Traumatic childhood experiences could impact development and potentially lead to unhealthy behaviors.

ACEs negatively impact a child, but the CDC wanted to know how these events might have triggered illnesses and preventable conditions later in life. If ACEs never occurred, issues such as coronary heart disease, depression and suicide, weight issues, substance abuse, decreased education or work opportunities, poor maternal health, cancer, or sexually transmitted diseases might be potentially preventable. Researchers could not rule out other factors, such as financial stress. Still, Jim Mercy, who oversees the CDC violence protection program, says, “there’s a lot of evidence connecting these things…and it’s become clear that the more harmful incidents a child suffers, the more likely their health suffers later.”

Within the survey results, Arkansas ranked number one for the highest number of children experiencing ACEs. Sixty percent of children in Arkansas had experienced at least one traumatic event, whereas the national average is 45 percent. Dr. Liza Murray, a child abuse pediatrician at Clark Center for Safe and Healthy Children, said that “Adults who had a lot of adverse childhood experiences have a shorter life expectancy.” It is also troubling that one out of six Americans have experienced four or more ACEs. Furthermore, women, blacks, American Indians, and Alaskan Natives were likely to have experienced four or more traumatic events.

The CDC and medical professionals believe that multi-level prevention efforts and programs can help trauma victims develop resiliency to overcome potentially unhealthy behavior. Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC’s principal deputy director, believes that preventing ACEs can help children and adults thrive but also “that positive childhood experiences and relationships are known to buffer against the stress of trauma and strengthen resilience. Having a stable, reliable person in your life can help you at the individual level with resilience.” By having someone to talk to, a victim can release negative emotions and prevent a downward spiral. The CDC estimated that approximately 1.9 million cases of coronary artery disease, 2.5 million cases of obesity, 2.1 million cases of depression, and 1.5 million students dropping out of school were preventable.

All sources of trauma are damaging, especially sexual abuse. Anyone can be a victim of sexual abuse, and unfortunately, children are often victims of such a crime. The traumatic memories last a lifetime, and being able to deal with these experiences in a positive and empowering manner, can help prevent negative issues later in life. By seeking justice, legal action can help bring closure, allowing a victim to heal and move on with life. The attorneys at Cerri, Boskovich & Allard are experienced with handling sexual abuse cases. We know the healing process is long and hard, but we are here to help. If you, or a loved one, have been a victim of sexual abuse, call (408) 289-1417 for a free and confidential consultation.

Sources:

https://www.courthousenews.com/health-officials-link-childhood-trauma-to-adult-illness/

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/11/05/776550377/cdc-childhood-trauma-is-a-public-health-issue-and-we-can-do-more-prevent-it

https://katv.com/news/local/why-experts-say-arkansas-has-more-traumatized-kids-than-any-other-state

https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/acestudy/about.html

The human brain is a complex organ. It has nearly full control over the functioning of both the body and the mind. However, a traumatic event can deeply change the way a victim’s brain processes and interprets information. Any profoundly horrifying or life-threatening occurrence – a natural disaster, a battle, or a physical or sexual assault – can scar the mind and alter the operation and structure of the victim’s brain.

The Science Behind Memory Repression and Retrieval

Jim Hopper, PhD, is a teaching associate in psychology at Harvard Medical School and nationally recognized expert on psychological trauma. In this article, he writes that the memories of sexual assault victims are similar to the memories of soldiers and police officers.

Attorney Lauren Cerri: It’s a common defense mechanism for victims of sexual abuse, of childhood sexual abuse to disassociate, to block out the memories and not think about it. And because of that, it’s not till 10 or 20 or 30 years later that something in their own lives, maybe seeing somebody on the street that looks like the perpetrator or hearing a story on the news, sparked something in them. And it comes all back up to the surface. I represented a woman who was sexually abused by her teacher in high school. And it wasn’t until she was in her late 20s after suffering from years and years and years of drug abuse, alcohol addiction, having been homeless, living on the street, that she became pregnant with her son and decided that she was going to get sober. She was going to turn her life around, and that she was going to be a good mom and be there for her son. And she went through detox. And when she started to get sober for the first time after many, many years, she had this moment of clarity. And for the first time in her life, she realized that she had been sexually abused by her teacher. She she never thought about it as sexual abuse before that. But because she was having her own child and because she had come out of this fog that she was living in for so long, those memories all came back to the surface.

