3 Keys to Helping Victims of Sexual Abuse
**The #metoo movement and the trial of former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor Larry Nassar have put the spotlight on sexual abuse, assault and harassment.**Sexual assault and abuse often results in trapped emotions, unresolved feelings from traumatic life events that linger in the subconscious and cause mental, physical and emotional pain and suffering. Multiple trapped emotions can lead the subconscious to form a “Heart-Wall,” a barrier that prevents people from trusting others and experiencing love. Trapped emotions and Heart-Walls can lead to feelings of isolation, depression and anxiety, and or an underlying cause of many of the symptoms of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). Although these emotional energies are unseen, they can ultimately contribute to self-sabotage, divorce and abuse. And we now know but these emotional energies are passed from parent to child, creating patterns of negative thinking and abuse that can pass from generation to generation, interfering with the happiness and functionality of an entire family line, ultimately. The good news: Complete and vibrant recovery is possible. You don't have to have any special skills in order to help them (or yourself, for that matter). All you need to do is ask the right questions. These include:
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Is your abuse experience constantly in your mind, even though it may have happened many years ago?
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Are you experiencing feelings of isolation, depression or anxiety that you did not experience before your abuse happened?
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Have you tried traditional methods of healing, to no avail?
Here are three tips to help victims of sexual assault and abuse:
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Find and Release Trapped Emotions: Many victims of sexual assault and abuse struggle with fear, anger, helplessness, hopelessness and even shame. Victims often suffer from hyper vigilance, a prolonged state of unease that can result in insomnia, flashbacks and exhaustion. Finding and releasing trapped emotions can help restore peace to your subconscious, help your physical body to heal and function optimally, and create a state of acceptance and forgiveness on a daily basis. Instructions to release trapped emotions are available for free at EmotionCodeGift.com.
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Forgive for your own peace of mind: This can be one of the hardest things for victims of sexual assault and abuse. How do you forgive someone who abused you, particularly if it was a friend, relative, or someone close to you? The key is to view forgiveness as something you do for your own healing. When we withhold forgiveness from someone who has hurt us, we may think that we are getting even or hurting that person, but nothing could be further from the truth. What we are really doing is we are hurting ourselves. When we allow ourselves to finally forgive our own selves or that person who has hurt us, the end result of that is peace for us.
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**Reach out to help other survivors:**This is one of the best ways to overcome the sense of isolation and helplessness that plagues many survivors. It can include reaching out to other survivors, sharing your story with them and joining organizations working to end sexual violence and support survivors in your community. This takes the focus away from you and enables you to turn that lens around so it is not pointed at you and your trouble; instead it is pointed at somebody else who needs you.
By Dr. Bradley Nelson