Child Abuse Story of Healing and Recovery From Sue

by Sue Steiner
(Ohio, USA)

Horse drawing

Two years into therapy for complex PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), I was so devastated by the flashbacks and anxiety I was in desperate need to finding some relief. Relief was found for me unexpectedly in drawing.

As a child I drew some, not much, because of the chaos in my home. But I began to draw as an adult, trying desperately to find some relief. To my surprise, when I drew, that was the ONLY time in which the abuse flashbacks and PTSD symptoms did not consume me. I began to draw, and as I did, I drew things I never knew I could--portraits and realistic renderings of animals and people! This eventually led to painting. In the midst of all this pain and hurt, I had this hidden part of me that I never knew existed! I could draw and paint things I would have never guessed! As a child, whatever was inside of me that held the hope was shut off, but that hope was released as I began to heal in the form of this gift in art!

I missed out on doing much in school because of a chaotic home life. I missed out on college as a young adult because all I could think of was how do I get out of here? So I pretty much floundered and missed out on educational opportunities because of the after effects of severe abuse. But here was this gift that came to me quite naturally, without benefit of instruction. It has not made all the pain go away, but it gives me hope each time I pick up a paint brush and express myself when words cannot.

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