The abuse happened several years ago. Why do I still feel the effects of sexual abuse now that I am an adult?
The abuse happened when you were a child and it is most likely that you didn’t have a chance to share your pain with anyone up until now. This means that your experience and feelings have stayed with you all this time and possibly repressed in the unconscious. The unconscious has no sense of what is in the past and what is happening now. Therefore any situation in the present that might remind you of the abuse is sufficient to bring back feelings, thoughts and effects relating to the abuse as if it happened yesterday. In addition to this the child in you who was hurt at the time still holds all the painful memories, feelings, thoughts and experiences. The inner child also holds unto unmet needs. Until the inner child is repeatedly cared for and reassured, it is likely that you will continue to experience the effects of childhood sexual abuse in the present.