This results in feelings of extreme guilt and self-blame. Children with disabilities are particularly at risk for sexual abuse. Survivors are revealing in increasing numbers that they have been victims of ritual abuse. Studies indicate that this type of abuse, which is characterized by its repetitive and systematic severe sexual, physical, psychological, and spiritual abuse of children, is much more prevalent than originally believed. However, with so many survivors breaking the silence and talking about their experiences, it has become apparent that there are some responses to child sexual abuse that are common to many survivors.
Extreme depression is something with which survivors also battle.
Survivors often experience frequent sleep disturbances and nightmares. Links have been made between this and the fact that children are often sexually abused in their rooms, in their own beds. Trust is a crucial issue for many survivors throughout their lives. They were betrayed by the very people who cared for them, who insisted they loved them even while abusing them. Often, a sense of a just world is denied children who are sexually abused.