Childhood Sexual Abuse Facts

According to childtrauma.org, one out of three females in the U.S. have been victims of sexual abuse before age 18. Child sexual abuse, or CSA, is any interaction between a child and an adult (or another child) in which the child is used for the sexual stimulation of the perpetrator or an observer. When a perpetrator engages with a child this way, they are committing a crime that can have lasting effects for years.  

Most victims and perpetrators know each other. They can have any relationship to the child including an older sibling or playmate, family member, a teacher, a coach or instructor, a caretaker, or the parent of another child. With CSA, victims are often too young to know how to express what is happening and seek out help. If the abuse happened at a young age, it can mean your memory will be fragmented as you did not have full capacity to process or understand what was happening.  Memory can present in the form of flashbacks which are a sudden and disturbing vivid memory of an event in the past.

Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) Correlations

CSA has been correlated with higher levels of:

• Depression

• Guilt

• Shame

• Self-blame

• Eating disorders

• Somatic concerns

• Anxiety

• Dissociative patterns

• Repression

• Denial

• Sexual problems

• Relationship problems

If You Experience CSA

If I was abused, what do I do with that memory?  First, let me say I’m sorry it happened to you.  I’m truly sorry for the pain and suffering it has caused you since it happened.  There is hope for healing.  

Open Up to a Safe Person

A safe person in your life is someone who has listened to you open up before and not related everything back to themselves.  They have been able to help you grow in the past, are able to have hard conversations, they are patience, they don’t take your struggles personally.  They have a history of being a wise and trusted person when you are vulnerable.  

Get Help

Getting help from a professional is a hard step but one that will help support the healing of the trauma done to you.  Because the effects are significant, you will want to seek help from a professional counselor who specializes in trauma.  

See How You Have Been Impacted

Fight the urge to act or assume it’s not affecting you today.