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pain so deep...

makeitwork

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i can hardly breathe...even if my mother says she's sorry and admits to the beatings my brothers gave me, and my oldest cousin molesting me it's too late.

i feel like i shouldn't have to tell her how she should react...when she witness the first time my brothers beating me she should have stopped it...when i got the courage and strength to tell her what my oldest cousin did to me she should have reacted.

i went to her house last week and it was a disaster...she refuses to admit what has happen to me.

one of the things i said to her was...growing up i was so scared of my brothers i couldn't form a sentence...i would stutter...she said "ok your brothers would call you names." what is she talking about?

she kept on bringing up what my in laws said and did to me and i responsed...my in laws are not my mother and brothers.

so saying she is sorry it feels like it's all for show, doesn't come from the heart...i shouldn't have to tell her what to say or how to feel.

i can't stop crying
 

NoddaProbBob

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I'm sorry you're going through this. I wish I had more advice for you...
This is one of the main reasons why I haven't disclosed my abuse to my family members. Especially since like you, my abuser was my brother. Everything you're experiencing are the things that I'm most afraid of. Not being believed, feeling diminished, denied, and a whole slew of other things.

In a perfect world we would all get the support that we desperately need, but unfortunately, the people who truly need to give that support, just aren't equipped to do so. At that point you really need to evaluate whether or not pursing that support and validation is healthy for you. It sounds like it isn't healthy for you because you've tried to be outgoing and haven't gotten nearly the support that you've needed. You opened a door that could have been led to healing and accountability and it got slammed in your face.

So stop letting it get slammed in your face, because you don't deserve it. If you feel strong enough to do so, I urge you to say your piece to your mother and your abusers and then go about your own life. At some point, we need to realize that this isn't family. The definition of family isn't "sweep it under the rug" or "don't provide support for the hurting child".

I've struggled in this area too. It's slightly different in my case because my parents don't know what my brother did, but they are responsible in the fact that they had 10 years to see the physical, sexual, emotional, and verbal abuse that my brother put me through and still failed to recognize it and end it. Your mother, brothers, and cousin are all responsible. But do I consider my brother family? No. Do I love him? No.

And actually being able to write that out, feel it, and believe it, has been so beyond liberating. One of the most freeing things I've ever felt. Within family structures we're raised to have this undying loyalty to family. And this loyalty runs so deep that we're convinced we still need to go on as a family even though they've hurt us beyond what our biologies are capable of handling. If it were a family to begin with, then we would have never been hurt.

I believe it's possible to forgive and move forward as a healthy family, but not with the abusers and denial in the picture. The boundaries can be set, and the family can heal, but you first need to define what it means to be family and who it is that meets those requirements.
 
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rowantree

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makeitwork, my heart went out to you when I read your post. You have some experiences similar to mine, in that my mother will not acknowledge the abuse that I went through. It is soul destroying isn't it.

But I would endorse totally what NoddaProbBob has said. So many of those things ring true as well. Who is our REAL family? I am a bit lost for words here, although in a way there is so much that I could say. Our biological family is not always our real family and it is so hard to come to terms with that. For me, I keep on wanting to make mine my real family, but I know they never will be and that there will never be support for me there. It is a hard pill to swallow, and I too have sat crying just like you are now. That is why my heart went out to you. I can feel your pain with you. It is horrible isn't it. But I do think the the words that NoddaProbBob has written are true.

I am praying for you right now, makeitwork. God be with you, and may you be brought out of this horrible pit and find some comfort. Safe hugs to you.
 
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makeitwork

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well my mother left a sobbing vm on my cell...makeitwork please come over your nieces and nephews are asking for you...i love you makeitwork.

i gotta be honest the old me would have been there in a heart beat...but i don't have the desire to go there. my ma is controlling, manipulative, and tries to make me feel guilty...it doesn't work anymore.

as a matter of fact...memorial day and the 4th of july i didn't go to her house...i spent the day making memories with my kids.

it hurts to come to terms that i don't have a family...one other thing my mother said to me last week was "when it was your father funeral you didn't come to your parents house...you ran away." i said...i begged you not to have the molester a pallbearer but you didn't listen...and i ran away? when the funeral home came to the hospital it was me who stayed behind to see my father be put in a body bag...it was me who watched my father be buried...where were you and my brothers?

here i go again crying...
 
