How do you cope with the pain of child abuse?

[PinkSquiffle]

Anyone else severely sexually abused in childhood? How do you cope with it now? (decades on). I'm trying to recover from a nervous breakdown, I'm getting the very best trauma care there is but I am still struggling desperately. The pain is so immense. It's buggered my whole life and I cannot function. I'm unemployed, have lost my entire family & seen my marriage fall apart. Is there any one else on mn who's had a very severe abusive past & managed to find a new way to live?

No, but until someone else can be more insightful. I have worked through violence related PTSD as an adult rape survivor following a full breakdown and thought I couldn't get through it. But I did. I remember vividly that one day, tear filled on the tube (not crying but obviously visibly upset), a women slipped a handwritten note into my hand as she got off and it simply said "this too shall pass". I didn't really understand then, but I do now. It did, but for me, not without a LOT of support. Is your GP aware? Do you have any local charities that could help? How are you coping financially? The basics; sleep, diet and exercise are going to be your rock whilst you WORK through this. I say work as It will be hard work. But you owe it to yourself to start, and you've just taken the first step. If I could summarise my journey to peace it would be this; you didn't do anything wrong. It's ok to move away from the pain. Don't look back; you're not going that way.