{"id":1153,"date":"2021-03-17T18:42:34","date_gmt":"2021-03-17T05:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/?p=1153"},"modified":"2021-03-17T18:42:34","modified_gmt":"2021-03-17T05:42:34","slug":"invisible-wounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/?p=1153","title":{"rendered":"Invisible wounds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ptsd-awareness-wallet-cards13944275-2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1162\" width=\"340\" height=\"462\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ptsd-awareness-wallet-cards13944275-2.jpeg 679w, https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ptsd-awareness-wallet-cards13944275-2-221x300.jpeg 221w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 340px) 85vw, 340px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Living with the results of trauma is something many of us do<br>Many more of us than you can imagine<br>Trauma response is very individual <br>No one can relive your trauma<br>No one can tell you how you ought to respond<br>No one can tell you what you feel<br>Or how you should feel<br>No one has the right to make you feel guilty<br>No one has the right to tell you to forgive<br><br><br>There are recognised symptoms that cover the wide variety of PTSD&#8217;s<br>Not all will apply to you<br>Or to him<br>Or her<br>They are a generic guide for diagnosis<br>The base though is that they are\/can be your bodies response to trauma inflicted on you that you could not control<br>The wounds are very often externally indiscernible<br>But the responses are embarrassingly visible<br>And can often be emotionally, physically and socially crippling<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/d8a2b5717cb04d8dc7ba58d5a0909458.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1156\" width=\"282\" height=\"376\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/d8a2b5717cb04d8dc7ba58d5a0909458.jpg 564w, https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/d8a2b5717cb04d8dc7ba58d5a0909458-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 282px) 85vw, 282px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For me personally I can identify with most of the above symptoms and at least half of those would be affecting me on a daily basis<br><br>Trauma changes our basic brain functionings<br>Thats a fact<br>No argument<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"336\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/e0587f8010ec3ac0f9a34a0f5bf2d59a.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1159\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/e0587f8010ec3ac0f9a34a0f5bf2d59a.jpg 336w, https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/e0587f8010ec3ac0f9a34a0f5bf2d59a-249x300.jpg 249w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 336px) 85vw, 336px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>One of my sorrowful questions has often been<br>What\/who would I have been if I hadn&#8217;t endured 10 years of childhood sexual abuse?<br>Who would that little girl have become?<br>What would her life have been like?<br>Would she have been a better mother, a better wife?<br>Would she have had more confidence in herself?<br>Would her experience of sex and relationships have been more healthy?<br><br>I know I am the person I am today because of my abuse<br>I don&#8217;t want the abuse to define me<br>But in an intrinsic way it has<br>I had no choice in that<br>But I do have a choice now<br>I have a choice to do the best I can with who I am now<br>I will not let my abuser win this<br>I am inherently stronger because I have had to be<br>I had to fight from such a young age to hang on to my identity<br><br><br>Childhood incest inflicts such massive confusion on a child<br>Love<br>Loyalty<br>Respect<br>Trust <br>All things that should be an integral part of a safe normal parent\/child relationship<br>Are confused by <br>Manipulation<br>Secrets<br>Emotional bullying<br>Passive agressiveness<br>Powerlessness<br>Conflicted loyalty<br>Guilt, blame &amp; shame<br>Betrayal<br><br>When you finally escape you don&#8217;t know how to experience real love<br>You are so used to your body being used as a &#8216;love tool&#8217;<br>That you unwittingly continue that toxic behaviour<br><br><br>According to research <br>the younger the age the abuse begins, <br>the frequency of the abuse,  <br>plus the longer the duration, <br>effects the intensity of trauma response.<br>The average length of incest abuse is 4 years &#8211; when I read this today it blew my mind,<br>I am crying as I type, I feel sick to my stomach as the reality &amp; roots of my constant fight is hitting me&#8230;<br><br>My recollections are that I was around the age of 7-8 yrs old, the frequency was almost daily,  and I wasn&#8217;t able to escape my abuser until I was 18 years old.<br>10 years of almost daily incestuous abuse&#8230;<br><br>No wonder I struggle to support my inner child<br>It is a constant <br>Daily<br>Overwhelming fight<br>To separate my adult self from my child self<br>To not be her anymore<br>I just want to grow strong enough to build a healthier relationship between us.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"661\" src=\"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Your-inner-child-1024x661.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1166\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Your-inner-child-1024x661.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Your-inner-child-300x194.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Your-inner-child-768x496.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Your-inner-child.jpg 1168w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p><br><br>https:\/\/ct.counseling.org\/2018\/03\/understanding-treating-survivors-incest\/<br><br>https:\/\/core.ac.uk\/download\/pdf\/84873517.pdf<br><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Living with the results of trauma is something many of us doMany more of us than you can imagineTrauma response is very individual No one can relive your traumaNo one can tell you how you ought to respondNo one can tell you what you feelOr how you should feelNo one has the right to make &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/?p=1153\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Invisible wounds&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[79,20,47,94,90,67,17,91,49,92,80,68,70,1,18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1153"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1168,"href":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153\/revisions\/1168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}