Are you a victim of abuse?

Yes, I have been through all of the abuse you have named when I was a child. Now I am a 39 year old perfectly healthy and happy wife of 24 years and a mother of a 10 year old son. How does my abuse affect me? My abuse has made me the person that I am proud to be today. I have used my beatings and abuse to make me stronger in my life, to show me the way to help others who have been abused, even if it is just talking to them. I realise now that my dad, when he was abusing me in various ways, had a mental problem. Now that I know that and have accepted that I can forgive the abuse even though some of it is so humiliating to even think about. Looking back through the years, I see that I have had a long hard life. But if I had been one of those pampered pinky girls dressed in the finest and walking on clouds thinking the world would give me all I want, would I be the person that I am today? Would have the knowledge that I have now to survive when the power goes off, how to fight off a mugger if needed. And most of all how to love my family?

No I was not abused - physically, verbally, emotionally or sexually. Of course I was abused emotionally and verbally sometime out of burst of anger.