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rowantree

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makeitwork, I am so sad for you. My mother tries to make me feel guilty too, and is controlling and manipulative. She also cries to me, and tries to get me to go there. Also, I sat with my father all of the morning he was dying (11 years ago tomorrow, July 8th) and held him and tried to comfort and reassure him, and she came in just one minute before he died, and threw me out of the room, telling me that I could not stand it !!!!!!!!!! She had kept on running away, not me, but just like your mother, she blamed me.

I am no good with words of wisdom makeitwork, except to say that I do know your hurt and terrible pain, and am so sorry this is happening to you.

I think that if you have chosen not to go to her and to ignore her vm message, you have done what is right for you. But I really do know that conflict as to what to do. Whether to go or not. And then the terrible pain if you choose not to go.

It is terrible to lose the whole of one's family, even if that family causes us nothing but hurt.

Praying for you makeitwork. Please come back and let us know how you are doing. We care.
 
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makeitwork

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so sorry for your loss rowantree (((hugs)))

you were their for your father at the right time...you were a good daughter to your father...shame on your mother...your mother is jealous of you...it's true what they say the true colors come out of people either at funerals or weddings.

the day my father died...i took him to the doctors for a check before him and ma were leaving for overseas and the doctor said he's good to fly...that night he had a massive heartattack, put on a feeding and breathing tube...i never left his side...i whispered in his ear...remember to raise when you hear the trumpet...JESUS loves you...you didn't do anything wrong.

my father thought that GOD hated him because he had a massive heatattack, triple bypass, bleeding ulcer , and a massive stroke. the stroke is where he had to retire, couldn't drive, make homemade wine and italian meats, he couldn't take a shower by himself, my ma was his caretaker, and so was i.

my ma, brothers and their wives had no patience or respect for my father. my ma would always complain about him and finally one day i couldn't take it anymore and i said...how do you think papa feels? he's trapped in his own body, he had to give up what he loved.

there's a lot more than just me being physically and sexually abused...my ma put my brothers wives on a pedestal...it was so bad that my father, my aunts, uncles and friends of the family told her WHAT ARE YOU DOING? MAKEITWORK IS YOUR DAUGHTER NOT ? AND ?.

just to give an example my parents every year would go overseas for a few months and come back with beautiful gifts for everyone...brother #1 wife got first pick...than brother #2 wife...and i got the left overs.

i am seconding guessing myself...i never took my abuse this far in my life...all my life i was suppose to be seen but not heard...one of the things i said to my mother last week was you want me to put on a smile and make pertend everything is alright...she said yes...than i said you were hoping that i would never speak of my abuses and take it to my grave...her eyes got wide...i said i am not like you...i am not fake and phony...i tell things like it is not how it should be.

my question is how do i move forward? i don't want my past to be my present...me ignoring my family is that right?
 
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rowantree

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makeitwork, thankyou for sharing all of that. It is not easy to do that. I have so much in my life that is exactly like yours re my mother and my family.

Thankyou so very much for your words over my father makeitwork. He was not a Christian, and I prayed for him and tried to see him into the Kingdom of Heaven, and of course did not know what happened to him at the last. That is really hard.

I don't know how you personally should move forwards. It is always a very personal decision as to whether you ignore your family or not - and as to whether it is right or not, I cannot say. I know what I was told, but yet I still did not do it. I was told it was OK to ignore my family because my mother was not really my mother, but only the body that gave birth to me. She was no more than that because she was not a mother. That sounds extreme and was quite hard to swallow, but there were reasons for the person telling me that (it was the Minister in our church). He explained why I should not feel guilty for cutting off from her and from my family. I still have not done it though, the reason being, for me, that she is 86 and sick now.

I did try to confront her with what she had done, and have tried on a few occasions, but always, she denied it or kind of made fun of what I said and kind of did a dance in a rebellious mode. Hard to explain.

I don't know what the answer is for you makeitwork, but I am praying, for sure. Would love to know what others would advise here.