Child Sex Abuse Repressed Memory Research

Research proves that victims of sexual abuse, particularly childhood molestation, may develop PTSD, guilt, anxiety, depression, and phobias. These can, in turn, lead to relationship and work problems, irrational fears of people, places, or things, or even thoughts of self-harm or suicide. Physical diseases like diabetes and heart disease are also a possible side effect of PTSD. Therefore, as a defense mechanism against these effects, the brain tends to create repressed memories of the occurrence. Therefore, the victim can’t consciously remember, preventing any negative effects for as long as the brain can block the memories.

If the sexual abuse victim is a young child at the time, studies have shown that the resultant stress can alter the physical structure of the brain. Researchers note that children physically abused at a young age tend to have smaller amygdala and hippocampi. The amygdala controls a person’s emotions and decision-making; a smaller amygdala means less resistance to emotions like anger or aggression. The hippocampus also controls emotions as well as memory formation. A child with a smaller hippocampus may have learning problems in school, lack control over their emotions, or have memory impairments.

Repressed Memories

Many sex abuse victims claim to have repressed memories of their traumatic experiences, with only bits and pieces filtering through years later – if at all. Psychologists call this “dissociative amnesia”. Repression is a well-documented defense mechanism. Survivors of sexual abuse sometimes use it as a anti-stress mechanism. The experience is so traumatic that the victim cannot bear to remember it without experiencing a similar stress response. Therefore, the brain forcibly makes all memories of the experience repressed memories, preventing the victim from consciously remembering the event, leading the victim to forget it partially or completely.

Danielle Bostick’s Story

In November 2014, the Washington Post published a moving essay by Danielle Bostick, whose swim coach, Christopher Huott, sexually abused her from the ages of 7 to 12. Soon after, she had repressed memories of the event, feeling – as a majority of sex assault victims do – that it was safer to downplay, minimize, and ultimately forget the damage she had suffered. It was only the vaguest stirrings of her memory – a “gut feeling,” as Bostick described it – which led her to report the crime to police in March 2014. Huott is now serving a ten year prison sentence.

In another, and even more remarkable story, a 46-year-old Florida woman had repressed memories of being sexually abused as a child when, purely by chance, she moved in next door to her old abuser. When Donald Truluck was in his twenties, he began to rape a six-year-old girl left in his care by her mother and aunt. The abuse continued for six years, sometimes aided by drugs Truluck would administer to the girl. The woman’s brain repressed the horrible memories, but the psychological damage lingered. After she and her husband moved onto Truluck’s property some years ago, she began to have uncomfortable flashbacks. She saw a therapist after developing suicidal feelings. That’s when the memories came flooding back. Authorities arrested Truluck in September 2015.

What you can do about repressed memories

There remains much research to be done. Without a doubt, the battle between skeptics and believers of dissociative amnesia will continue to play out. What is clear, however, is that sexual abuse is highly traumatizing, and each individual reacts differently to it. It is also true that a majority of sexual abuse goes unreported; perhaps due to the way it makes the human mind dissociate itself, and repress its own memories.

Attorney Robert Allard: I’ve learned that these types of injuries cannot be suppressed. That the effects of the abuse will eventually percolate at some point in time in the child’s life, if not in their adolescence, in their early adulthood or maybe even their middle aged years. So while the first reaction is to not want to talk about it, to avoid the topic entirely, and those are all very plausible and rational reactions to it all, I have found that by talking about it, by bringing it out in the open and by holding the persons responsible for the abuse, the child is in a much better position to deal with the years to come.

If you or a loved one has been sexually abused, even if you have only the vaguest memory of the incident, there are two things you should immediately do; report the incident to police with as specific details possible; and see a counselor or therapist to make your peace with what took place. Sex abuse can be damaging to both yourself and society as a whole. Reporting it to the authorities and seeking mental healthcare will minimize the damage in both arenas.

