Guilt
		Guilt is another common result of sexual abuse that usually goes hand-in-hand with shame. Shame is a result of the inward humiliation often felt, the disgrace of being involved in such a disgusting act. Guilt is a feeling of remorse that the survivor acted in a way that consciously went against her value system. This "wrongness" is often felt intuitively, even in a young child before she is even aware of sexual acts. Guilt, like shame, usually increases as time passes because the survivor often distorts the amount of control she had during the abuse, and she may feel she "consented to it," "encouraged it," or "should have stopped it." "Why didn't you tell anyone?" is a question that may haunt the survivor for years. Guilt is increased if the survivor was forced to actively participate in any of the acts of sexual abuse; it may be misinterpreted in her perception as willingly performing the acts as opposed to a more passive role of having the act done to her, which places less culpability on her. "I did this; therefore, I must be as bad as the abuser," is a comon perspective which contributes to the feeling of worthlessness, and creates the same negative cycle as with shame. It doesn't matter to her that she did the acts against her will; she still did them and often assumes the blame for them. This guilt often permeates every area of the survivor's life. She may question her own motives and mistrust her judgment. "If I was able to perform those acts, what keeps me from doing something worse?" She may feel guilty and assume the responsibility of the acts of others as being her fault; she has an inflated sense of responsibility that she has control over acts that she, in fact, has no control over. She often is unable to forgive herself for minor mistakes, and she judges herself harshly for not being "perfect." This may lead to destructive behavior because of the view that she is "already bad and has nothing to lose," which is then justified by the behavior, and this again perpetuates the negative cycle. Because of the damage done to her self-esteem, she doesn't care enough about herself to try to break the cycle. Guilt, like shame, is very difficult to recognize because the feeling is vague and does not evoke the obvious physiological signs of more easily recognizable feelings such as anger, fear, and sadness. It is also crucial to identify this feeling as many of the other feelings resulting from abuse stem from guilt, and it is important to get to the root of the problem. Guilt must be faced directly and combated actively. To eradicate it, the survivor must keep it foremost in her conscious mind so she can challenge it and make a conscious decision to have the confidence to act appropriately, and then trust that she has done the right thing. If she finds that she has made a mistake, she will need to acknowledge it, vow not to do it again, forgive herself, and let it go. This is not as easy as it seems because it takes time for her to believe in herself. Trust in herself will come as she works through the steps and releases her guilt. A journal may be helpful as a medium to explore the events that make her feel guilty and to analyze why and what she could do in the future to avoid the feeling. If she is not going against her belief system, then she is living true to her values, which should not cause feelings of guilt (if her belief system is not way off base.) If she still feels guilt, she can try to recognize what is making her feel guilty and distinguish if it may actually be a different feeling she has, such as fear or lack of confidence. Some writing exercises from group may help to analyze the root of her guilt and to finally extinguish it for good.