History book.

[Unregistered]

Recently in my life, I have been having signs of a past history of sexual abuse (I am 17 years of age), such as not letting anyone touch me, even my own family, without fear of sexual intentions, frequent anxiety attacks, depression, and severe insomnia. I am scheduled to see a neuropsychologist, and I was wondering what they would be able to do in order to find out if I had been sexually abused before, but blocked it out mentally. Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated.

[UnregisteredJudy]

What do you mean by 'fear of sexual intentons'?

-Judy

[Unregistered]

As in, if the are going to attempt a sexual act on me- this also happens with word association, as in, certain words make me feel extremely uncomfortable, and some trigger my anxiety attacks.

[Don]

Unless someone here is a licensed neuropsychologist or has studied that field, I don't think answers to your question would necessarily be accurate. It would be more appropriate to go to a group that focuses on psychology, not hypnotherapy.

I would like to add that for some reason you have decided that the source of your behaviors may be repressed memories of sexual abuse. There are a wide variety of other situations that could cause these behaviors, too. If you go into an exam expecting to discover sexual abuse, your mind could work to find or create such abuse (this is known as "confabulation") even when such abuse never occurred.

One of the problems in today's society is that many people's concepts about the functioning of the mind are based on movies and TV rather than scientific facts. You'd have to go to very detailed books (no "pop psychology) on the subject of blocked memories of repressed trauma to get at the truth. For example, the belief that such repressed memories would effect a person years after they occurred with no indication of them in the intervening time factually incorrect. The reality of supressed trauma is that they have an effect almost immediately.

If a person starts manifesting behaviors such as you mention, there is a good chance that something closer to the date when these problems began was the cause. A good psychologist (with a doctorate, not a masters degree) should be able to help a person discover the source and deal with it in 6-18 months of work--perhaps more or less depending upon the patient and the skills of the psychologist. A good hypnotherapist should be able to help a person discover the source and deal with it (or perhaps just deal with it) in 2-3 months--depending upon the client and the skills of the hypnotherapist.

Good luck, and do let us know the outcome of your visits. I think everyone here wishes you all the best so you can lead a happy and fulfilled life.

[Unregistered]

My mom doesn't know about the touch issue, nor the word association, and I'm debating whether or not to tell her- she would hate me if I told her, and think I was perverted... If I choose to, how could I explain it to her without her hating me?

[Don]

You know her far better than we. What do you think?

If you don't know, you may have a problem with communication with your mother. If that's the case, you might consider going to a counselor who specializes in families with your mom.

[Unregistered]

Hello,
I live in Los Angeles, Ca. Where would I look for a neuropsychologist or someone who practices NLC
thank you!