Contact Us for Help

If or when you are ready to move forward with a lawsuit against the institution that covered up or enabled the predatory behavior of your abuser, we stand ready to help. Call our San Jose office at 408-289-1417 or contact us online for a free confidential consultation.

Sources:

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/how-reliable-are-the-memories-of-sexual-assault-victims/

Post-traumatic stress disorder, commonly known as PTSD, is a grave psychological condition triggered by a traumatic or horrifying event in a person’s life, such as childhood sexual abuse. The person’s life may have been placed in mortal danger, or they may have sustained grievous injury-or there may have been the imminent threat of grievous injury. PTSD is a consequence of the feelings of powerlessness, terror, or latent phobias which often plague survivors of traumatic experiences. While PTSD has traditionally been associated with war veterans, similar symptoms have been documented in victims of accidents, natural disasters, or physical or sexual assault.

Moments of intense fear or horror create powerful echoes within a person’s psyche. It’s natural for that person to experience a broad spectrum of emotional turmoil following the event; awe, anxiety, anger, terror-even shame and guilt. In some cases, these emotions may fade with time. Frequently, however, these emotions escalate, taking over the individual’s life and making it difficult to work or have normal relationships. A person who has had PTSD symptoms for longer than a month and is experiencing difficulty with their lifestyle and functionality needs immediate help.

Attorney Lauren Cerri: PTSD is a disorder that develops after a trauma, a traumatic event. What most people think of is war veterans when they come back from combat. Victims of sexual abuse are very commonly diagnosed with PTSD. Like a war veteran that might hear a car backfire and it brings them back to the scene of battle, a child who has been sexually abused, if they see someone who looks like the perpetrator, they can immediately be brought right back to the moment of when they’re being abused. They avoid the circumstances. They don’t want to even drive by the school or the church where it happened. They relive it. They have nightmares or flashbacks of the person or of what happened to them. Let me give you some examples. We represented a young girl who was sexually abused by her third grade teacher under the guise of a Helen Keller study. He was blindfolding her and putting things in her mouth. When she went to the dentist, she had a male dentist and she sat in the chair. She panicked and she had to leave the room and her mom had to take her home because she could not sit in a chair and have a man put things in her mouth because she thought of what happened to her in the classroom. It brought it all back.

How to Recognize the Signs of PTSD

The first signs of PTSD may not show up until three months after the traumatic event, sometimes much longer-years, even. Everyone reacts differently to traumatic events; there is no “standard” or “right” or “wrong” way to behave after you’ve been traumatized. For this reason, the intensity, scope, and duration of post-traumatic stress differs widely between individual people. Some individuals may recover within 6 months, while others may take years to cope with their pasts. Others may never recover without the proper counseling.

PTSD may take various forms, which include but are not limited to:

• Revisiting the trauma mentally. People who suffer from chronic PTSD are unable to forget the intense experience they lived through, and repeatedly relive it in their minds and dreams-nightmares, flashbacks, even vivid hallucinations.
• Avoidance of people, places, or things. Anything which reminds the individual of a particular event may trigger unpleasant memories or flashbacks; the location where the event happened (or a location similar in appearance), people who remind the victim of their attacker, even inanimate or otherwise innocent objects. This can easily lead to social isolation and problems associating with friends, coworkers, or peers.
• Emotional instability. A person with trauma in his or her past may become easily surprised or frightened; have difficulty showing affection; find it impossible to relate to others on a personal level; overreact or underreact emotionally; or lose their ability to concentrate or focus. Physical side effects may include diarrhea, nausea, muscle twitches/tension, breathing difficulty, hyperventilation, heightened heart rate, and elevated blood pressure. The body is essentially undergoing a “fight or flight” or traumatic stress response around the clock.
• Negative self-thought. Sexual assault victims frequently have problems affixing blame to their molester. They may internalize guilt, blaming themselves for what happened. This can result in persistent, nagging shame, worthlessness, depression, self-doubt, and negative self-talk. It can even lead to suicidal thoughts.

