"It's never ending"
Människors upplevelser av att ha blivit utsatta för sexuella övergrepp, en litteraturöversikt
Introduction: Sexual abuse is more common than statistics show; the number of unrecorded cases is high. Sexual abuse is hard to deal with, it is associated with taboo and shame and at the same time it is a trauma to the one who has been abused which will effect the rest of that persons life. Aim: The aim of this literature review is to describe men and women?s experiences of being sexually abused. Method: A literature review, inspired by Friberg (2006), was conducted. Nine studies with a qualitative approach has been collected and analysed. The findings have been discussed through Eriksson?s theories of pain and suffering. Findings: The experience of being sexually abused has been described by the victims in terms of feeling, telling, and recovering. The feelings were described as feelings of betrayal, shame, self- blame, insecurity, worthlessness and stigmatization, and a lot of the participants took action to escape feelings. Telling others about the abuse was dependent on the fact that they were acknowledged and reassured. The experience of recovery has been presented with the subthemes; making a choice, making sense of what happened to them, spirituality, changing the self-image, and also obstacles in recovery was identified.Discussion: To deepen the understanding of the experiences of sexual abuse, they can be related to Eriksson?s theory of suffering and the act of suffering, where the first step is to acknowledge and confirm the suffering. The suffering person needs to experience the pain, to be in it and suffer, and later be able to integrate the pain into a context, where it somehow makes sense.