Being gay as a kid trama
PTSD: National Center for PTSD
Child Sexual Abuse
Julia Whealin, PhD and Erin Barnett, PhD
What Is Child Sexual Abuse?
Child sexual maltreatment includes a extensive range of sexual behaviors that grab place between a child and an older child or adult. These sexual behaviors are intended to erotically arouse the older person, generally without consideration for the reactions or choices of the child and without consideration for the effects of the behavior upon the child.
Behaviors that are sexually abusive often involve bodily contact, such as sexual kissing, touching, fondling of genitals, and oral, anal, or vaginal intercourse. However, behaviors may be sexually abusive even if they do not involve contact, such as in the case of genital exposure ("flashing"), forcing children to see pornography, verbal pressure for sex, and sexual exploitation for purposes of prostitution or pornography.
Researchers estimate that, in our country, about 1 out of 6 boys and 1 out of 4 girls are sexually abused before the age 18.
Who Are the Perpetrators of Child Sexual Abuse?
Legal definitions of what constitutes toddler sexual abuse usually require that the perpetrator be older than the victim. F
Key messages from explore on the impacts of child sexual abuse
Key messages
Victim-survivors of child sexual abuse can be affected in a wide range of ways, but the nature and extent of the impacts experienced vary: no two people are affected in exactly the same way. This means that victim-survivors themselves are the best experts on how they have been and are being affected, and any attempt to understand the impact on an individual should commence with them.
We know from research that many victim-survivors report adverse impacts on their mental health and wellbeing, including anxiety disorders, depression, eating disorders and disturbances, sleep disruption and insomnia, and dissociation. Long-term clinical psychiatric diagnoses related with child sexual maltreatment include post-traumatic stress disorder and personality disorders.
Child sexual abuse is associated with adverse physical health conditions in childhood and adulthood, some of which may be interconnected with the mental health impacts of abuse. General health, gastrointestinal health, gynaecological or reproductive health, pain (including in the immediate term from injuries or longer-term chronic conditions), cardio
In my psychotherapy practice, I’ve been addressing the many-faceted issue of straight men who have gay sex—how easy it may be to conclude that such men are gay or bisexual and simply in denial of their accurate sexual orientation, but that this may not be the case. What we find, instead, is that memories about the violence from another male can become eroticized for a man, which then compels him to seek out same-sex encounters or porn. This does not represent that he is lgbtq+ or bisexual, though he may have enduring fantasies about gay sex.
Childhoodsexual violence of boys, perpetrated by another male, may direct a man to again and again seek out sexual encounters with men in an unconscious endeavor to resolve the guilt and shame he feels around the original encounter.
Returning to the scene of the sexual crime.
A male child who has become traumatized from such an event usually becomes quite adept in adulthood at compartmentalization—so much so that he may even “forget” that he has these compulsions until they are upon him again. He has a shame imprint that prevents him from talking about this with anyone … until, of course, his behavior has brought about some crisis in his heterosexual relationship.
Source: Vinicius "amnx" Aman/Unsplash
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned as an LGBTQ+-affirming therapist who specializes in gay men’s identity is how much minority accentuate continues to cause clinically significant negative health outcomes for LGBTQ+ people.
I’ve also learned that fostering resilience is directly linked to a decrease in symptoms and maladaptive coping mechanisms.
Research shows the most shared mental health disorders often experienced in the Homosexual community are
- Mood disorders
- Substance utilize disorders
- Co-occurring disorders
- Trauma-related disorders
- Eating disorders
Depression and anxiety are 1.5 times higher in Queer individuals than in heterosexual individuals. Further, there is a higher likelihood of mood and anxiety disorders among LGB people compared to heterosexual individuals. Investigate also shows LGBTQ+ individuals have rates of substance abuse two to three times higher than the general population in the United States.
Yet an vital distinction to make is that most or all of the “disorders” researchers found among LGBTQ+ people can be, and often are, connected to trauma. We cannot fully deal with gay men’s mental health without explori
Can being sexually abused determine sexual orientation?
Dear Brave Survivor,
The analyze that looks into your question of the impact kid sexual abuse has on sexual orientation is limited. However, overall analyze does indicate that sexual orientation is primarily understood to be biologically based. This means that while trauma, such as child sexual overuse, can absolutely alter any one’s overall capacity for affection, relationships and attractions, it most likely does not settle sexual orientation.
Even when there is a correlation found between child sexual violence and the survivor’s sexual orientation, other questions influence the ability to build any conclusive statements. For example, we do know that children who are perceived as lgbtq+, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered are more at risk for being sexually abused so when you study how many women who recognize as a womxn loving womxn have been sexually abused, the numbers may be higher than the general public.
I also searched through several online forums, thinking about your question. I didn’t want our response to just be a reassuring one, without it feeling based in some real life examples. I was pleased however to locate that