My History of Abuse: PTSD, Sexual Abuse, Mental Abuse, and Neglect through my childhood
Book Details
Author(s)Marnie Mangano
ISBN / ASINB00HS9FNDA
ISBN-13978B00HS9FND3
MarketplaceCanada 🇨🇦
Description
"I’m not going to talk about the problems I got glimpses into because those aren’t my stories to tell. I’m also not offering you a psych 101 guide with this book. The point is that having been there with those people meant I got to see and feel those things. It wasn’t a TV show trying to teach me about cutting disorders. It was being in a room with those people and seeing them face to face. It’s a small blessing from my past, but I’ll take it.
If any of you reading this happened to be someone in a hospital with me, thank you. You weren’t there for my benefit and my need was not greater than yours. Still it really meant something to me to have shared that with you. "
I know that I was raped around the age of 8 years old by an immediate family member, but I don't know by who. I also don't have many memories at all before the age of 16. Living with a mental illness can make certain things more challenging than they are for other people. Having a childhood where you felt trapped also creates challenges. I have been diagnosed with PTSD from my childhood, and don't have many memories between the ages of 9-16. My childhood is a lot like looking through the photo album of a perfect stranger. I see the pictures, but I don't know the stories behind them. I know that my father was accused of raping me by my mother. I know that my mother abused me: Sexually, emotionally, mentally, and physically. While Social Services was active in our lives I would constantly ask to be placed in a foster home.
The one thing that really drives me to write this is that I’ve read the stories of other people, and those stories can sometimes bring comfort. If just one abused child reads my book and realizes they’re not alone it's worth it. If my pain could bring someone else the teeniest bit less pain I have to take the chance. Your abuse doesn’t have to be exactly the same as mine. Abuse is abuse and it’s painful when we’re young and developing. There are others out there like you, and you’re not alone. Continue to seek out the stories of others because in some twisted way it helps to heal something in us to know those stories.
If you are a fellow victim of child abuse please remember: You did not ask to be born into your situation. It was not something that you had a say in. Your parents are responsible as they are the ones that had you. It was their choice to create the situation, not yours.
If any of you reading this happened to be someone in a hospital with me, thank you. You weren’t there for my benefit and my need was not greater than yours. Still it really meant something to me to have shared that with you. "
I know that I was raped around the age of 8 years old by an immediate family member, but I don't know by who. I also don't have many memories at all before the age of 16. Living with a mental illness can make certain things more challenging than they are for other people. Having a childhood where you felt trapped also creates challenges. I have been diagnosed with PTSD from my childhood, and don't have many memories between the ages of 9-16. My childhood is a lot like looking through the photo album of a perfect stranger. I see the pictures, but I don't know the stories behind them. I know that my father was accused of raping me by my mother. I know that my mother abused me: Sexually, emotionally, mentally, and physically. While Social Services was active in our lives I would constantly ask to be placed in a foster home.
The one thing that really drives me to write this is that I’ve read the stories of other people, and those stories can sometimes bring comfort. If just one abused child reads my book and realizes they’re not alone it's worth it. If my pain could bring someone else the teeniest bit less pain I have to take the chance. Your abuse doesn’t have to be exactly the same as mine. Abuse is abuse and it’s painful when we’re young and developing. There are others out there like you, and you’re not alone. Continue to seek out the stories of others because in some twisted way it helps to heal something in us to know those stories.
If you are a fellow victim of child abuse please remember: You did not ask to be born into your situation. It was not something that you had a say in. Your parents are responsible as they are the ones that had you. It was their choice to create the situation, not yours.
