Professor shines new light on uninvestigated topic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By: Josh Bates

Staff Writer

22 million mothers in the U.S. were sexually abused as children, according to Teresa Gil’s, Ph.D., psychology professor, self-help book.

Gil wrote “Women Who Were Sexually Abused as Children: Mothering, Resilience and Protecting the Next Generation,” to give insight about the effects of abuse on children later in their adult life.

She wrote candidly about the struggles these mothers face and their strength and courage in overcoming these struggles.  

Gil has been a psychology professor and counselor for over 30 years. “I find that my therapy practice has supported the courses I teach in psychology,” she said.

She wrote the book because of the inspiration her clients gave her. She works with women who are recovering from sexual abuse as children.

The book was written to give others a better understanding of this suppressed issue. “This book is written for adult mothers who were victims of childhood sexual abuse, family and friends that want to assist her, as well as for helping professionals,” she explained.

“The book explores the protective factors in their lives that help support resiliency in their mothering,” Gil said.

Throughout her counseling work, she discovered that her clients were afraid of passing their pain from their childhood onto their own children, thinking they would ruin the lives of their children.

The book was published in 2018 after two years while on a sabbatical. Throughout this time, she took on the challenge of writing what she learned from her clients in therapy.

“They do not want to bring children into the world only to have them experience the same hurts they experienced when they were young,” she wrote.

One of Gil’s clients explained that being abused in her childhood had limited her in how she could help her children once she was a mother, too many traumatic memories were resurrected from her awful childhood.

In Gil’s book, she wrote: “Now after all these years, the memories of her child abuse were surfacing as she mothered her children. She was terrified and angry. While bathing or changing her children’s diapers, she would re-experience distressing and traumatic events from her past abuse.”  

Gil also writes for a monthly blog for “PsychologyToday” that relates to her counseling work.

The book is available for purchase online at Amazon as well as at Barnes and Noble bookstores. It is also free to check out at the Marvin Library and Glens Falls Library.