The Suffering of Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse | Orlando Sexual Abuse Counseling

Sexual abuse is an act of coercing an unwanted sexual behavior of any form by one individual upon another. Sexual abuse occurs among all races, religion, social levels, gender and has no boundaries. Dan Allendar, known for his compelling work with sexual abuse survivors and author of “The Wounded Heart”, writes in his book “At times, I wonder if every person in the world, male and female, young and old, has been sexually abused.”

Adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse understandably go through quite a lot during their life as adults. There are resources for those who are bold enough to seek help and support for their wounds, but many survivors suffer in silence and experience a deep shame that impacts how they are able to manage life and relationships. Sexual abuse survivors may struggle in these and other areas:

• Low self-esteem and sense of worth
• Intense feelings of shame and guilt
• Compulsion to bond with people who betray and mistreat them
• Depression which may result to complications if left un-managed
• Issues of trust that lead to an overpowering need to control
• Body Image issues and physiological symptoms
• Challenges with sex, including extremes ranging from sexual anorexia to promiscuity
• Struggle with intimate relationships, including marriage and friendship

It is quite common that the shame that adult survivors experience compels them to figure out a means to escape their pain. Survivors may embrace destructive coping patterns to cut short depression that results from their childhood abuse. Addiction, self-harm, and grief may be familiar cycles the abused will turn to when the pain gets to be too much. While these may provide some temporary relief, it is short lived.

Are you reading this now…and still feel you can’t get pass the complications sexual abuse has left you to deal with? Life Counseling Solutions offers a faith based 12 week group for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse called ‘Wounded Heart’ based on the teaching of Dr. Dan B. Allendar, facilitated by Zuleida Herba, LMHC, CHHC. Enrollment is open and rolling for both a men’s and women’s group. Please call our office 407-622-1770 to sign up or for more information.

Zuleida is an experienced therapist, but she is also a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, and a survivor. Zuleida’s therapeutic specialty is relationship. Her clients know her for bringing her best therapy for “Women and those that they love” She is skilled at addressing important issues: Relationship, Depression, Co-Dependency, Anxiety, and Abuse, to name a few. Families, Women, and Teenage girls in crisis connect especially well with her. She is well versed in the unique stresses and multiple balancing acts that busy families face, especially with families that require crisis therapy intervention.