It is not unusual for victims who were sexually abused as children to wait until adulthood to make the abuse public, experienced counselors say. Feelings of confusion, betrayal and guilt often are so overwhelming that they are suppressed, and sometimes it takes years for a victim to be able to confront what happened, psychologists say.Dr. Karen Cogan is a licensed psychologist with a private practice who also works at the University of North Texas Counseling and Testing Center.
“This has been one of my areas of expertise for many years now,” Cogan said. “Often it takes the victim many years to come to terms with what has happened and understand it enough to come forward and tell people. They may have tried and not been believed by other adults in their lives. Who wants to deal with that, having people think it didn’t happen or that they brought it on themselves?”
Telling the story is reliving it, Cogan said.
“They have to be at a very strong place in their lives to bring it up,” she said.
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