In our NYC therapy practice, we often see people who have survived childhood sexual abuse only confront this traumatic experience once they reach adulthood. There are many reasons a survivor may only come to terms with their abuse as adults, which is explored in a recent article in Refinery29 that features quotes from Tribeca Therapy. Using HBO’s new film The Tale as a starting point, which follows Laura Dern’s character Jennifer as she struggles with her childhood sexual abuse, Refinery29’s Kimberly Truong spoke with our director Matt about what may keep childhood sexual abuse survivors from dealing with their trauma. According to Matt, these reasons may range from difficulty seeing the abuse as abuse, particularly when the abuser is someone trusted in a child’s life, dissociation, and shame, which Matt notes, “is an under-appreciated mechanism of control.”
Read more of “Why Some People Don’t Confront Childhood Sexual Abuse Until Later In Life” on Refinery29 here.