Healing Abuse Quotes

“You can recognize survivors of abuse by their courage. When silence is so very inviting, they step forward and share their truth so others know they aren't alone.”
― Jeanne McElvaney, Healing Insights: Effects of Abuse for Adults Abused as Children

“Survivors of abuse show us the strength of their personal spirit every time they smile.”
― Jeanne McElvaney, Healing Insights: Effects of Abuse for Adults Abused as Children

“First, the physiological symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder have been brought within manageable limits. Second, the person is able to bear the feelings associated with traumatic memories. Third, the person has authority over her memories; she can elect both to remember the trauma and to put memory aside. Fourth, the memory of the traumatic event is a coherent narrative, linked with feeling. Fifth, the person's damaged self-esteem has been restored. Sixth, the person's important relationships have been reestablished. Seventh and finally, the person has reconstructed a coherent system of meaning and belief that encompasses the story of trauma.”
― Judith Lewis Herman, Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror

“She's terrified that all these sensations and images are coming out of her — but I think she's even more terrified to find out why." Carla's description was typical of survivors of chronic childhood abuse. Almost always, they deny or minimize the abusive memories. They have to: it's too painful to believe that their parents would do such a thing.”
― David L. Calof

“You can recognize survivors by their creativity. In soulful, insightful, gentle, and nurturing creations, they often express the inner beauty they brought out of childhood storms.”
― Jeanne McElvaney, Childhood Abuse: Tips to Change Child Abuse Effects

“Why Is It So Important to Remember?

When you were abused, those around you acted as if it weren’t happening. Since no one else acknowledged the abuse, you sometimes felt that it wasn’t real. Because of this you felt confused. You couldn’t trust your own experience and perceptions. Moreover, others’ denial led you to suppress your memories, thus further obscuring the issue.

You can end your own denial by remembering. Allowing yourself to remember is a way of confirming in your own mind that you didn’t just imagine it. Because the person who abused you did not acknowledge your pain, you may have also thought that perhaps it wasn’t as bad as you felt it was. In order to acknowledge to yourself that it really was that bad, you need to remember as much detail as possible. Because by denying what happened to you, you are doing to yourself exactly what others have done to you in the past: You are negating and denying yourself.”
― Beverly Engel, The Right to Innocence: Healing the Trauma of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Therapeutic 7-Step Self-Help Program for Men and Women, Including How to Choose a Therapist and Find a Support Group

“You're just another f*cking mirage on my road to hell" ~Johnathon Lee Ashfield, AKA Sade~”
― Lucian Bane, Mercy

“Healing trauma involves tears. The tears release our pain. The tears are part of our recovery. My friend, please let your tears flow.”
― Dana Arcuri, Soul Cry: Releasing & Healing the Wounds of Trauma

“My only regret is that no one told me at the beginning of my journey what I'm telling you now: there will be an end to your pain. And once you've released all those pent-up emotions, you will experience a lightness and buoyancy you haven't felt since you were a very young child. The past will no longer feel like a lode of radioactive ore contaminating the present, and you will be able to respond appropriately to present-day events. You will feel angry when someone infringes on your territory, but you won't overreact. You will feel sad when something bad happens to you, but you won't sink into despair. You will feel joy when you have a good day, and your happiness won't be clouded with guilt. You, too, will have succeeded in making history, history.”
― Patricia Love, The Emotional Incest Syndrome: What to do When a Parent's Love Rules Your Life

“no recovery from trauma is possible without attending to issues of safety, care for the self, reparative connections to other human beings, and a renewed faith in the universe. The therapist's job is not just to be a witness to this process but to teach the patient how.”
― Janina Fisher

“Don’t hide your hurt, beautiful soul. Grab a hold of it. Run it through the purifying flame of your heart and mold it into something beautiful. Allow the depths of your pain to expand the breadth of your compassion. Gather up your stumbling stones and build a bridge for someone else. Remember what it’s like to be lost in darkness so you can be someone else’s much needed light. Don’t deny your pain or bury it away. Let it rise to the surface. And then transform it into something that makes it worthwhile.”
― Cristen Rodgers

