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Sexual Abuse

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Submitted By gmcfarland
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Pages 11
Abstract
There is much to be said about an individual’s response to sexual trauma. The victim of that trauma has a high likelihood of creating an offence of their own, possibly using substance as a way to cope, or make any number of poor choices as a means of dealing with the abuse. What the sad thing is about it all is that many of the offenders begin as children who are powerless to defend themselves to someone who is usually in their Family. It is only through later acknowledging the trauma that someone can begin to understand the outcome of what happened to them from that incident. There are a number of outcomes that will be dicussed as well as the addiction itself and the healing process in this paper. The focus throughout being what the responses are to sexual trauma.

What is Sexual Abuse? Sexual abuse is not the only abuse that can occur in a home that can have lifelong affects on a child. There are many abuses at which many different homes are guilty of. For most homes there is much dysfunction and this dysfunction can lead to or open a door for abuse. Because of the home being the primary place for sexual abuse and other abuses it is important to see what types of abuse can come from the home. According to Laaser; there are four types of abuses specific to the home and they are physical, emotional, sexual and spiritual (2004). All of these are serious and can lead to problems for a child later in life what is interesting is that sexual abuse leads to shame and the human response to that shame can be devastating. Invasive sexual abuse is “having the genital area touched or penetrated by someone who hold either physical or emotional power over the victim (Laaser, 2004, pg 101). While another auther stated that “Childhood sexual abuse is an important subgroup of all sexual abuses and covers all behaviors done by adults

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