"Is It A Child's Fault, Too?"

"Is It a Child's Fault, Too?" is based on a true account of a woman sexually abused as a child, a teen, and as a young adult. Alyssa, the main character is deeply distraught as she discovers that her family refuses to believe her when she finally tells them the secret of the chilhood sexual abuse, a secret she has kept from them until she is well into adulthood. She knew something was wrong with her but she didn't know it had a name and could cause her the seeming unsurmoutable obstacles that it caused her. She tried to deal with the sense that something was wrong on her own, but the illness was too complex for her to deal with alone and she realizes this when she has an emotional breakdown and experiences her first hospitalization in a psychiatric facility. During that stay in the hospital, she engages in intensive therapy, is put on medications, and is educated concerning the effects of childhood sexual abuse which had led to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, severe Depression, suicidal ideations and attempts, bouts with Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder), and other diagnoses which were yet to come. Alyssa's main struggle is with her family's rejection and lack of support for her as she is determined to sufficiently recover from her psychiatric maladies, but badly needing, and yearning for, their support. This short story will reveal the serious pathology of Alyssa and her self-destructive coping mechanisms. It will portray a very dysfunctional family that--over time--begins to rethink their strongly held beliefs concerning mental illness. In addition, Part Four allows readers to peek into Alyssa's mind during different stages of her recoveryby her writings.