God be with you makeitwork, and may He guide you into what is right for yourself, and in His eyes. Take care and know I am thinking of you. xx
 
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makeitwork

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yes i am protecting myself...but why does it hurt so much? maybe because the truth hurts.

my husband took our kids out for breakfast and shopping...i need to be alone...he sees how much this is hurting me and he keeps telling me i am doing the right thing...shame on them...not me.

my house is sparkling clean...i do a lot of projects and cleaning around the house when i am hurting.

(((hugs))) to all of you...i need the support and prayers
 
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NoddaProbBob

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It sounds like you've had to deal with a lot of mistreatments from the people who are supposed to be your family. Can I ask, do your cousin's parents know that he molested you? Does anyone else in your extended family know? I'm just wondering if everyone would start singing a different tune if they knew the truth. Specifically your mother. This is entirely up to you. You have the control over who does or does not know about what was done to you.

And I know you described moving on as "ignoring your family". When it's put that way, it makes it sound like you're doing something wrong, and you aren't doing anything wrong. You need to put up these boundaries so that your mental health doesn't continue to suffer. How dare a mother ask their hurting child to "put on a happy face" in the light of such a horrible event? This statement alone kills a piece inside of you that's trying to fight. You cannot keep up this fight and try to build a wall of healing, only to have it knocked down and chipped away at by this fierce wave of lies and deceit. Not only is it unfair, it is simply wrong.

And you do have a family. It sounds like you have a husband, who saw your pain and tried to help by giving you alone time, and kids, who need a healthy mom. This is your true family. It's yours and no one can take that away as long as you maintain it. You can positively control how your true family interacts and shares with one another; how they thrive and grow in love. You have the power to make sure that your true family turns out to be nothing like the family that you grew up with. You only need to find the joy in this, because no matter how hard you try, you cannot make your mother give you the appropriate responses that you want about what happened to you. The only thing that does is prolong your suffering, and I truly think you've suffered enough.
 
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makeitwork

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this will be weird so here it goes...in '04 i gave my life to CHRIST...had a dream that my youngest cousin who was 9 or 10 years old in my dream was being molested by the same cousin that molested me...and then they both had red dots all over them. this felt so real that i went to my cousin house and asked to speak with him alone..he said whatever i had to say to him i can say it in front of his wife...shaking i said i know what X did to you...my cousin said with wise guy attitude...what did X do to me makeitwork...i said i know because X did it to me. he grabbed me crying hysterically saying makeitwork i told my mother but she never did anything about it.

i said my ma did the same thing...he asked how old was he in my dream i said 9 or 10 years old...he said he was 9...i asked what did the red dots mean...he said him and our cousin actually had chicken pots at the same time right shortly after he was molested. our oldest cousin was 19 at the time.

yes i told my godmother which is my mother oldest sister...at first she was in shock and then she said he was on drugs and i should be going to family parties and make pretend he's not there. she also said what are you going to do makeitwork call the police and ruin his life...he's married makeitwork and has kids.

i told my dads sister...she was in shock and said my mother never ever said anything to her she also said she remembers the brusies my brothers gave me when i was little.

everytime there was a party my father would ask how come you didn't come? and i would make up a lie...but in '07 i told my father and with tears running down his face he said...your mother never said anything to me if i would have known i would have killed the b. WOW thats what a daddy suppose to say...boy here comes the tears again. he also said i can't change the past and i should go to family parties

in '09 i told brother #1 he was crying like a baby and hugging me...when my ma insisted that the molester had to be a pallbearer he told my mother...she remembers everything don't do this to her.

fastforward i don't have his support anymore...a couple of months ago he told me to get over it, i need special help, and that i made what my cousin did to me everybody elses problem.

brother #2 found out shortly i told brother #1...but i didn't tell brother #2 it was brother #1...and he doesn't believe me. as a matter of facted brother #2 made me godmother to his son and the molester godfather...i remember at church i had my godson in my arms and the molester was sitting down and said let me hold him and i said i don't think so and walked away.

wow i can't believe what i just wrote...why would i want to continue to have this rejection and betrayal in life?
 
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