The survivor's hope is found in principles of health being patiently and tediously reconstructed into daily existence. Grief is raw emotional reality crashing hard on the shoreline of conscious thought. The survivor gives a name to feelings of toxic shame, horror, abandonment, confusion, self-loathing, and rage. Tears are shed, the throat aches with a surge of release, the physiology of the client thaws in the presence of safe and challenging truth. When given a voice the interplay of overadaptive and primary feelings find it's way into expression and takes on new meaning.
Behavioral change can result from having accepted truth and continuing the grief work.
But it is vital that the survivor be encouraged to use adequate doses of planful forethought when charting his new course. Often, it is necessary to set goals, make plans, repetitiously approach new challenges, and carefully assess the positive or negative results with a trusted helper. Over the years of conscious recovery from abuse the survivor is challenged to grow toward a ever-deepening sense of creative integrity, a symphysis of the attitudinal components resulting in primary emotional experience and meaningful expression. Most major theories in the field of growth psychology offer a unique spin on the concept of one's head, heart and hands working together on behalf of their owner. Our quest is that of achieving this ongoing growth state.