Revue newsletter for Child Abuse Survivor - Issue #7

New Stuff From the Blogs

More Proof That Early Interventions Are Key — www.childabusesurvivor.net So, when I see a study like this, I don't feel defeated, I don't feel like we are all just broken and doomed to poorer outcomes. I see the possibility that there is room to change this current reality, but it's going to take changing how we deal with childhood adversity and doing it in an open, honest, and immediate way. High levels of childhood adversity don't have to be an early death sentence. We can, and should, intervene early in order to prevent many of these outcomes. We just need the determination and will to make it happen. Do we have that?… Read More

Sharing - Why Leisure Is Never a Waste of Time — www.childabusesurvivor.net I know it's become cliché to talk about depression and anxiety as part of the response to COVID19, but that really ignores the fact that the rates were going up even before the pandemic. Why? I think our cultish belief in productivity, and "hustling" is a big part of that. If you can't ever rest, and take a break from your to-do list, you're going to struggle.… Read More

Sharing - Why Healing from Trauma Can Get Harder As We Age — www.childabusesurvivor.net As I've said before, we were too busy simply surviving the abuse to learn the things we were supposed to learn as children, so we often start out behind in various ways. Of course, in order to learn those things we need to do the work as an adult, to first unlearn the things we learned, and then learn the things we didn't learn to start with. This is, perhaps, one of the real tragedies of so many survivors not even telling anyone, let alone starting this work, for decades. That's so many more years of doing the things we need to unlearn, and undoing that is just going to be more difficult the longer this has been true for us. So, what can we do?… Read More

2022 State of Mental Health Report Shows Shocking Lack of Access to Care — www.childabusesurvivor.net The report is available to download in full, or you can skim some of the statistics. As you do though, pay special attention to the section on Access to Care, where you'll learn things like the fact that over 27 million people in the US with some sort of mental health issue did not get any treatment. None. Not a bit. Even in the best state for matching treatment with patients, Vermont, almost 43% of people did not get care.

Sharing - Trauma Healing Requires A Certain Amount Of Privilege — www.childabusesurvivor.net She lists out things like having insurance, having financial security, having a partner and friends from who she doesn't have to hide her therapy sessions, etc. As we just talked about yesterday, the reason less than half of all people dealing with mental health issues actually get any treatment at all is because they don't have all of these things.

From the Archives

Sometimes We Just Need Someone to Just Listen — www.childabusesurvivor.net An interesting little snippet from CBS about Al Nixon, and the good he does just by sitting on a park bench in the morning and listening. I thought it worth sharing because it demonstrates the power of listening in terms of making people feel seen, and connected. It's not therapy, and it won't fix everything but as he says "When you listen to someone, you let them know I value you".… Read More

Sharing - Writing can improve mental health – here's how — www.childabusesurvivor.net I would imagine that part of the reason that no one agrees on the why and how has a lot to do with the fact that it might actually be different for different types of people. For example, I know some folks who benefit from writing out their emotions, as the article talks about. But there are also those of us who benefit not necessarily from directly writing our emotions to release them, but gain self-awareness through focusing our thoughts to communicate them in written form. Maybe, there are just a lot of ways writing is good for you, mentally?… Read More

When It Comes to Family, There's No Right Way — www.childabusesurvivor.net The headline is something I've been reminding myself of over the last few weeks. You see, back about a month ago, my father fell extremely ill and was

Link - 7 facts about child sexual abuse that leave me stunned. — www.childabusesurvivor.net “1. In 2007, 1 in 2 children in India, both boys and girls, were victims of sexual abuse. 2. Almost 35% of all children in Africa are sexually abused or raped. 3. A child is raped about every three minutes in South Africa. 4. In the United States, a child is raped about every two...

Shared from Elsewhere

154 Mental Health Statistics and Facts You Should Know | Livestrong.com — www.livestrong.com Learn about mental health statistics worldwide and mental health facts by gender, race and age in the U.S., including anxiety, depression, PTSD and more.

News avoidance during the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with better mental well-being — www.psypost.org A series of two longitudinal studies published in Digital Journalism revealed that while online and offline news consumption increased during the first ...

6 ways to protect your mental health from social media’s dangers - The Best Brain Possible — thebestbrainpossible.com There's no doubt about it, social media can negatively affect your mental health. Here are six ways you can limit the damage.

Toxic Positivity Can Harm Your Mental Health. Here's How to Spot It | Livestrong.com — www.livestrong.com A psychologist discusses the traps of toxic positivity and offers healthier ways to keep an optimistic outlook without dismissing your darker emotions.