Internet information onChildhood Abuse and Neglect (iCAN)

Internet information on Childhood Abuse and Neglect (iCAN)
ISTSS Global Collaboration ProjectThis e-pamphlet has been created to offer brief, relevant information to adults withchildhood traumatic experiences. This information does not replace advice by aprofessional clinician or a national legislative body. Please seek support when reading
this material triggers unpleasant feelings.
This e-pamphlet will help you understand what childhood trauma is, what are its
possible effects, what you can do to help yourself, and what you can do to get help
from others.

What is Childhood Trauma?
The word trauma is used to describe negative events that are emotionally painful
and that overwhelm a person’s ability to cope. Examples of such events include
experiencing an earthquake or hurricane, industrial accident or vehicular accident,
physical or sexual assault, and various forms of abuse experienced during childhood.
The types of trauma that tend to have the greatest adverse psychologicalconsequences are those related to interpersonal or intentional trauma. These include
childhood abuse and neglect.

What is Childhood Abuse?
Traumatic events that occur in childhood are called “abuse” events when children are
threatened or harmed by those charged with their care or who are in a position ofpower or authority over them. Such persons include family members such as parents,
stepparents, and older siblings. Guardians or persons in authority also include teachers,coaches, religious leaders, police officers, and judges. There are different forms ofchildhood abuse including physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse andneglect. Child abuse can occur in many contexts including homes, schools, churches,
foster care, justice systems, and workplaces.

What is Physical Abuse?
Physical abuse is deliberate aggression towards a child that leads to injury or risk ofinjury. Examples include beating or hitting a child or rough treatment of a child thatcan cause physical injury or harm. Consequences of physical abuse include bruises,scratches, burns, broken bones, lacerations, and loss of consciousness. The difference
between discipline and physical abuse differs from country to country. However, the
Human Rights Committee of the United Nations has stated that corporal punishment ofchildren is degrading treatment of children and is prohibited (1992).

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What is Sexual Abuse?
Sexual abuse occurs when a child is engaged in sexual behaviour by an adult orsome person who is older than them, with power and authority over them or who
is entrusted to care for them. The purpose of the engagement of the child is for thebenefit of the adult, either for pleasure or for financial profit. Because this type of
trauma often involves the exploitation of the trust of the child, it is sometimes referred
to as “betrayal trauma.”

What is Psychological Abuse?
Psychological abuse includes a range of non-accidental actions that create fear in achild or that intend to injure his or her dignity and psychological integrity. Examples
include threats to abandon a child, threats to harm a child or people or things the childcares about, and berating, disparaging or scape-goating a child. Psychological abuse
can also include actions such as confining a child (put in a closet or tied to a chair),physical humiliations (standing naked to others) or coercing child to inflict pain on himor herself.

What is Neglect?
Neglect is a form of childhood abuse and is a form of threat to the child by acts ofomission of care that threaten the child’s survival. Examples include failure of a parent
or caretaker to provide needed food, clothing and shelter, leaving a child alone forextended periods of time and not providing medical care as needed.

Effects of Childhood Trauma on Adults
Experiencing abuse or neglect as a child can have a significant impact on an adult’squality of life. The impact can be felt across several areas, such as emotional health,physical health, mental health and personal relationships.

Emotional Health
Survivors of childhood abuse can often experience feelings of anxiety, worry, shame,
guilt, helplessness, hopelessness, grief, sadness and anger.

Mental Health
Surviving abuse or trauma as a child has been linked with higher rates of anxiety,depression, suicide and self harm, PTSD, drug and alcohol misuse and relationshipdifficulties.

Physical HealthChildren who are exposed to abuse and trauma may develop what is called ‘aheightened stress response’. This can impact their ability to regulate their emotions,lead to sleep difficulties, lower immune function, and increase the risk of a number ofphysical illnesses throughout adulthood.

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Getting Help
What can I do to help myself?
SafetyEnsuring physical, emotional and psychological safety is the first and most important
step towards recovery and getting help.

Physical/External Safety
It is vital to consider the safety of your current living environment. This may include
the physical security of where you are staying, the neighbourhood, the ability to accesssupport if needed and the relationships that you have with those around you.
If you do not currently feel safe, consider what steps you may be able to take towards
ensuring your own safety. Crisis support hotlines, local support groups and community
organisations can often provide helpful information about available support options
including short-term accommodation or financial assistance.

Psychological/Emotional/Internal Safety
Safety is not only physical. Feeling emotionally safe is also important. Visualizing
yourself in a place where you feel physically and emotionally safe (e.g., a positive
memory or a specific location) can be a helpful strategy, as well as engaging in positive
self-affirmations (e.g., saying to yourself: “I can get through this”) or using ‘grounding’actions (e.g., snapping a rubber band on your wrist, splashing your face with cold wateror noticing and labelling five things around you).

DisclosingYour personal experiences are your own. It is your choice whether to keep them secretor to share them with people you trust such as your family members/friends/loved
ones/professionals. For many survivors, however, disclosing their personal experiencecan be an important step in recovery.

What is Disclosure?
Disclosure means telling your personal experiences to somebody you trust and feelsafe with. Telling a close friend, a family member, or a person from a support institution,
care centre or telephone counseling helpline can be an important first step in getting
help. By disclosing, you can discuss with the person what next steps you may want totake.