“The hardest thing to ever do is to reveal the naked soul to the world. However, in doing so brings healing, growth, strength, and powerful inspiration!”
― H.E. Olsen, Discovering True Love: A true story of how I learned to love in very difficult circumstances

“There is no one way to recover and heal from any trauma. Each survivor chooses their own path or stumbles across it.”
― Laurie Matthew, Behind Enemy Lines

“Spirituality isn't some quaint stepchild of an intelligent worldview, or the only option for those of us not smart enough to understand the facts of the real world. Spirituality reflects the most sophisticated mindset, and the most powerful force available for the transformation of human suffering.”
― Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph: The Spiritual Journey from Suffering to Enlightenment

“In spite of the horror, in spite of the
tragedy, in spite of the weeks of sleepless
nights, I'm finally alive. I'm not pretending.
I feel real. I'm not playing charades anymore. I wouldn't go back to the way I was for anything. I'm really like a different person. I'm where I am, and I'm making the most of it. I know I'm courageous now. I found out I had it in me to face this. — Barbara”
― Ellen Bass, The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse

“Healing is never complete until we have been truly heard. May the universe send you someone who will sincerely care to listen.”
― Anthon St. Maarten

“Often feelings of shame, powerlessness, and self-hate are bottled up with the memories, and as the memories come through, these feelings do, too.

Yet healing isn't just about pain. It's about learning to love yourself.”
― Laura Davis, The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse

“It isn’t violence that can break through our hearts. It isn’t force that binds us and keeps us together. Only tenderness has the power to accomplish what the fullness of love desires to do. Tenderness that approaches us little by little, and handles our feelings with the deepest affection and delight. Tenderness that is willing to wait for the right time until we are ready and we are no longer afraid.”
― Jocelyn Soriano, 366 Days of Compassion: One Year Catholic Devotional

“She could do this. She was stronger now. This was her chance to prove it.”
― Talena Winters, Finding Heaven

“You are not responsible for anything that happens to you as a child but you are 100% responsible for your own healing.”
― Johnnie Dent Jr.

“At sixty one, I was at the top of my professional career, a wife, mother, and grandmother with many wonderful friends--and absolutely terrified....I was unaware of living as multiple identifies, but did spend my life running away from a 'me' I could neither understand nor tolerate....The first step to becoming one whole person happened to me the day in therapy when I became aware of the three adults who had been living in separate compartments in my brain. I saw them and they saw each other....A perfect three-point landing.”
― Janyne McConnaughey, Brave : A Personal Story of Healing Childhood Trauma

“What you feel, you can heal.”
― John Gray

“It is this honest connection behveen two human beings that, in the end, makes what we endured together understandable and meaningful.”
― Lynn I. Wilson, The Flock: The Autobiography of a Multiple Personality

“Empowerment is something that happens throughout your healing, as courage and success in facing your memories build your self-esteem. Some of the strengths you get from taking on your buried memories does not show up in your life until long after the resolution has been achieved.”
― Renee Fredrickson, Repressed Memories: A Journey to Recovery from Sexual Abuse

“Kindess is the twin sister of joy - we cannot have one without the other.”
― Heather Shore, Deeply Wounded Hope: How God Brings Life from Abuse and Hardship

“Kindness is the twin sister of joy - we cannot have one without the other.”
― Heather Shore, Deeply Wounded Hope: How God Brings Life from Abuse and Hardship

“Imagine what it would be like to be released from our biggest worries and to run free. It can happen. Choose God.”
― Heather Shore, Deeply Wounded Hope: How God Brings Life from Abuse and Hardship

“Show me a disease you want to heal, and I will show you what you need to forgive.
”
― J.S. Wolfe, The Unfolding: A Journey of Involution

“Your past pain is not a permanent prophecy.
Your heart's fate isn't written in the scars.”
― John Mark Green

“We are not always responsible for what has happened to us, but it is always our responsibility to heal from it.”
― Zara Hairston, It Came 2 Pass: Book 1, In the Beginning