The Effects of Sexual Child Abuse Left Untreated
The sexual abuse of a child can be incredibly difficult to come to terms with, both for the child and the parent of the child. Two important factors have to be taken into account -- sexual abuse doesn't have to physically happen to exist (the deliberate exposure to sexual factors is often enough) and the non-treatment of sexual abuse can lead to severe and possibly irreversible psychological damage in the long term.
Other People Are Reading
-
Where It Comes From
-
One of the biggest problems of sexual abuse is that the abuse usually comes from an individual who is close to the child i.e. somebody that the child would trust, such as a parent, a legal guardian or a close relative. Because such abuse is committed by those they trust and not by a complete stranger (these kind of attacks are the rarest), the child can find it very difficult to tell anybody about what happened. This can lead to a multitude of problems in the future.
Physical and Mental Damage
-
The damage caused by child sexual abuse is usually short-term in the physical sense, but the emotional and psychological effects are very often long-term (or potentially life-long). Children that have been sexually abused will likely experience feelings of guilt and shame (in general victims of sexual abuse feel this as they make themselves believe that they are in some way responsible for the abuse). In later life this can lead to problems such as issues with their sexual and personal lives as well as strong feelings of self-loathing.
-
Reactive Attachment Disorder
-
Early sexual abuse that is left untreated can lead to a mental disorder known as reactive attachment disorder. Those with this disorder can have great difficulty in creating normal healthy relationships and developing in a natural way. This can significantly affect the child's social development -- the symptoms of this disorder include a dislike of being touched i.e. inability to perceive physical contact as a positive action, anger issues (can be even direct issues or in passive-aggressive terms) and an underdeveloped sense of empathy i.e. inability to properly display remorse or regret.
Long-Term Damage
-
Some of the strongest tell-tale signs of sexual abuse include many obvious sexual symptoms i.e. acting in a sexualized way, displaying knowledge of sexual facts that they didn't originally know and taking an unnatural interest in sexual matters. These can develop into other long-term symptoms depending on how they are dealt with (i.e. how the family reacts to the behavior). Non treatment can later lead to symptoms such as psychologically fuelled sexualization, guilt and fear, sexual dysfunction, eating disorders, alcohol and drug abuse, child-like characteristics like thumb sucking and bed wetting as well as behavioral and academic problems.
-
References
- Photo Credit George Doyle/Stockbyte/Getty Images
