Comments for Child Abuse Story From Natasha

Click here to add your own comments

May 18, 2011
 Tasha:
by: Darlene Barriere - Webmaster

Thank you for sharing your story with my visitors and me. Something I learned about myself a long time ago that really was a breakthrough for me was that I didn't need the approval of my parents to move forward in my life. That I didn't need to have a relationship with either of them. In fact, the best thing I ever did for my Self was to draw a line in the sand and put distance between me and each of them. But it also meant finding what I needed from them...and then giving it to my Self. I also came to understand that what they had said about me, the name-calling, the rejection, were all lies. And when I realized that I had a choice not to believe the lies, then things began to change in my life. Perhaps this can help you along your road toward healing and recovery.

From Victim to Victory, a memoir
Darlene Barriere
Webmaster: www.child-abuse-effects.com
author. speaker. survivor. coach
From Victim to Victory, a memoir
May 19, 2011
 Such cruelty
by: Anonymous

Natasha, your parents and even your relatives (especially your aunt) are so twisted and messed up in their own ways of thinking that they don't even know how to take care of themselves, never mind be parents/relatives to you. Something's seriously wrong with them and they should've known better and loved and cherished you. Oh, and they are wrong. You are not ugly; you are beautiful. You are not unlovable; you are lovable. You are not worthless; you are worthy of love, dignity and respect. Never believe any of those lies that they were spewing. Oh, and shame on your mom for running way from you instead of protecting you from those beasts for a father and an aunt! I am just as disgusted by her reaction towards you trying to tell her on your dad for cheating on her and stuff; I hate women who choose men over their own children because children should always come first. Oh, and most people who treat others the way you were treated often do it out of jealousy because they could never be such a shining star that you are. Oh, and you are not to blame for their sadistic, ignorant behavior; they are to blame because they chose to abuse, offend and torture you. You were the child; they were the adults; they had all the power and only misused it over you. Oh, and they should be fired and then institutionalized for all those terrible crimes that they committed against you because you did nothing wrong. Oh, and I'm glad that your current boyfriend is with you now because he is so sweet for doing that; I just hope that you try counselling and that you look into reporting those beasts to the police.
May 19, 2011
 LOVE will be your winner: You'll be fine because you want to be loved
by: maurice

Natasha: you are one very special woman, honest, open and true to yourself: What a house to be born into: A professional man Doctor off his trolly: and a mother mentally unstable: You are a remarkable woman: Let Go NOW: move on, begin Today to live your life to the full with the Boy-friend who is loveing, valueing, respecting, a listener, a comforter: Together get some form of counselling together so you both will have the advantage of knowing the real effects of that horrible abuse you endured: Start with yourself, your therapist will gently put it all in perspective for you then ask would it be okay if your boyfriend sat in on a few sessions: They'll advice what is best for both of you: Natasha, you have opened up Darlene's nature and heart to the degree she made you a comment that is genuinely her truth: The truth set her free, Breakthrough's are ever so real and important her's will help you: Once a child of abuse reaches adulthood or are old enough to say I have enough of this then they need no one's permission to live there life to the full: Especially screwed up parentrs who abused them: Natasha be brave: Be strong: maybe in time you'll connect with those bad bad parent's: stop worrying: if you never do: Live one day at a time now: live it to the full: walk tall: walk straight| walk the world right in the eye: Put a real value on Darlene's comment to you from her woman's heart: She meant it for you personally: Have a healthy miond in a healthy body; Jogging being part of a group will sure help you there sure maybe your not to old to kick or throw a balll around with your own age group in a team: why not Natasha: get that boyfriend having a helathy mind in a healthy body too: Be in charge of your own destiny and life;
May 20, 2011
 Thank you
by: Natasha

Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement. I am going to contemplate hard on every thing each of you said because I felt your kindness! Thank you for showing that kindness and extending a helping hand to reach out to me and lift me up! This honest caring, that doesnt ask for anything back in return made me feel very good!
Anonymous, I wanted to report them but it is too late now. Both parents are too old now to be taken to court. They are pensioners and are not practicing medicine any more thank God. They are also in no contact with any chidlren as I am the youngest in my extended family and both my sister and I do not have children, nor does my cousin (I only have one cousin from fathers side). This story will end with me and I will break the cycle of abuse even if it is the last thing that I do!
The last thing I wanted to share Maurice is that you are absolutely right. I need to move forward! I need to keep on going because those things were lies. I found the strength through the support of my therapist and also you survivors, to ask my mother exactly what was wrong with my father. I knew he had severe mental health issues but I needed to know exactly "what" because that way, I could stop blaming myself for not "understanding" him better.
I found out that he is suffering from severe psychosis! Which is an umbrella term for some serious disorders that she didnt want to disclose. She told me that he was a hypocondriac and believed he was ill and that's why he was getting angry because he wasnt able to follow his dreams.She told me his anger was perfectly justified.
So I am going to follow your advice Darlene. Now its my time to draw a line in the sand. You are perfectly correct. Validation is not needed. Although I do feel sorry for my father having to endure such a life of suffering and pain, and I feel sorry for my mother that wanted to protect her mind, I do not feel sorry for the adults that should have been responsible! And this distinction is what will make a great difference.
Thank you all for reading this. And God be with you!
May 26, 2011
 Empathy
by: Elaine Ellis

Natasha,

Reading your story brought back memories for me.
Mental health issues in a family are seriously difficult. Even now,mental health problems remain a scary, musunderstood Taboo.

Your story leapt out at me, as there were elements similar to my own. I grew up with a mother who has Bi-Polar Disorder, and a father who, although not formally diagnosed as mentally ill, clearly had serious emotional instability issues of his own. Both my parents, like yours, were people who, supreficially appeared highly intelligent and succesful. My father has his own Engineering business that he built from scratch, and he lectured in Engineering; my mother was a Civil Servant with a Grammar School education.

I think the very fact that they appeared so clever and succesful allowed them to hide their family problems from the outside world. I don't know if you would agree, but I personally believe that when a very intelligent person has mental health problems, they can be much more cold and calculating, and far more manipulative than some other sufferers. They can become very adept at trying to disguise their problem, and get very angry with anyone who might "expose" them. They become obsessed with trying to maintain the false "self" that they are attempting to present to the rest of society. Only their family get to see what they are really like.

When someone in a family has mental health issues, it can make life very difficult for EVERYONE concerned. (My own mother appeared to suffer delusions, some of which were about me.) The symptoms of their mental illness can make them difficult to deal with and understand, and be around. Particulalry if they refuse to take medication, or forget to take it. Or worse, if they don't seek assistance and diagnosis at all. Sometimes they "self-medicate". Sounds like your father did this by prescribing himself tablets. My mother self-medicated with bottle-loads of Bacardi!

The other thing is that many people just do not understand mental health issues, or the effect they can have on families. So when a person is abused by a family member with mental health issues, it's so hard to get help. Besides, how do you speak out against your own parents? I remember calling the Police because of my dad abusing me. But when they asked me to report him, I couldn't, as I felt so guilty. So I can imagine you would have found it just as hard to speak out against your parents.

So, I figure your parents were wrong. You are bright, determined and attractive. You have made a life for yourself, free from abusers. Yes, it took time to get there, but you achieved it.

