Questions and discussion about sexual or other abuse or assault, and support and help for survivors.
Forum rules
This area of the boards is expressly for support and help for those who are currently in or have survived abuse or assault. It is also for those seeking information or discussion about abuse or assault. Please make every effort in this space to be supportive and sensitive. Posts in this area may or do describe abuse or assault explicitly.
This area of the boards is also not an area where those who are themselves abusing anyone or who have abused or assaulted someone may post about doing that or seek support. We are not qualified to provide that kind of help, and that also would make a space like this feel profoundly unsafe for those who are being or who have been abused. If you have both been abused and are abusing, we can only discuss harm done to you: we cannot discuss you yourself doing harm to others. If you are someone engaging in abuse who would like help, you can start by seeking out a mental healthcare provider.
How would you suggest that I talk about childhood sexual abuse with family members? I'm not sure how to broach the subject with my grandmother, who I am most talking about it with. I'm not sure if it would upset her.
My best advice is to do a couple of things:
1) Figure out what you want from sharing this with family members: making a small list may be helpful.
2) Figure out what you just can't handle or deal with from family members if you're disclosing: again, I'd make a list.
3) Look at both those lists and figure out who, if anyone, in your family seems like they might be a good fit for both meeting your needs/wants with disclosure AND who seem most likely to react in a way that you can handle right now.
If you do that, does anyone come up as a potential fit?
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead