ABSTRACT
To survive the unsurvivable, to continue to live in a family where they are being physically, emotionally, or sexually assaulted, victims of childhood abuse have to fragment their experiences, their feelings, and, ultimately, themselves. The duality of a parent who is both caring and threatening, the contrast between the public “looking good” family and the private hell, and the conflict between love and hate or love and fear all require the child to ignore huge chunks of reality and to suppress both awareness and emotion. This gives rise to a sense of distance from life and a loss of wholeness and identity. It is also the taproot of a more significant separation from self.
