Help Incest

Help Incest

Therapists
:
Login
|
Sign Up

United States

Austin, TX
Brooklyn, NY
Chicago, IL
Denver, CO
Houston, TX
Los Angeles, CA
New York, NY
Portland, OR
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
Seattle, WA
Washington, DC

Mental Health

Addiction

Anxiety

ADHD

Asperger's

Autism

Bipolar Disorder

Chronic Pain

Depression

Eating Disorders

Personality

Passive Aggression

Personality

Shyness

Personal Growth

Goal Setting

Happiness

Positive Psychology

Stopping Smoking

Relationships

Low Sexual Desire

Relationships

Sex

Family Life

Child Development

Parenting

Talk to Someone

Find a Therapist

Find a Treatment Center

Find a Psychiatrist

Find a Support Group

Find Teletherapy

Trending Topics

Coronavirus Disease 2019

Narcissism

Dementia

Bias

Affective Forecasting

Neuroscience

Key points

It's believed that the most common form of incest happens between older male relatives and younger females.
PTSD as a result of incest can result in a variety of coping mechanisms including self-injury.
The first thing anyone can do to help a victim of incest is to believe them.

Online: website , Facebook , LinkedIn , Twitter

Are you a Therapist?
Get Listed Today

Get Help

Find a Therapist

Find a Treatment Center

Find a Psychiatrist

Find a Support Group

Find Teletherapy

Members
Login
Sign Up

United States

Austin, TX
Brooklyn, NY
Chicago, IL
Denver, CO
Houston, TX
Los Angeles, CA
New York, NY
Portland, OR
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
Seattle, WA
Washington, DC

Mental Health

Addiction

Anxiety

ADHD

Asperger's

Autism

Bipolar Disorder

Chronic Pain

Depression

Eating Disorders

Personality

Passive Aggression

Personality

Shyness

Personal Growth

Goal Setting

Happiness

Positive Psychology

Stopping Smoking

Relationships

Low Sexual Desire

Relationships

Sex

Family Life

Child Development

Parenting

Talk to Someone

Find a Therapist

Find a Treatment Center

Find a Psychiatrist

Find a Support Group

Find Teletherapy

Trending Topics

Coronavirus Disease 2019

Narcissism

Dementia

Bias

Affective Forecasting

Neuroscience

The question is not whether you’ll change; you will. Research clearly shows that everyone’s personality traits shift over the years, often for the better. But who we end up becoming and how much we like that person are more in our control than we tend to think they are.

Posted February 7, 2013

|

Reviewed by Ekua Hagan

Incest as a form of abuse can be challenging to define, as it differs from culture to culture. Perceptions of incest vary across societies, and the degree of taboo around incest—not to mention the legal ramifications—depends largely on where you are from. In some cultures (and eras), marrying your first cousin is a perfectly acceptable practice.
In this post, we’ll focus on the contemporary Western attitude toward and definition of incest. According to Incest: The Nature and Origin of the Taboo , by Emile Durkheim (tr.1963), “The incest taboo is and has been one of the most common of all cultural taboos, both in current nations and many past societies.”
Incest is a type of sexual abuse that can (but does not always) include sexual intercourse, sexually inappropriate acts, or the abuse of power based on sexual activity between blood relatives. The important thing to remember is that incest is a form of sexual abuse. As a form of abuse, it is highly damaging to a child’s psyche and most often results in prolonged post- traumatic stress disorder ( PTSD ).
Feminist.com says that “Incest and sexual abuse of children take many forms and may include sexually suggestive language; prolonged kissing, looking, and petting; vaginal and/or anal intercourse; and oral sex. Because sexual contact is often achieved without overt physical force, there may be no obvious signs of physical harm.”
Incest is a reprehensible form of abuse not just because it is cloaked in shame and stigma, but because this type of sexual abuse, in particular, affects young victims by implicating and damaging their primary support system. This can be very confusing for children who have been taught to be wary of strangers but to trust family. Because they are in the beginning stages of developing their value systems and trust models, the betrayal of incest can be utterly confusing, if not permanently damaging, to a child’s delicate psyche.
The statistics on incest are extremely difficult to pinpoint because most cases of incest are never reported due to the intense level of shame associated with this type of sexual abuse. Aside from the misdirected shame that victims of incest often feel, there is increased pressure to keep it a secret because of fear of disrupting the family dynamic or experiencing blame or anger from other family members. However, it’s believed that the most common form of incest happens between older male relatives and younger females.
PTSD as a result of incest can result in a variety of coping mechanisms including:
The most important thing to remember when dealing with those who have suffered incest (especially if the victim is yourself) is that shame and guilt , while a common response, is not an appropriate one. The biggest immediate help you can offer to a victim of incest is to listen with respect and compassion... and belief. In other words, the first step is always to believe the victim.
RAINN (The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network) has a protocol in terms of who a victim can feel safe reporting an incest situation to:
To report suspected incest to authorities, call Child Protective Services (see this directory) .
To find a therapist, please visit the Psychology Today Therapy Directory .
Susanne Babbel, Ph.D., M.F.T., is a psychologist specializing in trauma and depression.

