Member-only story

The Toxic Psychology of Parents Who Abuse their Children

lessons on breaking the cycle.

Emily Stroia
4 min readApr 21, 2019
Photo by Daniel Cheung on Unsplash

“Hope’ is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops — at all“ — Emily Dickenson

Every child needs unconditional love, safety and support to thrive as a healthy human in the world.

For some children their needs are fulfilled and for others they aren’t so lucky.

I was one of the not so lucky.

As a survivor of child abuse and sexual violence I feel it is my duty to be an advocate for those who are still in the trenches of it.

One of the questions I often asked myself was “Why is this happening to me?”

Child abuse victims want so badly to have normal parents and a normal family.

We want to feel safe coming home to our family.

We want to feel supported and not in fear of being belittled, violated or abused.

We want to have a parent to turn to for guidance, love and direction.

It is emotionally confusing to love a parent who is abusive.

--

--

Emily Stroia
Emily Stroia

Written by Emily Stroia

Associate Marriage and Family Therapist. I write about mental health, healing from trauma, and finding self again. Stay for a while. www.emilystroia.com

Responses (7)