Abuse
Basics
The Truth About Sex Abuse web article by Sallie Culbreth
Sexual abuse occurs when a person is sexually exploited by an older or more powerful person for the satisfaction of the abuser's needs. The misused power can be either actual physical strength or perceived relational power...
The Mindset of an Abuse Victim web article by Diane Stelling
At one time or another, most of us have either read or watched a murder mystery on TV and are familiar with the plot line of someone who is framed for a murder they did not commit. The characteristics of this type of situation provide a great illustration for understanding abuse victims.
Porn and Abuse Statistics web page
Two in five Internet users visited an adult site in August of 2005, according to tracking by comScore Media Metrix.
87% of university students polled have virtual sex mainly using Instant Messenger, webcam, and telephone ...
Dorie: The Girl Nobody Loved book
As a child, Dorie was rejected by her mother, sent to live in an orphanage where she was regularly beaten by the orphanage director, was beaten time and again by cruel foster parents, and was daily told that she was ugly and unlovable. Dorie never knew love until a group of college students visited the orphanage and told her that God loved her. As she accepted that love, her life began to change. Dorie is the thrilling, true account of what God's love can do in a life. Doris Van Stone takes readers through the hard years of her childhood into her fascinating years as a missionary with her husband to the Dani tribe in New Guinea. (In this book Doris talks about the physical abuse she suffered.)
No Place to Cry: The Hurt and Healing of Sexual Abuse book
Just as God gave Dorie Van Stone a tender heart to forgive her abusers, He also gave her the strength to reveal her past in No Place to Cry, the sequel to the best-seller Dorie: The Girl Nobody Loved. Through her candor you will gain insight into the trauma of emotional and sexual abuse.
Glenda's Story book by Glenda Revell
Glenda tells her story of being sexually abused as a child and the healing process that God took her through.
Miss America By Day book by Marilyn Van Derbur
(This book refers to some practices like hypnotism that Christian counselors should not use with their clients.)
A good general introduction to dissociation and the lifelong trauma that sexual abuse victims experience. She has brief excerpts from her book on her website.
"She was on the first step. Then, slowly, very slowly, click, down to the second step. Then even more slowly we heard the third click as she stepped down the third step. My door was less than six feet away. Finally! My mother was coming. Finally it would be over. At the sound of the first click, my father had frozen. I had frozen. We remained motionless at the second click and the third. It was a dramatic moment in time when each of us knew what the other was thinking. It seemed like minutes, but I'm sure it was only seconds. Then we heard another click, but she wasn't coming to save me, she was going back up the steps. She knew."
Beliefs web article by A Survivor
I live my life expecting rejection from everyone at all times. I aggressively try to test the people who mean the most to me by pushing them away. If I can make them leave, I will have proven my point that all people leave me. If they pass the test a couple of times, I will latch on to them, yet continue to try to make them turn on me. I am greatly fearful that if they do not leave me, they will then hurt me; thus the next assumption...
The Dynamics of Childhood Sexual Abuse in Women: A Lay Counselor’s Primer
(a master's thesis) web article by Dr. Joann Roof
Thesis: Understanding the cause and effect sequences that result from childhood sexual abuse will aid the counselor in helping these women heal.
Sexual abuse can result in a multitude of incorrect perceptions, fears, and harmful
behaviors. It is important for the counselor to know what problems to watch for, one
seldom sees what she doesnt expect to find. She needs to understand why the victim
thinks and responds the way she does, and to know how to help the abuse survivor see
her struggles the way God does...
Forgiveness web articles by Freedom in Christ
Bitterness and unforgiveness can leave us dangerously susceptible to attacks from the enemy (2 Cor. 2:11). Yet it is an area of confusion and pain for many believers.
Can I forgive if I don’t feel like it? Why should I forgive an unrepentant person? Is it right to forgive God? Can a Christian commit the "unpardonable sin"? Isn’t forgiving yourself like playing God? Isn't it selfish to forgive for our sakes? Where was God when I was being abused? ...
Profile of a Pedophile web article by Tammy Ruggles BSW, MA
Pedophiles don't have signs on their backs or neon arrows pointing over their heads.
It's easier to believe that the "dirty old man in the park", rather than the clean-cut bus driver down the street, is a pedophile...
Styles of Relating web article by Dr. Dan Allener
The Good Girl is the classic helper, a kind-hearted, gentle woman who lives to keep the peace and sustain those with whom she is in relationship no matter what the cost may be to her. The Good Girl is pleasant, but rarely alive...
Intermediate
An Introduction To Dissociative Identity Disorder web article by Pamela Perez
What is Dissociative Identity Disorder? How does this disorder occur? What causes it? In this article we'd like to address some of these questions. (Pamela is a Christian counselor and the editor for suite 101's Multiple Personality topic...
How Can I Help booklet by Alaine Pakkala
This booklet, in the question and answer format, answers some of the most common questions asked by those who know someone with DID. It is an excellent resource for lay counselors, pastors or others who help...
A Child Called "It": One Child's Courage to Survive book by Dave Pelzer
David J. Pelzer's mother, Catherine Roerva, was, he writes in this ghastly, fascinating memoir, a devoted den mother to the Cub Scouts in her care, and somewhat nurturant to her children--but not to David, whom she referred to as "an It." This book is a brief, horrifying account of the bizarre tortures she inflicted on him, told from the point of view of the author as a young boy being starved, stabbed, smashed face-first into mirrors, forced to eat the contents of his sibling's diapers and a spoonful of ammonia, and burned over a gas stove by a maniacal, alcoholic mom. Sometimes she claimed he had violated some rule--no walking on the grass at school!--but mostly it was pure sadism. Inexplicably, his father didn't protect him; only an alert schoolteacher saved David.