Get the help you need from a therapist near you–a FREE service from Psychology Today.

Psychology Today © 2022 Sussex Publishers, LLC

The question is not whether you’ll change; you will. Research clearly shows that everyone’s personality traits shift over the years, often for the better. But who we end up becoming and how much we like that person are more in our control than we tend to think they are.

Therapists
:
Login
|
Sign Up

United States

Austin, TX
Brooklyn, NY
Chicago, IL
Denver, CO
Houston, TX
Los Angeles, CA
New York, NY
Portland, OR
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
Seattle, WA
Washington, DC

Mental Health

Addiction

Anxiety

ADHD

Asperger's

Autism

Bipolar Disorder

Chronic Pain

Depression

Eating Disorders

Personality

Passive Aggression

Personality

Shyness

Personal Growth

Goal Setting

Happiness

Positive Psychology

Stopping Smoking

Relationships

Low Sexual Desire

Relationships

Sex

Family Life

Child Development

Parenting

Talk to Someone

Find a Therapist

Find a Treatment Center

Find a Psychiatrist

Find a Support Group

Find Teletherapy

Trending Topics

Coronavirus Disease 2019

Narcissism

Dementia

Bias

Affective Forecasting

Neuroscience

Are you a Therapist?
Get Listed Today

Get Help

Find a Therapist

Find a Treatment Center

Find a Psychiatrist

Find a Support Group

Find Teletherapy

Members
Login
Sign Up

United States

Austin, TX
Brooklyn, NY
Chicago, IL
Denver, CO
Houston, TX
Los Angeles, CA
New York, NY
Portland, OR
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
Seattle, WA
Washington, DC

Mental Health

Addiction

Anxiety

ADHD

Asperger's

Autism

Bipolar Disorder

Chronic Pain

Depression

Eating Disorders

Personality

Passive Aggression

Personality

Shyness

Personal Growth

Goal Setting

Happiness

Positive Psychology

Stopping Smoking

Relationships

Low Sexual Desire

Relationships

Sex

Family Life

Child Development

Parenting

Talk to Someone

Find a Therapist

Find a Treatment Center

Find a Psychiatrist

Find a Support Group

Find Teletherapy

Trending Topics

Coronavirus Disease 2019

Narcissism

Dementia

Bias

Affective Forecasting

Neuroscience

The question is not whether you’ll change; you will. Research clearly shows that everyone’s personality traits shift over the years, often for the better. But who we end up becoming and how much we like that person are more in our control than we tend to think they are.

As I write this blog, Hurricane Irene threatens to wreak disaster upon the Eastern seaboard, and many of my relatives and friends are making decisions about how best to respond to warnings. Like thousands of others, my husband and I watched the evening news tonight with a nervous awe, and hope that Irene will weaken her intensity. "Plan for the worst and hope for the best," instructed New York's Mayor Bloomberg. "Get the hell out of Asbury Park," said New Jersey's Governor Christie. "It's four-thirty, and you've maximized your tan for the day." Having grown up in Brooklyn and vacationed on the Jersey Shore as a child, I've got to say that I love his blunt, cut-to-the-chase sense of humor . He definitely got his point across.