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Why Disclose?
Disclosure is the first step towards getting protection and help. It may help you feelless alone, and provide some relief. First time disclosure is often difficult and may leave
you feeling fear, shame, despair, anger or horror. However hard, it is often the first stepon the path to getting help and recovery.

How to Disclose?
In order for disclosure to be helpful, it is important to consider what you will tell, andto whom. Writing down what you want to say can be helpful. It is also helpful to try tokeep calm when you speak, for example, by taking some deep breaths.

Effect of your Disclosure on Other People
Disclosing your experience can be emotionally overwhelming for the listener, especiallyfor a close friend or a family member. The person close to you may cry or get very
angry at the perpetrator. Sometimes this is so difficult for this person that he or she
simply cannot believe that this is possible. While difficult, it is important not to giveup; disclosure is often the first step to getting help. If you are afraid of unpleasant
reactions from your friends or family members, use a telephone helpline or first talk toa professional supporter.

Disclosing to an Official Person
Disclosing your experience to an official person (teacher, director, police officer, socialworker, psychologist) may legally require them to take action against the offender. To
do so, they may have to verify your story, so they may ask a lot of specific questions
that may seem intrusive or be upsetting. You might experience feelings of fear, shameor anger, or you may even re-experience the event(s) (feel like they are happeningagain). Remember that in order to prosecute the offender and protect you, thesepersons have to follow standard procedures. The investigating officials are trained towork with people who survived similar experiences as you have.

What can you expect from disclosure?
You may expect different things depending on how and when you disclose yourexperience. A close friend or a family member can give you protection, emotional
support, the opportunity to discuss actions to take and assist you in contacting theofficials. Professionals can provide counseling, protection, advice or legal action.

Coping Day by Day
While every day may feel like a struggle, there are many things that you can do to help
cope with daily activities.

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SleepSleep is very important for your wellbeing. While many trauma survivors have difficulty
sleeping, there are things you can try to reduce this. Practice moderate physicalexercise a few hours before sleeping time. Try to have a light meal about two hours
before going to bed, and avoid heavy meals and drinking liquids that contain caffeine.
If you can, avoid discussing upsetting things shortly before sleeping. Where possible,
try to go to sleep at more or less the same time, in the same place and ensure a quiet
environment.

Eating Habits
Regular and balanced eating is good for your wellbeing. Foods that are low in fats
and sugars, and are easy to digest, are good for your health. Monitor your weight. Tryto maintain regular meal times during the day, and avoid having a meal late at nightor shortly before going to sleep. Limit the amount of alcohol you consume because
alcohol can impair your judgment and reactions, and negatively affect your emotions
and relationships with other people.

Healthy Daily Structure
Maintain regular daily activities such as getting up, going to work, meeting people,resting and doing leisure activities. Practice moderate physical exercise on a regularbasis and eat regular meals. Make a list of things that give you pleasure and do at least
one each day.

Self-Care
Caring about yourself is good for your body and the way you feel. Talk to yourhealth care provider about any health concerns, avoid using drugs, and limit yourconsumption of alcohol and tobacco.

Social Network
Identify the people you trust and consider talking to them about your worries anddilemmas. Seek their advice and try to maintain regular contact with these people. Be
open minded about meeting new and interesting people.

Mindfulness PracticeThink about the activities you enjoy doing or the places where you feel relaxed andsafe. Make a list of your skills, people that care about you, your achievements and otherassets that are your ‘resources’.

Falling Back into Bad Feelings
The negative feelings you experienced right after the event(s) may return. This is anormal part of the process of coping. When this happens you might choose to distract
yourself or do something which helps you relax, e.g. talking with a friend, moderate
physical exercise, or listening to your favorite music.

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Diary/Expressive Writing
Consider writing a diary of pleasant situations and experiences with people to help you
become aware of the different resources you have access to. Writing about feelings
can help you express and organize them.

What can I do to get help from others?
Peer Support
It may be hard to talk to other people about the things that have happened. Try tofind people you can trust, such as your life partner, parents, peers or friends. You do
not need to tell them everything, but you may find it helpful to explain that you areexperiencing some difficulties. Doing so may help you to feel less alone.

Professional Help
It may also be helpful to call a telephone counselling service or to contact a mental
health professional for support or treatment. Consider asking your doctor to refer you
to a local mental health practitioner who specializes in working with trauma, abuseor PTSD. If you are experiencing significant distress, please contact a local crisis
counseling hotline or emergency response number.

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The International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) is devoted to generating
and spreading knowledge on policy and initiatives aimed at reduction of traumaticstressors and their short- and long-term consequences. Members of the ISTSS comefrom different clinical and non-clinical settings and have different cultural backgrounds(literally: are from different cultures).
The ISTSS Global Collaboration has been established as a global collaboration between
different societies for traumatic stress studies. The ISTSS Global Collaboration consistsof representatives from different regions, including Hong Kong, Japan, Africa, Europe,
North and South America and Australia. This e-pamphlet has been developed bymembers of the ISTSS Global Collaboration to increase awareness of child abuse andneglect worldwide.

This pamphlet was created by the Public Education Committee ofthe International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.
© 2016

One Parkview Plaza, Suite 800
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181 USA
Phone: +1-847-686-2234
Fax: +1-847-686-2253
istss@istss.org
www.istss.org

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