Childhood Experiences of Sibling Abuse: An Investigation into Learned Helplessness
web dissertation by Shamla Larasiza McLaurin
This study has two primary purposes: 1) to capture the beliefs, feelings, and firsthand
account of the abusive sibling experiences from the perspective of victims, and 2) to investigate the potential learned responses associated with sibling abuse and their possible impact on adult relationships by exploring participants emotional and relational histories, and belief systems...
“False” Memories? PDF by K.D. Lehman MD & C.E.T. Lehman MDiv
We perceive that some who work with “recovered” traumatic memories lose credibility by
denying all memory error concerns in their reaction against the “false memory” movement. We believe that it is much wiser to non-anxiously acknowledge any legitimate concerns about memory errors, along with careful discussion of the evidence showing that repressed and dissociated memories are real phenomena and contain historical truth.
Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy web article
Munchausen syndrome by proxy is a form of child abuse in which a parent induces real or apparent symptoms of a disease in a child. This syndrome almost always involves a mother abusing her child by seeking unneeded medical attention for him or her...
Advanced
Dissociation, Ritual Abuse & Cults sub-topic
Childhood Abuse Changes the Brain web article
A study published in Cerebrum in late 2000 demonstrated that childhood abuse and neglect results in permanent physical changes to the developing human brain. These changes in brain structure appear to be significant enough to cause psychological and emotional problems in adulthood...
Adrenal Stress Index (ASI) web article by Dr. Jacobson
Chronic stress taxes the adrenal glands, causing them to release cortisol in increased amounts. If the stress persists, this cortisol release becomes magnified. At the same time, the production of DHEA, an important adrenal hormone that counterbalances the effects of cortisol, falls off...
Children in Africa with experiences of massive trauma web article by Suzanne Kaplan
Children in Africa, psychological health related to post-war trauma and AIDs
The impact of wars and AIDS on children in Africa is immense.Eighteen of the fifty-three countries on the continent are currently involved in, or emerging from armed conflicts. In conflicts where terror-izing civilians has become a routine means to political and military ends, women and children are deliberately targeted for torture and death. Apart from being exposed to wars or even participating in wars assoldiers, there are more than 12 million orphans in Africa today due to the AIDS epidemic...
Female Genital Cutting web article From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Female genital cutting (FGC), female genital mutilation (FGM), or female circumcision (FC), is the excision or tissue removal of any part of the female genitalia for cultural, religious or other non-medical reasons.
Client Resources
What Every Parent Should Know -- About Childhood Sexual Abuse
web pamphlet by Dr. Joann Roof
Joy in the Desert web audio by Alaine Pakkala
Alaine's testimony of God's sustaining her through her recovery from severe abuse.
Katie's Secret group study by Alaine Pakkala
Katie’s Secret is a discipleship class. The emphasis is on “processing,” that is dealing with truth on a spiritual and emotional level. The teaching style is interactive will minimal lecturing. Discussions are question driven and as a result, the students will be encouraged to verbalize what they believe, which is the first step in changing a belief system. An environment is created which allows each student to feel safe regardless of whatever place they are in, in their healing journey.
Journey to Healing web site by Dr. Joann Roof
This site contains a lot of useful information and also has an extensive Christian counselor referal service and an online mentoring program for those who have been sexually abused.
Just Before Dawn: Hope for Those Who Walk Through the Nighttime of Abuse and Its Devastating Aftermath book by Pamela Perez
You can read the first 7 pages of this book at the link above.
A Dad Who Loves You: Experience the Joy of a Perfect Father book by Bill Ritchie
At times, a father can be nurturing and loving. At other times, he may be cold, abusive, or simply absent, Nobody in this world is perfect, including dads. But how can you relate to God as a perfect father when you've never had one? Studies have shown that without exception, the way people relate to their own fathers affects their relationship with God. Learn how to restore your perception of God as A Dad Who Loves You, finding fulfillment in the love of a perfect Father.
Is God the Father Like My Father? web page
This is a very important, yet often painful step to work through. You need your Heavenly Father's comfort and guidance to heal. Most women who have had less than ideal fathers have a very hard time relating to God in His Fatherly role...
When My Worst Fear Came True web article by Dianne Smith
... Decisively, I gathered my purse and my daughter and headed straight to the police. Six months before, I had read this advice — immediately contact authorities — in a magazine article on child molestation. Little did I realize that this horror would soon invade my own life...
Why God Let it Happen web Bible Study by Dr. Joann Roof
If you are a woman who has been deeply wounded, changing the way you view God and the way you view the abuse will help you heal. Real heart and soul healing can only happen as you learn to seeyour abuse and suffering the way God sees it...
Daddy web article by B. L. Strandberg
When I wake up in the morning, He is there. He greets me with a smile, and I can tell by looking in His eyes that He has my entire day planned out for me. He is awesome, this Father of mine, but I haven't realized it until just the last few years. I missed so much when I was growing up; now I am an adult and I feel as though I am starting over in this parent/child relationship...
