It is almost certain that men or women who have suffered from sexual abuse will require treatment for sexual trauma. While it is commonplace to keep sexual abuse a secret, the only way to heal is to take a step forward and get treatment for sexual trauma.

In most cases, treatment for sexual trauma encompasses a variety of therapies designed to seperate the patient from the pain of the past and move forward with their life. By revisitig the actual trauma, meeting it head on and finding healthy coping skills to effectively deal with those  feelings, recovery is possible. You no longer have to suffer as a victim, with low self worth involved in self defeating behavior.

Many of those people entering treatment for sexual trauma report turning to or away from food as a means to cope. Unfortunately the effects of the sexual abuse remains and the individual is now having to deal with disordered eating too. The key is too get treatment for the sexual trauma as soon as you can before other problems begin to pesent themselves.

I’m currently reading a couple of books which are overlapping with the AA / NA “foundation” literature – the Big Book, the NA basic text, the Twelve & Twelve, As Bill Sees It – in ways that are really interesting and exciting to me.

M Scott Peck’s “The Road Less Traveled” is jam-packed with insights and advice that reinforce many of the ideas I’ve found in those AA & NA books and which I often hear in the rooms, although to some extent then develops them in new directions, or adds nuances which perhaps are already in those 12 Step books that I’ve yet to pick up on. At times the parallels are almost uncanny, considering that Peck was not writing about or to addicts. This fact in itself brings to mind the claim that the 12 Steps could benefit literally anyone in their journey through life, although in a kind of an inverse fashion: the lessons and principles explored in “The Road Less Traveled” suggest to me the many common denominators for all of us – addicts and alcoholics and “Earth People” alike – who at all stages of life are always struggling to “grow up” and become more loving, more honest, more spiritually aware and more effective in “all of our affairs.”

The other book that has rung a big ole’ bell in my mind that’s reverberating with my recovery process is called “The Law of Success,” written by Paramahansa Yogananda. It’s a very short book with large ambitions: the subtitle is “Using the Power of Spirit to Create Health, Prosperity, and Happiness.” I do recognize some differences in Yogananda’s philosophy from standard AA concepts (I’m not sure “standard” is a fair word to use here), but there are certain points he makes – or more poetically, chords he strikes – which I believe are deeply in tune with AA’s spiritual principles.

Do you have any non-AA/NA texts which are echoing and enriching your recovery reading and experience? If so, I’d love to hear about them.

Recovery Warrior Thursdays
*Real Women Telling their Real Stories in 12…. Questions (not Steps)

Hello my recovery warriors (I call you all my recovery warriors because if you are reading this blog you are taking the first step), welcome to the Women’s Treatment Program (Sobriety Diva’s playground) weekly feature where REAL women can tell their stories to other REAL women so we can find a REAL solution to this REAL problem.

I am so grateful to able to meet women in different stages of their recovery warrior and recovery mom, Randi Hazelman

- The Sobriety Diva

1. Name:

Randi Lynn Hazelman

2. Age:

29

3. How long have you been sober?

Almost 4 years in recovery- July 13, 2006

4. What are you recovering from?

Opiates, mainly narcotic pain killers and dabbled in cocaine, crack, and eventually got stuck on shooting up heroin a few times a day-my worst times ever since that was the one thing I said I would never, ever do-shoot up.

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Body image has always been an issue with women, but even more so with the woman who is suffering from an eating disorder. If you ask most women they will tell you that thin is in, but what is the definition of thin. Todays perception is much different than it was 20 years ago. If you were to take a look at a Playboy magazine back then, the center fold looks entirely differnet “body wise” than they do today. As a matter of fact we would call their most attractive centerfold heavy by today’s standards.

Due to the immense pressure placed upon women to look a certain way, many resort to extreme measures to accomplish this, which in many cases, ends up with the woman developing an eating disorder. The woman or man for that matter who have body image issues have probably moved into the area of believing that if they are only thin enough they will feel better about themselves. Unfortunately that weight or look never develops in their mind which results in continued unhealthy eating disordered behavior. The bottom line here is that an individual must not judge themselves by weight or body image, but by how they feel about themselves.