Generational Abuse

http://shardsofglasscwseymore.com
I am the product of Generational Abuse. For those of you unfamiliar with this, it is abused witnessed or endured by your parents/grandparents/guardian, that is ingrained in within them and which they carry into their families. Thus the learned behavior is passed down from generation to generation creating a cycle of abuse for future generations.

 It is estimated that more than 3 million children witness acts of Domestic Violence (DV) every year in their family environment. Boys who witness DV are 100 times more likely to display those behaviors as adult males. “As violence against woman becomes more severe and frequent, the children experience a 300% increase in physical abuse by the adult male abuser. –Straus & Gelles, Physical Violence in America. 

My parents were BOTH abused. My father was the product of neglect, abandonment, molestation and witness to DV, (Domestic Violence). These behaviors later manifested themselves in my family where I too was a victim, tortured physically, mentally and sexually as a result of his learned behaviors. My mother was severely battered all throughout my childhood. I am just now learning the effects that just witnessing those episodes can have long into adulthood to not even mention my personal abuse endured.

My mother was a victim of severe childhood abuse and neglect. Surprisingly she did not abuse any of us, but she did acquire the abandonment and disassociation from childhood to be a mother who was protected and provided for us but was not loving or nurturing. This is something I crave today in my adult life. To have a mother who will embrace me tenderly and with overwhelming love. She loves me and only shows it through actions or advice but not in the tender ways that I so badly crave from being starved by it as a child. 

I believe that we must conquer the symptom of generational abuse to win the battle against the present abuse being suffered by millions today! I view many articles on all forms of abuse but rarely is it mentioned that abusers where witnesses to abuse themselves.  

In “Shards of Glass” by CW Seymore I mention this topic as well as all the abuse endured in my childhood and the lasting effects that I struggle with into adulthood. We need to stop the Cycle and end the violence TODAY!