Heal The Abuse - Recover Your Life Read Online Free Page A
Author: Jason Goodwin
Tags: Psychology, Abuse, Anxiety, depression, Alcoholism, Addiction, therapy, recovery, ptsd, Prostitution, sexual abuse, drug addiction, counseling, molestation, molest, posttraumatic stress disorder, recover
stay
positive. I will contact a doctor or psychiatrist to get a
screening for depression. I will also contact someone I haven’t
spoken to for a while and go out for dinner.
Day five: I will get out of bed by 9:00 a.m.
and continue to do all the things I have been doing to stay
positive. Additionally, I will follow through on my appointment
with my doctor or psychiatrist and try a few different
antidepressant medications to determine which one does the best job
of lowering my depression. I will continue to take this medication
until any side-effects wear off, and give each medication a fair
chance of working.
Day six: I will get out of bed by 9:00 a.m.
and continue to do all of the things I have been doing to stay
positive. I will also check the yellow pages for a counselor
qualified to treat depression, and set up my first appointment.
Day seven: (Etc…)
Process Questions
What are some of the ways that my sexual
abuse issues continue to negatively affect my life or my goals?
(Relationships, self-esteem, career, family, sex-life, self-care,
relationship with God, etc…)
How do I feel about the ways the sexual abuse
is negatively affecting my life and my goals?
What goals do I want to set for myself as I
begin this healing process?
What good things might happen to me if I heal
the pain of sexual abuse?
How can I process my feelings about the ways
the sexual abuse has negatively affected my life? (Sit with my
feelings, cry, release my anger in a healthy way, do some
journaling, talk to someone about how I feel, etc…)
Stepping Stones to Health
Goals
-Try to identify where you are in the
stepping-stones to health, and the next step or steps you need to
take.
_____ 1. I have no goals for healing the
sexual abuse.
_____ 2. I would like to feel better, but I
don’t know where to start.
_____ 3. I want to gain sobriety from an
addiction or addictions.
_____ 4. I want to have healthier
relationships in the future.
_____ 5. I would like to heal the pain of my
past so that I don’t feel so terrible all the time.
_____ 6. I want to heal, but I’m not sure if
I’m willing to do the work it takes to get healthy.
_____ 7. I am committed to working through
the pain of sexual abuse. My goal is to have healthy relationships
in the future with myself, with others, and with God.
Chapter 3 – Healing Techniques
“Healing is a matter of time, but it is
sometimes also a matter of opportunity.”
-Hippocrates
There are many techniques we can employ to
assist us in healing the pain of sexual abuse. Instead of picking
one or two, I urge you to consider them all, and use every tool
that is available to you. This healing process may be the biggest
challenge of your life.
As survivors, the fear that we are somehow
damaged or defective can actually interfere with our healing
process. I resisted taking antidepressants for the first 33 years
of my life because I fought so hard against the idea that there was
something wrong with me. Never mind that depression runs in my
family or that my grandmother took antidepressants for the second
half of her life. Every morning, I woke up feeling depressed for no
apparent reason. I had low appetite, weight loss, and all the
symptoms of major depression. But I was in denial, and no one was
going to give me “crazy pills.”
No offense to myself, but I was being an
idiot. My depression has a physical cause. As such, it demands a
physical solution. I would have no problem wrapping gauze around a
bleeding knee, so why was I having such a hard time taking a pill
that would boost a natural neurotransmitter in my brain?
About midway through my healing process, I
decided to try antidepressants. My mother had been urging me for
years to at least give them a try, and a nurse practitioner started
me on a newer antidepressant with very low side-effects. For me,
the difference was life-changing. I woke up in a
positive. I will contact a doctor or psychiatrist to get a
screening for depression. I will also contact someone I haven’t
spoken to for a while and go out for dinner.
Day five: I will get out of bed by 9:00 a.m.
and continue to do all the things I have been doing to stay
positive. Additionally, I will follow through on my appointment
with my doctor or psychiatrist and try a few different
antidepressant medications to determine which one does the best job
of lowering my depression. I will continue to take this medication
until any side-effects wear off, and give each medication a fair
chance of working.
Day six: I will get out of bed by 9:00 a.m.
and continue to do all of the things I have been doing to stay
positive. I will also check the yellow pages for a counselor
qualified to treat depression, and set up my first appointment.
Day seven: (Etc…)
Process Questions
What are some of the ways that my sexual
abuse issues continue to negatively affect my life or my goals?
(Relationships, self-esteem, career, family, sex-life, self-care,
relationship with God, etc…)
How do I feel about the ways the sexual abuse
is negatively affecting my life and my goals?
What goals do I want to set for myself as I
begin this healing process?
What good things might happen to me if I heal
the pain of sexual abuse?
How can I process my feelings about the ways
the sexual abuse has negatively affected my life? (Sit with my
feelings, cry, release my anger in a healthy way, do some
journaling, talk to someone about how I feel, etc…)
Stepping Stones to Health
Goals
-Try to identify where you are in the
stepping-stones to health, and the next step or steps you need to
take.
_____ 1. I have no goals for healing the
sexual abuse.
_____ 2. I would like to feel better, but I
don’t know where to start.
_____ 3. I want to gain sobriety from an
addiction or addictions.
_____ 4. I want to have healthier
relationships in the future.
_____ 5. I would like to heal the pain of my
past so that I don’t feel so terrible all the time.
_____ 6. I want to heal, but I’m not sure if
I’m willing to do the work it takes to get healthy.
_____ 7. I am committed to working through
the pain of sexual abuse. My goal is to have healthy relationships
in the future with myself, with others, and with God.
Chapter 3 – Healing Techniques
“Healing is a matter of time, but it is
sometimes also a matter of opportunity.”
-Hippocrates
There are many techniques we can employ to
assist us in healing the pain of sexual abuse. Instead of picking
one or two, I urge you to consider them all, and use every tool
that is available to you. This healing process may be the biggest
challenge of your life.
As survivors, the fear that we are somehow
damaged or defective can actually interfere with our healing
process. I resisted taking antidepressants for the first 33 years
of my life because I fought so hard against the idea that there was
something wrong with me. Never mind that depression runs in my
family or that my grandmother took antidepressants for the second
half of her life. Every morning, I woke up feeling depressed for no
apparent reason. I had low appetite, weight loss, and all the
symptoms of major depression. But I was in denial, and no one was
going to give me “crazy pills.”
No offense to myself, but I was being an
idiot. My depression has a physical cause. As such, it demands a
physical solution. I would have no problem wrapping gauze around a
bleeding knee, so why was I having such a hard time taking a pill
that would boost a natural neurotransmitter in my brain?
About midway through my healing process, I
decided to try antidepressants. My mother had been urging me for
years to at least give them a try, and a nurse practitioner started
me on a newer antidepressant with very low side-effects. For me,
the difference was life-changing. I woke up in a
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