Sexual Abuse Memories: What if Rape Happened to You?

“Being hung up on what happened to us in the past will keep us from realizing our full potential. It will block you from remembering who you are, the essence of your being given to you by your ancestors.” Rape is a complex subject to talk about, and it happens to many people. It is the depravity of the mind but, most importantly, the depravity of the soul. I remember my trauma after undergoing my spiritual awakening, I participated in an annual healing session, and many repressed memories from my childhood bubbled to the surface. I distinctly remember the information about my abuser and the darkness that always resonated within me, and I now knew where it all came from. I couldn’t understand why specific events triggered me, past sexual thoughts out of nowhere, or reacted to a particular individual a certain way. Research shows that people usually accurately recall the gist and central details of highly-stressful experiences. For example, someone may remember who the other person was and the nature of the most disturbing sexual act or acts and whatever it was that got their attention as it happened. These are the central details, but not all of the furniture in the room where it happened, nor all the details of the act, especially those they did not notice or pay attention to, the peripheral details. Someone may block out or edit some disturbing emotions and sensations; in those cases, the central details of this barrier are for that person at that time. In this episode, I will educate you about the three key memories of past sexual abuse and how each can affect how people react later in life due to the trauma. Please stay tuned. Key Highlights [00:00:01] Definition of rape [00:02:23] Details of a memory of a past trauma [00:07:49] Memories of unwanted or abusive childhood sexual experiences: Episodic Implicit Peripheral Notable Quotes ● Research evidence shows that it is not rare for people who were sexually abused in childhood to go for many years, even decades, without having memories of abuse; people must always have implicit memories of the abuse. ● Sorting things out can take time and require help from a therapist who understands how to understand distorting memories when you recall them. ● Most procedural memories connected to one or abusive childhood experiences are habitual responses to feelings of being harmed arbitrate ● Many of the self-defense and self-blaming behaviors and thoughts that people have, retreating and fear, striking out in anger, and criticizing themselves, are repetitions of childhood responses to being exploited or harmed by others. These procedural memories cause many other problems we have in our relationships. They are conditioned responses that are deeply etched into our brains. They arise automatically when we get triggered and are particularly likely to come out when we feel stressed or vulnerable. ● Being hung up on what happened to us in the past keeps us from realizing our full potential. It will block you from remembering who you are, the essence of your being meant to you by your ancestors. Resources Sticks, Stones, and Roots Podcast: Website: https://sticksstonesandroots.com/ Facebook: Facebook YouTube: YouTube