If you think it might help, I have told my own story on Open Space, so you could read it if you like. I've always been puzzled by the link between my own parents' mental instability, and their abuse. You seem to have similar questions. I hope that I might be able to answer some.
Jul 07, 2011
 Thank you and I apologise for taking so long to reply
by: Natasha

Thank you so much! I apologise for taking SO long to respond to your comment life got in the way...You are absolutely right! When highly intelligent people have mental health issues, they can get away with literally murder. My dad had very good people skills and very good use of vocabulary which was considered as a sign of superiority. He could baffle you and confuse you with his arguments which to the untrained ear sounded LOGICAL and could explain away ANY bizarre behavior to the world! He had a ton of excuses ready and waiting and they all made perfect sense...To those of course that didnt have to live with him on a daily basis.
People like our parents obviously distance themselves from the world, keeping up appearances and being aloof so as to not get disclosed. My dad had an air of superiority, pretended he was so "upper class" and busy that neighbours literally thought what came out of his mouth was gospel truth! It also helped that my mother would NEVER openly defy him in front of others but would nodd sheepishly in agreement with whatever lie he happened to be saying at the time. I was also confused cause he used just enough "truth" to confuse you and get you thinking "could what he is saying be actually true? I mean he HAS an argument, he makes valid points...". BUT his manipulation had no bounds and its part of some mental health conditions that people ARE able to sustain an argument that kind of makes sense but if you distance yourself enough you see that their logic is riddled with inconsistencies and lies and "magical" thinking as I call it and the have ZERO proof for what they are saying. They take whatever comes into their minds as the ABSOLUTE truth and act out from that!
Mental health problems is considered taboo in Greece big time. I was unable to talk about it because society round here believes that it rubs off on you 100% and you can never get free from the stigma. I lost quite a few friends and men back in the days when I would disclose SOME of the information cause they thought I was BOUND to be "crazy" myself. The men thought I would have "crazy" children and they didnt want to take that risk! It didnt matter that I was on therapy, it didnt matter that things dont work this way. 50% is genetic but the other 50% is up to YOU and a stable home IS ENOUGH to stop a mental health problem from arising OR getting worse (if that is you have one to begin with!!). But I learned that one has to accept that some people ARE indeed afraid of the "unknown" and cannot deal with situations like that and its ok. They are not to be blamed. They just dont know. Now I have friends who completely understand and I can be myself with them and those who dont want to socialise with me then I bid them fare-well and I move on. I will DEFINITELY read your story because I do believe it will be very helpful. Thank you for taking the time to answer. Thank you for your honesty. We ARE survivors and we ARE HERE.
Jul 07, 2011
 To Elaine2
by: Natasha

Ahm, ok, dont know what open space is, tried googling it and I got a trillion different web pages!! If you read this please let me know which open space web page you are referring to.Sorry about that...:(

From Darlene - Webmaster: Natasha, Elaine has an openspace page here on this site, which I've now closed, except for those whom I've already created a page. You can read her posts at: https://www.child-abuse-effects.com/elaines-room.html


From Victim to Victory, a memoir
Darlene Barriere
Webmaster: www.child-abuse-effects.com
author. speaker. survivor. coach
From Victim to Victory, a memoir

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Write Your Child Abuse Story.

Return to Child Abuse Story From Natasha

Disclaimer: To the best of my knowledge the child abuse
stories on this site are true. While I cannot guarantee
this, I do try to balance the need for the submitter to be
heard and validated with the needs of my visitors.



E-book: Victim To Victory

From Victim to Victory
a memoir

How I got over the devastating effects of child abuse and moved on with my life

Read more...

Most Recent

RSS

  1. Converging Stolen Lives

    Jan 30, 18 01:13 PM

    There was a time and space I didn’t think about you, or your abuse. Where when I looked back at my life, I only saw normal things, a normal childhood.

    Read More

  2. A letter to one of the 13 Turpin children

    Jan 29, 18 11:33 AM

    A heartfelt letter by a former classmate that speaks to bullying and regrets. You'll find it on my Facebook group. I hope you'll join and get in on the discussion.

    Read More

  3. Dissociated From Abuse

    Jan 29, 18 11:00 AM

    I was sexually abused by my father from age 6 to 13, which stopped when I started talking about it during the day. The teenage brother of my best friend

    Read More

E-book: Victim To Victory

From Victim to Victory
a memoir

How I got over the devastating effects of child abuse and moved on with my life

Read more...