What Are Adverse Childhood Experiences?

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It is important to understand why former victims of child abuse often become abusive toward their loved ones.

Former victims are often blind to the fact that they are repeating their abusive parents' behavior.

There are several main reasons why former victims tend to repeat the abuse or neglect they experienced.

In previous posts, I wrote about the phenomena of re-victimization reenactments based on my recent book, Putting the Past in the Past. But there is another type of reenactment—when a former victim of childhood abuse or neglect ends up treating others, specifically their own children and/or their partners, the way they were treated growing up. In this post, I will explain why and how this occurs.

Not everyone who experienced abuse or neglect as a child repeats what was done to them, but unfortunately many do. Studies suggest that about one-third of those who were physically or sexually abused or extremely neglected will go on to abuse others. The rate of abuse among individuals with a history of abuse is approximately six times higher than the base rate for abuse in the general population.

Although many former victims tend to reenact the same type of abuse they experienced, not all victims who become abusive repeat the exact type of abuse they experienced. For example, a child who was sexually abused may not go on to sexually abuse their own children. Instead, they may be more likely to become a neglectful parent.

Why Victims of Child Abuse Often Become Abusers

In general, some of the main reasons why someone who was neglected, abused, or abandoned becomes abusive themselves are the........

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