Last week, a newspaper reported that a 28-year-old Claxton Bay man was found guilty of having sexual intercourse on two occasions with his sister, who was nine-years-old at the time of the incident almost eight years ago.
The story said the first incident occurred just one week after their mother died, in 2005, and a little over a year after their father died.There's hardly a chance of protecting the vulnerable among us when a brother would violate his younger sister at a time when he should have been offering her security.
Many of us will never speak out on this type of violence, but abuse of pre-teens and teens is a common occurrence in communities and among close relatives. I was eight when an older relative in whose care my father had entrusted me had inappropriately touched me. I had happily accompanied him on his bicycle to help move around our grazing cattle, as my parents were unwell that day.
As yet, no professional can definitively say if that was responsible for the deterioration of my mental health. But all agree that it was a turning point in my life.By the time I was ready to confront him, he died. And then, some years ago, I woke up as if I had received a blow to my head, recollecting what would now be amongst my earliest childhood memories, a horrid one at that, of me performing an utterly unseemly sexual act on his daughter at her instruction.
Uncannily, she died three days after I recalled the act, and I remember sharing with a trusted elder that on the spiritual level, I believe her soul had been releasing its own traumas to depart the corporeal world.But I remained thinking that to have violated me in such a manner at such an early age–she being not much older than I–her father may have molested her also.
I commend the young woman in this news story for her courage in taking on her brother, and while justice served will never erase the horror, I'm pleased that she has survived where many young people would not.Following up on last week's suicide feature, this infraction struck me as probably one of the most severe traumas in the life of children, which can precipitate suicide. Incest, rape, and molestation, very often, are violations perpetrated by relatives and family friends who have the necessary access to the child.
All the evidence proves that childhood trauma can lead to suicide. And for those who live to tell, the tail of that infringement wags throughout their life.Last November, sciencenews.org published the following:"Neuroscientists and psychologists now believe that childhood trauma, including violence and neglect, sears itself into the brain in ways that can have devastating effects later."It's a known fact that individuals with early life adversity are at a higher risk of suicide," says Gustavo Turecki, who directs the McGill Group for Suicide Studies in Montreal.
"A 2001 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that harmful childhood experiences boost a person's lifetime risk of attempting suicide by two to five times. Other studies reveal that people who experienced adversity during childhood make up anywhere from ten to 40 per cent of people who later display suicidal behaviour."Researchers say, "In the future, a deeper understanding of the brain scars left by abuse might point to better treatments for someone battling against suicidal behaviour, and perhaps even ways to prevent such tragedy."
All agree that the immediate goal is to better identify people who are likely to act on suicidal thoughts and to circumvent such actions.
Suicide Risk Factors
Negative life events that increase suicide risk
The US-based Suicide Prevention and Risk Reduction Committee works with this list that notes the push-factors of those at risk of attempting suicide.
�2History of one or more prior suicide attempts
�2Family history of suicide
�2Exposure to the suicidal behaviour of others
�2History of violence or hostility
�2History of family violence
�2History of physical or sexual abuse
�2Psychiatric illness
�2Family history of mental disorder or substance abuse
�2Chronic physical illness, including chronic pain
�2Loss of health (real or imaginary)
�2Recent, severe loss (especially a marriage or relationship), or threat of significant loss
�2Being faced with a situation of humiliation or failure
�2Recent or impending incarceration
�2Difficult times: holidays, anniversaries, and the first week after discharge from a hospital; just before and after diagnosis of a major illness; just before and during disciplinary proceedings
�2Assignment or placement into a new and/or unfamiliar environment
�2Difficulty adjusting to new demands and different workloads
�2Lack of adequate social and coping skills
�2Academic, occupational, or social pressures
�2Loss of job, home, money, status, self-esteem, personal security.
(www.suicideoutreach.org)
