator on 'Beverly Hills 90210' for 4 1/2 years and ran their whole construction program. I did two other pilots as a coordinator for Aaron Spelling. — Michael Cudlitz

Is that true?
There is truth in it.
And lies as well?
There is an untruth, and an exaggeration. — George R R Martin