The Impact of PTSD on Young Children

As devastating as these symptoms can be to an adult, it’s even worse when the victim was a young child. Children who suffer from PTSD may even have their physical and intellectual development delayed. Traumatized (especially sexually traumatized) children may be late in learning toilet training or have difficulty mastering motor skills, coordination, and language skills.

Young children are especially vulnerable. They do not have the emotional equipment necessary to externalize guilt and find much-needed perspective and solace in the days, months, and years following an episode of sexual abuse. Abuse can psychologically scar children for life, especially if particularly intense or long-lasting. The worse the abuse was, and the younger the child was, the more likely the child will develop chronic PTSD. This, in turn, can lead to social problems, physical deterioration and disease, and even self-harm and suicide.

Overcoming PTSD with the Right Therapeutic Approach

With the right therapeutic approach, however, anyone of any age can overcome PTSD. Therapists seek to lessen the emotional and physical impact of trauma-related stress while simultaneously helping the victim to function better in society and cope with their agonizing memories.

With children in particular, cognitive behavioral therapy helps individuals to change their destructive and self-deprecating mindsets. As was stated earlier, victims of sexual abuse-especially young ones-often blame themselves for what happened. They feel overpowering feelings of shame, guilt, and anxiety. The younger they were when the abuse took place, and the more intense and long-lasting the abuse was, the more psychological damage the adult victim will be likely to incur. Cognitive behavioral therapy serves to stop these negative impulses and thoughts, and replace them with healthy, positive ones.

Family therapy may also be a wise option for victims of sexual abuse. A sex crime often casts a pall over an otherwise healthy family. The very taboo nature of sex abuse means that many families are reluctant to talk about what happened and work through the related issues on their own. A licensed therapist, however, can help a family to communicate their feelings, doubts, fears, and issues to each other in a healthy, non-confrontational way. In this manner, families can solidify the bonds between their members and heal as a group after sex abuse has taken place.

Contact Us

If somebody has sexually abused your child, it’s always a good idea to take them to see a licensed therapist, especially one that has experience treating sexually abused children. Even just a quick chat with the therapist will help determine whether or not your child may develop PTSD and will need further treatment, and will also serve to begin healing their psychological damage. Don’t risk your child’s future-or life. The law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard represents victims of childhood sex abuse in seeking justice against their predator and/or the organization that allowed the abuse to occur. Call us at 408-289-1417.

It’s an established fact in psychology and neuroscience that the earliest years of a child’s life are the most formative. The experiences a child has in the first years of life impacts the kind of adult you become. Optimally, an abundance of learning opportunities and thorough parental involvement become a recipe for a well-balanced and contented adulthood. In the worst-case scenario, however, an unhappy childhood—full of stress, traumatic experiences, parental neglect, and other unpleasantness—can have “lasting negative outcomes” on a person’s life.

At the annual Society for Neuroscience Conference in 2012, Jamie Hanson, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin, presented some of his insights into the development of the brain and behavior of children who’d experienced stress, such as child sex abuse, in their formative years.

What Hanson has discovered in his research is that orphans and children who’ve been physically abused had much smaller hippocampi and amygdala at age 12 than children whose parents were still alive and had no history of abuse. Children with smaller amygdala and hippocampi had more behavioral problems—cutting class or getting into altercations with their peers.

The Brain Explained

The amygdala is the region of the brain which governs emotions and decision-making. Neurological research has named the amygdala as one of the most important areas of the brain for controlling aggression. A smaller amygdala would explain why children who were abused when they were young have more difficulty restraining aggressive behavior.

The hippocampus also governs emotions and is crucial to the formation of memories. A diminished hippocampus impedes abused children’s learning abilities and makes it harder for them to progress through their school years.

Ultimately, the end result of an abusive childhood, which includes child sex abuse, may be dire. Psychiatrists believe that children who suffered stressful childhoods (abused or neglected) were more likely to engage in criminal behavior, become clinically depressed, abuse drugs or alcohol, experience crippling symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, have unhealthy or unfulfilling relationships, and even develop physical problems such as diabetes or heart disease.

