Abuse can take many forms and can target men, women, boys, and girls. Abuse counseling can help clients process this trauma.

Each client is unique, and a professional counselor is equipped to address particular concerns that relate to each individual seeking help.

Some common issues include mistrust, shame, and resentment.

Abusers frequently try to isolate their targets and coerce them into covering up their own attacks. Abusers may use techniques to gaslight or otherwise manipulate their targets. This can cause a person to doubt their own memories or be reluctant to trust others.

Survivors may also feel a misplaced sense of shame and benefit from talking about those feelings and memories with a professional. Sometimes shame turns to resentment toward the abuser or others who enabled abuse. Survivors may even resent themselves, their past behavior, or their current emotional state.

It is helpful to speak to a professional about these feelings. A counselor can help clients notice destructive patterns of thinking. Using techniques from therapy, survivors can understand themselves more accurately and take steps to stop judging themselves so harshly and regain their self-worth.

Good counselors work with their clients to identify the topics of talk therapy that would be most useful.

One may suffer from PTSD and need help developing coping strategies when they have traumatic, intrusive thoughts. Another person may have developed symptoms of a dissociative disorder as a self-defense mechanism and could benefit from therapy that focuses on that condition.

Of course, many survivors do not have a mental health diagnosis. Therapy still offers them a safe place to discuss and process their emotions and learn tools to live with better mental health.

These might include strategies for developing healthy relationships or advice for noticing negative thoughts and pivoting to ones that are more positive and uplifting.

Abuse is a very serious mental health topic. It may take time to process the psychological and emotional fallout whether a person suffered a single attack or repeated abuse. With diligence, survivors learn how to cope with the repercussions of abuse and prevent the memory of past attacks from interfering in daily life.

MindSol Wellness Center staff are equipped to counsel children and adults who faced abuse in the past or are current targets of abuse. Schedule an abuse counseling appointment in Sarasota, FL by calling (941) 256-3725.