Link – Strong Midlife Relationships May Offset Health Risks Tied to Child Abuse
Child abuse is seriously damaging. We all know that. What we, unfortunately, don’t hear often enough is that while it can have lifelong impact, those impacts are not just our “destiny”.
“Northwestern University investigators said that given the serious health consequences of childhood abuse later in life — such as heart disease, stroke, and some cancers — they wanted to examine whether there’s anything that can be done to compensate or reverse these effects.
“This is one of the first studies to provide evidence suggesting that experiences long after exposure to abuse can mitigate the mortality risks associated with early abuse,” said Dr. Jessica Chiang, lead author of the study.”
I think it’s important to continue this sort of research. As I read this article, I thought to myself “So in layman’s terms, healing to the point where you have solid relationships and solid support systems in place actually counters many of the adverse health effects that we see in adult survivors.”
That is good news. Healing is possible, and not being just another statistic of poor health outcomes is within reach of survivors.
We are not permanently damaged.