Women are especially at risk for long-term emotional and physiological changes as a result of childhood sexual abuse. New research (published in the American Journal of Psychiatry) suggests that women’s brain structure is permanently altered by sexual or physical abuse at a young age. Researchers scanned the brains of 51 women living in Atlanta, Georgia. Twenty-eight of the participants had experienced some form of abuse as children—neglect or physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. The other 23 participants had experienced little to no abuse of any kind. The average age of the participants was 27.

What Researchers Found

Researchers discovered that the abused womens’ unhappy childhoods had interfered with the development of certain parts of their brains. Sexual abuse altered women’s somatosensory cortex, the part of the brain which synthesizes sensory inputs to create perceptions and sensations. In particular, the area of the women’s brains which processed sensory inputs from the genitalia was smaller compared to women who had never been abused.

This is consistent with neurological findings regarding sexual abuse. In order to handle traumatic experiences, the brain reduces the amount of signaling coming from a particular body area. This causes the corresponding areas of the somatosensory cortex to become underdeveloped and shrunken. The brains of raped children numb themselves. In other words—disconnecting neurons which translate sensory inputs from the areas of the body which were hurt during the traumatic event.

Women who had never been abused, on the other hand, showed no such underdevelopment in the brain. In abused women, the intensity and scope of the abuse-linked brain damage varied depending on the duration and severity of the abuse itself. Many sex abuse survivors, however, report numerous problems in adulthood stemming from their childhood sex abuse and the accompanying brain damage. Survivors often tell of sexual dysfunction and reduced sex drive and pleasure (perhaps accompanied by chronic pain in the genital area).

Researchers believe that the thinning of the somatosensory cortex may result in a lower threshold for pain. This means that a person with a thinned cortex would more readily perceive pain than pleasure during sex. Correspondingly, some of the women studied also showed a thinning of the areas of the somatosensory cortex linked to the mouth and face, indicating that they had been abused in these areas as children.

The Truth of How Sex Abuse Affects the Brain

It’s been an established fact that addiction leaves lasting and enduring scars on the minds and personalities of its victims. The research is still young, and much more remains to be done. But at the moment it seems plain that childhood sex abuse causes lasting physical scars upon the brain as well. As a result, this impedes the individual’s future relationships and make it difficult for them to have normal social lives. Furthermore, it can result in somatic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.

It’s vitally important to get a victim of child sex abuse into therapy as soon as possible. In this way, the deleterious effects of childhood sex abuse may be minimized. Some measure of peace and healing is possible with psychotherapy and counseling. Call the law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard at 408-289-1417 for a free and confidential consultation if you are a parent of a child sex abuse victim. We can help you.

Sources:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/you-illuminated/201210/the-damaging-impact-abuse-brain-development
https://healthland.time.com/2013/06/05/sexual-and-emotional-abuse-scar-the-brain-in-specific-ways/

A Children’s Advocacy Center, or CAC, is an organization that focuses on helping victimized children sensitively yet efficiently. They do so without forcing children to relive their horrible experience by repeating their stories numerous times. CACs bring together specialists from many different disciplines: law enforcement officials, child protective services, lawyers, psychiatrists, physicians, and child advocacy groups. These individuals jointly interview abused children and decide, as a single unit, the best course to take with the investigation of the crime, the treatment of the children’s psychological trauma, and the proper conduct of legal proceedings.

The Model, Explained

Customarily, there is little to no cooperation between law enforcement, advocacy groups, and the medical community. Traditionally, each of these groups would interview abused children separately. This process can be traumatic for children. They are forced to repeat their stories over and over again, reliving and re-experiencing the trauma and abuse they suffered.

Consequently, the Children’s Advocacy Center model was created on the belief that forcing a child to sit through multiple interviews and examinations is inhumane and undesirable. Therefore, the Children’s Advocacy Center model streamlines and combines the processes of medical examination, law enforcement investigation, and criminal prosecution.

Let us examine a typical childhood sexual abuse case and run it through the Children’s Advocacy Center model so that we may see how effective it is at helping sexually abused minors.

