The subject of child abuse has been around for many years, but for some reason only until the last few years has it been recognized as a real problem. Some forms of child abuse that lead to problems later in life are physical, emotional, verbal, incest, etc. When someone is abused as a young child their mind deals with this by creating multiple personalities, drug and alcohol abuse, and as adults you may become an abuser yourself.

If you look back at the history of some convicts you will find they were abused as children. Even if they manage to avoid the prison system or even contact with the law it does not mean they don't have a problem. For an example, I remember a story on the evening news about an eight month old baby that was buried alive because the father hit the baby and mistakenly thought he had killed it. This was a situation that could have been avoided because he had told his wife that he has been severely abused as a child. Since she worked nights, instead of having someone take care of the baby to make sure she was protected, the mother left the baby with her husband. After the baby went unconscious instead of calling an ambulance and taking her to the hospital he took the baby out to the dunes where he went dirt biking and buried the her to cover up his tracks and reported the child is being abducted. He is now serving time in prison for murder and his wife, who was pregnant with their second child, separated and then eventually divorced him.

Often our mind helps us deal with these issues by burying them so deep below the surface we do not remember them, but then you will often find these same people turning to drugs and alcohol as a way of numbing the feelings and pain they experience later in life and not understanding where the pain coming from. That is why when ever someone gets into treatment for drug and alcohol abuse you have to get down to the real issues that the individual may not be expressing our telling you about.

Until society recognized child abuse as a real problem, when ever a child came to school crying and upset it was often assumed that they were being disciplined for something they did wrong. Today, if a child comes in crying and upset the social worker will bring the child in for counseling and visit the family to find out what is really going on in the home.

Some signs of abuse are:

1. A child having bruises which are on unattended.
2. The relationship of the parents to each other and their children.
3. Are they often fighting with other kids or acting out in some way that is inappropriate?
4. Do they have long term goals for themselves?
5. Are they respectful to everyone around them as well as their teachers?
6. Is the child often accident prone?
7. Are they respectful of themselves?

Often people who are abused as children will act out in relationships with their peers. Someone who is abused often has low self-esteem and cover it by being the class clown or even being a loner. For the last several years you have heard about children bringing weapons to school and shooting up classmates. This is a new phenomenon, because years ago if someone was depressed from abuse they would often kill themselves.

If you are someone who experienced abuse in the home as a child and find yourself not having good relationships as an adult then you need to seek out help. Recently you have heard of a number of celebrities come out with books that chronicle the abuse that they experienced as children. They are also participating in reality shows where they are receiving therapy. The first step is to admit that you were abused as a child which is 50% towards recovery. The hardest part is to admit that you have a problem, whether it be that you abuse someone else or you abused drug and alcohol. Once you are willing to seek help and face up to your own demons and admit that you have a problem in relationships before you put yourself on the road to recovery. Because once you admit you have a problem then you are willing to do what you need to do to change your behavior.

Here are some steps you should take:

1. Look at your family history and the relationship you had with your parents or your brothers and sisters.
2. What kind of home did your parents come from?
3. Did they have a healthy relationship with their parents?
4. Did they have a healthy relationship with you?
5. Do you have a healthy relationship with your children or your spouse?
6. If all of the relationships you have are unhealthy, are you willing to get help to build good relationships in the future?

Child abuse has become an epidemic because it was not recognized or dealt with before it became an epidemic. It took children being killed at the hands of their adoptive parents before the government and society stepped in to enact laws to protect children. Even with these laws it is still an epidemic and will be for a long time, as change is slow to come about to get the problem under control. Here is another suggestion that you may want to take the heart and look at so you can protect someone else. If you suspect that a child is being abused in the home report it.

Author's Bio: 

David Shensky has written the book "No One Stands in Line to Become Disabled" that chronicles her experiences as a child with a disability growing up in a home where there was a lot of physical, emotional, and verbal abuse. She overcame these issues because early on in her childhood she recognized the home life as being unhealthy and as a college student studying a both a Mental Health and Psychology. She was educated before there were laws on the books guaranteeing people with disabilities the right to an education and entered the work force 15 years before ADA became law. Since she was unable to find gainful employment on her own she started her own company called Career Performance Institute. She works with clients to help them recognize their passion and a build it into a business. Many people who have insecurities and fears failure or and will put obstacles in their way to prevent themselves from reaching their goals and need to learn to overcome their limiting beliefs.