Understanding the impact of abuse on the self-worth and how this has delayed growth through appropriate developmental stages is an important task for survivors. Education is essential for survivors to reach genuine understanding. In addition, guilt is often experienced by survivors because they perceive that they have participated in sexual abuse or allowed it to occur. They may feel shame because they have not disclosed the abuse, or perhaps they have enjoyed the physical sensations of the body's natural responses to it. Sharing this shame in group allows identification with others as well as emotional release.
Disclosures often help dispel feelings of shame about the abuse.
If not dispelled, guilt and self-blame may cause survivors to sabotage themselves or act out when progress occurs. The dynamics of childhood sexual abuse require the victim to surrender to a perpetrator. A more powerful person imposes his or her will on the child. This person is trusted and looked upon by the child as the model or mirror of what is normal and correct in behavior and perceptions. Boundaries within the self and in relation to the outside world are violated.