[byfnvy]

The video may be a trigger.. it certainly made me cry and brought back memories, although I was merely physically punnished as a child out of love and without any lasting physical wounds.

When I first watched the video, my browser kept stopping, and so I only kept seeing the first part. I thought to myself how cartoons can take so much more pain than a real child, and hated to imagine the scenes with an actual child... I know the campaign says until Dec 6, which is like tomorrow, but I don't see the need to set a limit really. Anyway, the facebook thing isn't really the important part, I think a lot of people also did it for fun and the message was kind of lost for a while.

I also felt bad watching the end because I didn't really suffer that much and I always knew my parents loved me, yet I still ended up like this.. I can't really blame my parents for hitting me as a child (only on the legs), though I am somewhat tempted to.. it even seems like a completely different reality because I can't imagine them doing that now.

[RainbowG]

Originally Posted by byfnvy

The video may be a trigger.. it certainly made me cry and brought back memories, although I was merely physically punnished as a child out of love and without any lasting physical wounds.

I also felt bad watching the end because I didn't really suffer that much and I always knew my parents loved me, yet I still ended up like this.. I can't really blame my parents for hitting me as a child (only on the legs), though I am somewhat tempted to.. it even seems like a completely different reality because I can't imagine them doing that now.

I saw the video till the end, and there are definitely triggers. I heard about the campaign on Facebook. I'm not exactly sure what the purpose is of switching human faces for cartoons. Maybe I'm just dumb so feel free to enlighten me if you know.

Byfnvy, your comments about your situation make me very sad. It's a common misconception that abuse and love don't go together. So many abusive parents truly believe the abuse is out of love, but that doesn't make it right.

Please listen to your heart. I think your "temptation" to blame them is telling you something. "Ending up like this" is also telling you something. Are you getting some help from a counselor or therapist? If not, can you? Is there someone around who will just listen without judgment? Journaling can also help.

Please allow yourself to get angry and be as "childish" about it as you want to be for as long as you need to be. Personally it took me the better part of a year to get through the anger I felt towards my parents' emotional abuse. I kept hearing voices in my head telling me I was blaming my parents for my problems, but I kept reminding myself that even if I was, it was OK to do that for a while.

Eventually, I learned to understand why they behaved the way they did and also to honor my anger and the very real destructive consequences that came of it. My former therapist told me that using "and" rather than "but" can help: "I know you loved me and you didn't mean to hurt me and you did!"

Stay strong!

Rainbow

[byfnvy]

To everybody, I was kind of thinking about my post, and I apologize, as the video is probably meant for people who are not aware that such abuse exists, and is somewhat inappropriate for a forum like this where most people have experienced some kind of abuse first hand.

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Hi Rainbow,

I think the main point is to spread awareness, though maybe it's also kind of like a fad in some ways, I guess..

Thank you for your reply. I'm not in counseling or therapy or anything.. I'm sure there are a lot of people who care about me and would listen to me without judging, but I don't feel like I should tell them. I keep online journals so that I won't feel the need to tell people. I feel like I can't do that to them, that even if they are willing to help, I don't want to make them. It might also be disturbing or maybe slightly traumatizing to know... I don't know what I'd feel worse about; someone finding out about me, or finding out that someone I know is having problems that I don't know about and that they're keeping a secret.

I was thinking about my own child abuse earlier. It wasn't that harsh or cruel, but yes, it has affected me. I suppose my coping skills aren't that great, and I really admire people who have gone through worse and can still deal with life. I also imagined that maybe my dad was also crying every time he hit me in order to try to teach me a lesson, and that made me cry a lot more.