1. A sex crime is perpetrated against a minor. The police are informed and immediately respond, as we see in the upper left-hand corner of the chart above.
2. The child is brought to the advocacy center, and the investigation begins. If the child’s abuser was a parent or official caretaker, CPS will be involved as well. Advocacy center staff first administer a forensic interview, which is a structured conversation with a child intended to elicit detailed information about a possible event(s) that the child may have experienced or witnessed. This type of interview seeks to gain, from the child, testimony which could be useful during a criminal trial; to determine how safe or unsafe the child’s home is; to learn facts which will confirm or disprove the suspicion that the child was neglected or abused; and to determine whether the child requires psychological and/or medical treatment. In the case of childhood sex abuse victims, the advocacy center’s interview process: collects the exact details of the abuse; determines whether or not the child should be removed from the home; and maps out a psychiatric treatment plan. The interview may run into multiple structured sessions, depending on how traumatic the child’s experience was and how easily the child is able to talk about it.
3. Physical evidence, if any, is collected, and photographs are taken. Any other witnesses to the abuse are also interviewed.
4. The child undergoes a medical exam. The child undergoes a medical examination, and also receives any necessary treatment.
5. The Children’s Advocacy Center reviews the case with all relevant agencies. At this point, the CAC’s role is reduced, as the other agencies and organizations pursue their various duties. In the case of a childhood sex abuse case, the evidence will be presented to the district attorney, who will press charges against the suspect. If said suspect was a family member or a caretaker, CPS will take whatever action they deem appropriate. The CAC, in the meantime, provides mental health services to the family and the child in question. They are provided with a “family advocate” who provides them with resources and other forms of support as the legal case progresses.

Advantages, as Applied to Victims of Abuse

The two major advantages of the Children’s Advocacy Center model as it applies to victims of childhood sexual abuse are:

• The information-gathering process is centralized and streamlined, and all of the relevant agencies have equal access to evidence as it becomes available, speeding the process of investigation, prosecution, and medical and psychological healthcare; and
• The trauma and/or discomfort incurred upon the child as a result of the information-gathering process is minimized.

It’s imperative that, in the scramble to prosecute sex offenders and seek justice for the victim, the victims’ health and safety are not pushed aside. An inefficient investigation process—whereby multiple agencies interview sexually abused children repetitively—can have a negative impact on a recovering victim’s psychological wellbeing. The Children’s Advocacy Center model ensures that the investigation and treatment process proceeds quickly while safeguarding the child’s emotional and mental security and stability.

Get Childhood Sex Abuse Help Now

If your child is a victim of sexual abuse, don’t remain silent. Victims of childhood sex abuse often have to deal with a lifetime of physical and psychological problems as a result. Nobody but the offender and the institution that enabled their behavior should be responsible for physical and mental healthcare costs. Call the law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard. We have proven experience in litigating childhood sexual abuse cases. We have the financial resources required to fight for you, and you don’t pay a penny unless we win. Give us a call today at 408-289-1417.

The National Center for Trauma-Informed Care and Alternatives to Seclusion and Restraint, or NCTIC defines trauma-informed healthcare as “an approach to engaging people with histories of trauma (such as childhood sexual abuse) that recognizes the presence of trauma symptoms and acknowledges the role that trauma has played in their lives.”

What exactly is “trauma”? The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, holds that “individual trauma results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life-threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.”

Trauma caused by Childhood sexual abuse

Childhood sex abuse is a traumatic experience for any child. Even after a child molester is caught and put behind bars, and the child awarded restitution from the attacker and the institution who enabled the attacker, trauma lingers. Traumatic events in children’s pasts have a way of incurring lasting harm. Children who were sexually abused when they were younger are subject to a host of physical and psychological ailments later in life. Those ailments include guilt, shame, depression, anxiety, nightmares, sexual dysfunction, eating problems, somatic complaints such as recurring pain or headaches, even self-harm and thoughts of suicide.

But parents of traumatized children can take heart. Organizations practicing trauma-informed healthcare understand trauma. And its long-term effects on mental health, and how to help your child recover from it. Staff at trauma-informed schools, hospitals, daycare centers, and other facilities are trained to spot the signs of trauma in children. And they bring the experience to take the necessary steps to provide children with the treatment they need to avoid re-traumatization.

