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Old May 11, 2011, 01:05 PM
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Open Eyes Open Eyes is offline
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Member Since: Mar 2011
Location: Northeast USA
Posts: 23,288
Quote:
Originally Posted by AbeIsAbe View Post
I'm thinking of confronting my abuser. But the idea scares me because my abuser is in my close family. My brother, 4 years older than me, sexually abused me when I was little. When I was 6 and he was 10, it started. I won't go into details but it has left me fearing most men and with a diagnosis from my psychiatrist with PTSD. I fear that by confronting him, it could ruin our family. All my life, I have had to toptoe around him as to not set him off. He also physically abused me after our father left (our father would physically abuse him). His anger and meanness towards me continues. (I believe he is mad that our father did not abuse me)... anyway... my whole point of this post is to ask if A, anyone has confronted their family-member abuser.... and B, how did it change things?
OK, STOP RIGHT NOW, AND LISTEN.

I can hear what everyone here is saying. And I DO UNDERSTAND you have a right to FEEL BETRAYED OR EVEN CONFUSED OR EVEN ANGRY OR EVEN AFRAID and YES YOU DO REMEMBER and YES YOU HAVE FEELINGS OF DEPRESSION, CAUSED BY ALL THESE FEELINGS AND ALSO BEING OPPRESSED BY THE ABUSE AND EVEN WHAT YOU ARE HAVING TO FACE NOW.

But none of you are seeing what is really at the root.

ACKNOWLEGEMENT: This is when you begin to realize that someone harmed you and you are begining to see it.

CONFUSED: This is when you now see it but you don't understand it.
And you don't understand why it happened and why it happened to you.

EMOTIONS: This is what your brain expresses when the two things above take place. This is your brains normal reaction to a bad situation.

FEAR: Once you have recognized that something bad or uncomfortable has taken place, this emotion presents itself. This emotion can be present also during the abuse. This emotion is always expressed to warn you that something is wrong during and after the abuse and even in the acknowledgement stage and even in the recovery of the BRAIN INJURY that has occurred and is still present.

GUILT: This is the emotion that your brain feels whenever you have been in a situation that you did not control or was unable to control and you were a victim. What this means is that your brain has not been able to find a way to address the abuse, during and after and even in the stage of ACKNOWLEGEMENT. Whenever this emotion is present and now resolve has taken place then this is when we start to BLAME.

BLAME: This is another emotion that comes out that the brain needs to know so it can come up with a solution to a problem. In other words, something is broken, why, what happened how do we fix it. It is how our brains problem solve and that comes from the beginning of man. It is a necessary element needed for survival. It is a method of adaptation, cold, seek warmth, wet, seek shelter, hungry, seek food, pain, seek rest,recovery, enemy or threat, seek defense.

ANGER: This is an emotion that we have that tells us that something wrong had happened. Something we could not fix or something that we had to experience that we could not see any reason for. Or, that someone is trying to take control in a way that is not good for us. This emotion is there to signal our body and brain into a state of adrenelyn that causes a strong action, either for protection or the physical exertion needed to get trough and obstacle in our path.

Now, it is important to understand that this emotion is not a reasoning emotion. This emotion is an emotion that is necessary to acknowlege something that is a threat or an obstacle. It is also there so that we are signaled that we have to get to a point of reason and resolve. It is an emotion that tells us that we are in danger and we will need to act or do something to survive or even protect.

However, we cannot just act or do in anger alone. Because if we do, than the problem is made worse or we are acting only on an emotion and we cannot do that, we must have reason first. We seem to misunderstand this.

REMORSE: This is our brain grieving for a loss or for something not achieved or something that is wrong or even a mistake. This emotion is there for many reasons. It is there to tell us that Anger may have been present and something happened that was a mistake. Or something is gone and there is a loss because of it. This emotion is necessary for survival also because we need to know that we cannot harm others as others are needed to reproduce and even nurture. It is necessary for the mother in not only us but in many animals to have to remind them of the off spring that needs to be nurtured. We are studing it now and can see it on different levels in animals.

OPPRESSION: This is another emotion that tells us that we are confined.
We are confined due to certain elements that we need to recognise are present and potentially dangerous. We do know that this emotion can be caused by a power that we cannot control. Or just that we need to examine and reason so that we can move toward survival. We also know that this emotion can cause a sense of powerlessness in another. This is there so that we can survive by overpowering a possible food source. This is also a necessary element in the natural process of survival of the fittest that is required to maintain a strong survival rate among not only us but even animals on many levels.

SADDNESS: This is an emotion that takes place as a result of GRIEF, OR OPPRESSION that means that we feel the result of a loss and we are confused and we cannot seem to REASON. But it is also there to bring us to REASON. However, if we are experiencing OPPRESSION, we do feel sad. It is a necessary emotion that is there to remind us that we need to strive towards REASON.

I have more, business calling but think about this first.
Thanks for this!
mandamoo42