Some professionals are not well informed about this subject. It is recognized that talking about trauma history is a difficult topic. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is the most popular viewed disorder related to trauma. Thinking of Vietnam veterans we know that memories and reminders of their past effect their day to day lives. The same is said for sexual and physical abuse victims.
People relive their events psychologically and physiologically.
Substance abuse Drug and alcohol abuse usually beginning in adolescence and early adulthood has often been observed in incest and child sexual abuse survivors. Borderline personality disorder Borderline personality disorder has been frequently observed in adult female survivors of sexual abuse and incest. Herman et al. These authors maintain that the memories of victimization become integrated in the total personality organization and become ego syntonic. The DSM criteria for borderline personality disorder include symptoms of impulsivity associated with intense anger or suicidal, self-mutilating behavior, and affective instability with depression, both of which are typical sequale in sexually abused children and in adult survivors of sexual abuse.