Defining Trauma-informed Healthcare

According to www.traumainformedcareproject.org, Trauma-Informed Care, or TIC is an organizational structure and treatment framework that involves understanding, recognizing, and responding to the effects of all types of trauma. Trauma-Informed Care also emphasizes physical, psychological and emotional safety for both consumers and providers. And it helps survivors rebuild a sense of control and empowerment.

Traditionally, educational institutions have used “seclusion, restraints, and other coercive practices” when dealing with trauma-induced mental or behavioral illnesses. Children who act out in class, stop coming to school, or are otherwise disruptive are expelled or suspended. But with the TIC trend on the rise, schools are incorporating knowledge of trauma into their operating procedures and bylaws. And taking steps to address the trauma rather than shun students.

The TIC framework promises to have enormous benefits for victims of childhood sexual abuse. School officials and teachers will be more sensitive to the needs of students who have undergone sexual abuse. And more forgiving of the behavioral symptoms which sometimes accompany this type of trauma. Steps are being taken to ensure that a variety of programs and treatment options are available for sex abuse victims. Thus resulting in providing the resources he or she requires to begin the healing process and prevent re-traumatization.

Call the Childhood Sexual Abuse Attorneys at Cerri, Boskovich & Allard

Let us help you stand up for your rights. If your child was a victim of childhood sexual abuse, please contact us to see if we can help you. We have the expert and financial resources required to get you the settlement you deserve. You don’t pay a cent unless we win. Call us at 408-289-1417.

Much attention is being paid to victims of child sex abuse before and during the criminal trial of their abuser. Victims receive the customary outpouring of public sympathy and righteous indignation on their behalf. But what happens after the abuser is convicted and imprisoned?

The psychological and physical problems resulting from the sexual abuse don’t just fade away with the public furor. Childhood sexual abuse often causes a lifetime of mental health issues. Victims battle with feelings of guilt, shame, fear, and anxiety for years afterward. They often have difficulty forming meaningful relationships as adults. In extreme cases, sex abuse victims turn to self-harm or suicide to escape their mental strife.

“Letting the Future In”

But there is hope on the horizon for victims of childhood sexual abuse and their families. An independent study published by Durham University and the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom has found hope. “Letting the Future In” is a program designed by the British National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Initial reports indicate that it is effective at helping children move past the abuse and lead healthier, happier lives.

According to the framework of Letting the Future In, trained social work professionals provide therapy to children between the ages of 4 and 17 who experienced some form of sexual abuse. Rather than focus on traditional therapy techniques which are customarily used for adults, however, the LTFI model encourages the use of creative therapies like creative writing, drawing, and painting. Allowing children to speak about their past trauma on their own terms, as well as give creative vent to their deepest feelings about it, has been proven to be an effective therapeutic approach. Through the creative process, children are allowed to gently confront what happened to them, accept it, absolve themselves of pain, guilt, and shame, and move on with their lives. Parents and caregivers are also given the option to attend joint and individual therapy sessions with their children.

Letting the Future In has the following positive effects:

• Almost 75% of children over the age of eight started the program with severe emotional difficulties. After 6 months, less than 50% still had emotional problems.
• Almost 90% of children under the age of eight commenced the program with high levels of trauma-related stress. After one year of LTFI care, however, only 40% still reported severe emotional distress.
• Children and parents who had completed the Letting the Future In program reported an improvement in mood, higher levels of confidence, less guilt and blame directed inward, less anger and anxiety, a reduction in depression, more healthy sleeping patterns, and a fuller understanding of acceptable sexual behavior.

Professor of Social Work and Applied Social Science John Carpenter of the University of Bristol, one of the leaders of the study, spoke highly of Letting the Future In’s capacity to aid sexually traumatized children. According to Carpenter, the study’s findings demonstrate “the importance of offering therapeutic support to children and young people who have been sexually abused, to help them deal with their experience.”

Additional Reading:
www.psypost.org/2016/02/significant-new-study-shows-importance-of-help-for-childhood-sexual-abuse-victims-41152
www.nspcc.org.uk/services-and-resources/research-and-resources/2016/letting-the-future-in-evaluation/