Why the abused becomes the abuser

Why the abused becomes the abuser This is part II of a series on childhood sexual abuse. To have the fuller context, here is Part I. It’s a survival mechanism, the abused becoming the abuser—simple, crude, an adaptive distortion. Our ability to adapt in...

The Perversion of Shame that Kills

The Perversion of Shame that Kills There is a bitter link between suicide in young men and the sexual abuse of children. It is not the correlation that some might jump to, as in the idea that some abusers are so overwhelmed by what they have done that they kill...

Pathetic Fallacy

Pathetic Fallacy It’s one of those terms usually bandied about by people busy being clever. The standard habitat is under weighty by-lines in highbrow literary reviews, used in reference to something like a particularly perfect Haiku, perhaps one that imparts...

Sanctuary

Sanctuary It is a poignant word, one that needs to be taken hold of for a moment—a fragile thing to be cradled and examined tenderly for what it really means. By that I’m not talking about its dictionary or conceptual definition, but both its actual and...

Beyond Suicide

Beyond Suicide Suicide is not a decision made from a balanced or rational place, but it is still a choice. The act of suicide is someone deciding that the only choice left is death. Except that is not what they’re thinking at the time. The common drive in...

Self murder – trying to face the unimaginable

Self murder – trying to face the unimaginable A man flew a plane into the side of a mountain. He killed himself and 149 other people. It is a statement of fact, and it happened last week in France. As this is posted we still do not know what actually happened,...