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Childhood Sexual abuse by my uncle and i can't talk about it

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Hi everyone,

This is my first time talking about this to anyone other then my husband and one friend. To give some background, I always "knew" I was abused in some way by my Uncle, when I was young (around 5 to around 9), but all I had were very faint memories and mostly emotional triggers. I repressed it for many years. Also, my dad, who was a pastor, and was highly looked up to (almost put on a pedastal), spanked me naked to add to the humiliation. To make things worse, I was a very sensitive child but my Mom would tell my Dad to spank me for stupid reasons, even once for showing anger to my mom, but i was not being mean to her. The last memory I have is when I was 12 and I locked my door. He got really mad and picked it open. He then took my clothes off, lay me on his lap, said something about how I see you are entering puberty and are getting old for this so hopefully this will be the last time. plus the whole, 'this hurts me more then it hurts you" B.S. All I remember was picturing my hairy vagina on his lap and his bare hand slapping me. I was very humiliated. It traumatized me so much that i became hypervigilant about never getting a spanking again, so I spent the rest of my years until I moved away, holed up in my room, and pretty much not speaking to my parents. in fact, my senior year of highschool, I lost my voice out of nowhere, for a few months.

I say all that about my dad because for many years, I had felt abused by him. I had all the signs-- I developed anorexia and bulimia in college. I then had family counseling and my dad said sorry in front of the counselor, but he later told me that he didn't know why he had to apologize. For years though I wondered why that incident haunted me so much.

Then, later I developed severe germ related OCD and started therapy. It was about a year after I started therapy that I began to recover more memories of my Uncle. My parents would drop me off at my cousin's house to spend the night for the weekend as they knew we played well together. I did like my cousin, though she is younger than I am. And I was falsely charmed by my Uncle. My main memories are of being in his bed and seeing his penis, and of him fondling me. I also remember touching him and him making his penis touch my vagina. I would sometimes fall asleep with him in his bed, along with my younger cousin.

The kicker came when I recalled him threatening me not to tell anyone because my dad would spank me and because he said I was his favorite neice and wanted that to stay that way. I feel like I soaked up his so-called "love" and attention, though I realize now it was in all the wrong ways. I realize I felt it was my fault, and my "perfect, christian" family always implies that they can do no wrong, so I just never brought this up to anyone. I didn't think my parents would believe me.

I then started EMDR to help with this and she told me it sounds like I have PTSD, which I'm not surprised about. Interestingly, after starting EMDR, my OCD compulsions started to diminish, but now I am having even more problems sexually because everything is a trigger. My husband tries to understand, even though he really has no clue how I feel.

Anyhow, it feels good to share this but at the same time, it's triggering. Now, what happens is I have flashbacks and then am out of it and have tons of anxiety for a long time afterward. Is there a way to distract myself enough to not stay stuck thinking about it? I hate feeling this way. I am already almost 40 and I wish I could get over it. But I know PTSD doesn't really work that way. (oh, and I had to stop EMDR too early because we couldn't afford it, but I do plan to go back).

Thanks for reading.
 
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Welcome to the forum. What your father did sounds wildly, wildly inappropriate: I would consider it tantamount to sexual abuse and certainly emotionally abusive. I'm very sorry to hear you're struggling with all of this. I'm an incest CSA survivor, too. Though your title says you can't talk about the abuse, you're expressing yourself very well and bravely here. I hope you can continue to connect here. Just FYI, we don't use trigger warnings here. :)
 
Thank you for your reply. About how long does it take to be able to manage the PTSD? Also, I will have to see my abuser tonight, at a family function. :( I sometimes try to get out of it, but this time and I said yes, and I feel weak. I know to leave for my own self care, if I need to.
 
I'm glad you're willing to remove yourself for your own good if need be.

PTSD doesn't have a one-size-fits all timeline. What would you consider management? I've been in therapy off and on from ages 12 through the present (26), and my symptoms are fairly cyclical regarding depression, suicidal ideation, and isolation depending on how much stress I'm under. I've been almost completely no contact with my brother since I was 16--10 years. I can't do it, and no good comes from contact in my experience. Also, I live very far (almost 1000 miles) from my hometown and parents, and I very rarely go home. My symptoms get far, far worse if I have contact with my nuclear family or whenever I'm within about 3 hours' drive or less from them.

But that's just my experience. I don't get a lot of flashbacks anymore, and when I do, they don't last long, and my recovery is shorter. My biggest symptoms are dissociation and depression, but working with a PTSD T has helped a lot. I consider myself fairly functional, but sometimes I'm a hot mess for a couple of week or months at a time.
 
There is no timeline for healing, unfortunately. Some people are lucky and find a therapy that works well from the get go. Others take many years and require a lot of different therapeutic modalities before finding stabilization. All you can do is keep plowing forward.

:hug:
 
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