But there's nothing funny about incest. And incest recovery can be as frightening as this violent storm. Repressed memories emerge without warning; scary sensations can sweep a survivor into an ocean of emotional turmoil; psychological barricades s/he'd erected can be ripped off, and as a result s/he's left with the chilling awareness that life will never be the same. There is no Category 1, Category 2, Category 3, 4, or 5. The incest survivor's category becomes Post- traumatic Stress Disorder ( PTSD ), whether the people in her or his life understand what that is or not.
A woman I met this week, whose friend has been experiencing unrelenting flashbacks of traumatic abuse and has recently gotten into treatment for incest recovery, asked me how she could best support her friend during this time. I suggested that she educate herself a bit about PTSD, and about the process of incest recovery. There are books, a few of which I will list at the end of the blog, and there are websites that can be accessed by merely clicking the links which are at the end of this blog as well. Beyond that I suggested the following, based on how my friends supported me during my own recovery, and various articles I've read over the last few years: • Listen. Be there. • Don't be judgmental. • Be patient; it takes time to recover. • Check in with your friend every now and then and just ask how s/he's doing. • Help empower your friend. Incest strips away power. • Offer a gentle but genuine reality check. Remind your friend that s/he has survived the abuse. It is over. And though the feelings s/he is experiencing in the present are hard to bear, s/he will work through them. • Don't pressure your friend to do things s/he isn't yet ready or able to do. • Assure your friend that this doesn't change how you feel about her or him. • Reassure her or him that you are there if s/he needs you. • Offer to do something light and playful with her or him, i.e., go to a movie, go for a walk, play a game, gather with a group of friends, eat a meal together. • Be sure to ask if there's anything you can do to help. "What do you need from me now?" is a good place to start.
ABC's newscast tonight included a story about Staten Island University Hospital's staff evacuating their high-risk patients. "It's devastating to see the fear on their faces," said one nurse, as the reporter discussed the issues involved for medical personnel responsible to protect the lives of the most vulnerable.
If your friend is recovering from incest s/he is vulnerable, too. Sensitive, emotionally reactive. You will witness fear on your friend's face; you will hear anxiety or depression in your friend's voice. You will want to protect your friend from further wounding. Trust the process. Encourage your friend to be in therapy , and trust the value of your friendship .
At the conclusion of tonite's newscast, Diane Sawyer told us that all of the patients had been transferred successfully. Relationships of responsible, compassionate caring have the power to facilitate healing. Your friendship does, too.
Blume, SueE. Secret Survivors: Uncovering Incest and its Aftereffects in Women , New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1990.
Maltz, Wendy. Secret Survivors: A Guide for Survivors of Sexual Abuse , New York: HarperCollins, 1991.
Mather, C., Wood, J., Gil, E., Debye, K., How Long Does it Hurt? A Guide to Recovering from Incest and Sexual Abuse. New York: Jossey-Bass, 2004.
www.sandf.org (Survivors and Friends)
www.rainn.org (Rape and Incest National Network)
www.giftfromwithin.org (Website about PTSD)
www.havoca.org (Help for Adult Victims of Child Abuse)
Catherine McCall is a Clinical Fellow of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and the author of Never Tell: A True Story of Overcoming a Terrifying Childhood .

Get the help you need from a therapist near you–a FREE service from Psychology Today.

Psychology Today © 2022 Sussex Publishers, LLC

The question is not whether you’ll change; you will. Research clearly shows that everyone’s personality traits shift over the years, often for the better. But who we end up becoming and how much we like that person are more in our control than we tend to think they are.

Get Help
Learn
For Professionals
About
COVID-19

Login
Sign up and Get Listed
Get Help
Learn
For Professionals
About
COVID-19

Notice to users
GoodTherapy is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, medical treatment, or therapy. Always seek the advice of y
Hd Video Sperm
Young Nude Vintage
Nudist Angel

Help Incest

Report Page