A Woman's Life in Recovery

Recovery from Sexual Abuse Links

---

Chemically dependent women often face the double edged sword of having to recover from their substance abuse and sexual abuse.  The majority of addicted women were molested as children.  I have seen stats that range from 55% to 90%.  I'm inclined to believe the higher figure based on my personal experience as a counselor.

Women also face the issue of rape...while under the influence they are sexually assaulted over and over, without their consent.  They are often abused and raped by their signifigant others, who are also chemically dependent...but that's another web page.

There is a delicate balance a woman needs to achieve in order to recover successfully from both her addiction and the emotional and spiritual trauma of past abuse.  It's a sort of "chicken and egg" situation; in order to recover from sexual abuse, one must be clean and sober....in order to remain clean and sober, sexual abuse issues need to be dealt with.

Among the women I know who have achieved successful, long term recovery, the majority of them got a solid sober foundation before addressing the abuse issues.  Of course it's important to bear in mind that there are exceptions to every rule!

These are some links to pages that address the sexual abuse issues.  I hope you can find some help here.  It's important to be able to discuss these things with a trained professional.  Most cities have support services for victims of all kinds of sexual assualt, and their services are usually at no cost or for donations.

Healing and peace be with you.