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Last week I did an intensive and worked with a young woman whose life was transformed by a story I shared with her.
Although discussing childhood experiences is not the focus of my work with couples during intensives, Sharon talked a great deal about how she was raised. To say that she had it tough would be a vast understatement. Both of her parents were drug addicts and unable to properly nurture or protect their 6 children. As is often the case in chaotic families, the children “raised each other.”
Sharon shared that her parents divorced when she was 6, and that although her mother was working on becoming sober, her father was a heroin addict. Still, she was sent to her dad’s house for regular visits.
Her father often had other drug addicts hanging around his house when she visited. One of these men, Sharon said, sexually abused her. This happened on several occasions. Additionally, Sharon admitted that her own brother sexually abused her for 4 years and told her that he would hurt her if she ever told anyone. She never did.
As Sharon talked about these experiences, she cried, explaining that she felt shame and disgust because she........