This is self-work and I'm Dr Dr Margaret Rutherford. At self-work we'll discuss psychological and emotional issues common in today's world and

what to do about them.

I'm Dr. Margaret and self-work is a podcast dedicated to you taking just a few minutes today for your own self work.

Hi and welcome to Selfwork or perhaps welcome back.

Today's topic has to be addressed very carefully and if you've been sexually abused

remember that this may trigger a response, may be memories or anxiety or nightmares.

So if you're going to listen, listen with care.

The National Sexual Abuse Hotline is 1-HOP or 4673.

So please keep that in mind.

As a clinical psychologist for over 20 years,

I've treated a lot of people for sexual abuse. Statistics vary from

study to study but not so much. Most of the time you find that at least in the United States, and I know some of you are not listening from the United States,

but in the United States, one out of every four women has been sexually abused in some way,

and one out of, dependent on the study every six or seven men

So it is a rampant problem in our culture and one that many people have misconceptions about.

For example, most sexual abuse perpetrators are people that you know,

not strangers, as many people might assume. But today I'm going to be talking

about an aspect of sexual abuse that is rarely talked about. I'm going to

mention conditions that can

evolve from having been sexually abused and then again the shame about

sexual abuse that's rarely revealed and I'm going to give you three case

histories of people that I worked with.

...