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Child Abuse Story From Cat

by Cat
(Littlestown, Pennsylvania, USA)

My name is Cat and I am now 16 years old. Since the 6th grade I have been interested in child abuse stories and how to help, and now I believe I should tell mine.

My father is a cruel man. He would emotionally abuse myself and my brother since we were young, and would neglect us. He started leaving us home alone when we were 5 (me) and 4 (my brother). He would leave us alone for hours on end and go to the bar where he worked and drank. To this day when we visit him he still does this.

My father was always emotionally abusive towards basically everyone in our family. If my brother and I were playing outside he would yell at us to get inside the house. He would yell at us as if we had done something wrong when we wouldn't have done a thing. My dad's favorite "game" he would play on us was when he would lay on the couch real still and pretend he were dead to the point that we would either cry or have the phone in our hand to call the cops. Then he would yell at us.

My mother knew she wanted to leave my father since my brother was 2, but he would always promise things would get better, so she stayed. She always wanted that male influence in our lives. Now I search endlessly for that, and when I finally found someone who actually cared, I ended up cheating on him and losing the only guy that ever truly cared about what happened to me.

Sometimes when my parents would get in a fight my dad would just take us and my mom would think he kidnapped us. He even took us from school once. I also believe that he may have sexually abused me. All he would do though would touch or squeeze my butt. This did make me uncomfortable though.

I am now 16 years old and have been diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder. I have become so messed up from this. I started cutting when I was 13 and am still trying to stop. I met the first guy who ever cared about me this past year and he even got me to get help for my depression and cutting, but like I said, I have recently lost him. And sometimes I think about suicide again. I am in counseling though and am getting help.

I am however paranoid about everyone around me. I think that I may get the same treatment from them that I did from my father. I don't let too many people get close to me for fear of that very same reason. I can't even get close to my mother. This ordeal has affected me greatly, and in some ways my brother too, but not as much as it has me (or rather that he hides it). We are no longer living with my father and only see him maybe twice a year.

Anyway, this is my story and I hope that if someone sees it they can post theirs too and get help.

Darlene's comments to this "Child Abuse Story From Cat" can be found at Comments below this submission. Depending on system activity, there are sometimes delays in comments going live on my site; but rest assured, they do eventually appear. So if you don't yet see them, I hope you will return later to read what I, and possibly others, have written. I thank you for your patience and understanding.

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Comments for
Child Abuse Story From Cat

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Aug 17, 2008
You MUST stop treating yourself the way your father treated you...
by: Darlene Barriere - Webmster

Cat, the first thing I'll say to you is that you deserve to treat yourself better than the way your father treated you. You are way too precious NOT to!

Secondly, I am very glad to learn you are in counselling. You are DEFINITELY worth that kind of help. Regardless of all the nasty and horrible things your father yelled at you, you ARE worthy. Your father has a problem with alcohol; it has chemically altered his brain. That is not an excuse; it's an explanation. What's important for you to understand is that this is your father's problem, not yours. You did not deserve to be neglected and you did not deserve to be yelled at and purposely terrified. The "game" he played with you and your brother was cruel and unfeeling. I can only imagine the sheer terror and horror you felt when you both thought your father was dead. And then to learn that he thought it WAS just a game, and one that ended in him yelling at you both; how utterly betraying for you and your brother. Just don't ever think this had something to do with you, because it didn't. Whatever demons haunt your father are not about you.

I can understand you being what you call "paranoid." You have every reason to be distrustful. But stay in counselling, Cat. I know you have difficulty trusting, but sometimes we have to risk trusting someone in order to get better. You're worth such a risk.

You said, "I finally found someone who actually cared, I ended up cheating on him and losing the only guy that ever truly cared about what happened to me." You made a mistake, Cat, a choice you regret. You must look at this as a lesson learned and one not to repeat in the future, not as a life sentence of regret and sorrow. There WILL be other caring guys, but you must first learn another lesson: Cat, I know you probably believe you cheated on him because you didn't care enough about him to treat him better; but the reality is that you didn't care enough about yourself to treat yourself with the dignity and respect you deserve. The boy had the self respect to not allow you to treat him with disrespect. Learn from him. Consider him your greatest teacher so far. And as I said above, stay in counselling. Think of counselling as your first step toward self-love; and you DO deserve to love yourself: you ARE lovable, in spite of what you think right now. The next step will be in no longer self-harming...one step at a time, Cat, one step at a time, even if they are baby steps.

Darlene Barriere
Violence & Abuse Prevention Educator
Author: On My Own Terms, A Memoir

Aug 17, 2008
From one generation to the next.
by: Peter H. Schmedding

This is so sad. It is, however, just another of those countless stories that leaves one feeling helpless. A father like that reported by cat must have learned such behaviour from HIS equally careless and clueless parents and so the line of guilt continues through previous generations.

In the way steps on the beach, after a while leave no trace behind, we will never know how cat's father was treated as a child. And yet, from the manner how he has been behaving gives us a reasonably clear picture.

In the wishful thinking department of my mind I can see a future world where parenting is taught in the elementary/primary years. The importance of how our treatment and attitudes toward the very young determines the likely outcomes once they reach adulthood would be instilled at school children's most impressionable age. Such a process would help breaking the chain of child abuse from generation to generation such as cat's father so convincingly demonstrated.

Aug 18, 2008
You are amazing, girl!!!
by: Linda Settles

Dear Cat,
It is evident from your letter that you will, and already are, rising above the terrible hurt and indignities of your past. You are so young, and yet you are miles ahead of many women who suffer abuse in terms of seeking the help you need and recognizing the damage that has been done to you. You have the courage to heal, and you will. It will take time, and energy. It will not happen quickly, but recovery offers its own reward along the way--just as the word implies. Just as a rescuer in a recovery mission goes bravely into a dangerous place and retrieves a life--so the survivor must do in order to heal. Most rescues are not attempted alone--and the rescue of our dignity, our self-worth, and our respect is more likely to be successful if we take a person trained for the part along with us. You have chosen to do just that--and I applaud you for it. You are an amazing girl!!!

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