abuse and neglect wound

Much of what troubles our well being comes in ways we might not at first be aware. When we are not seen as unique beings imbued with worth, meaning, and purpose we feel cut off from the life-giving communion of human relationship, and are left at the mercy of blind impersonal forces. In moments of neglect we feel unseen, unheard, and unacknowledged in our humanness. It as if a lifeline has been cut, causing us to fall into a seemingly bottomless pit of isolation, loneliness, and worthlessness. And abuse adds something more to this trauma of neglect: the active violation, betrayal, and destruction of humanness. In abuse we are not only treated as objects, but we are used in violent and humiliating ways. Thus, psychological disturbances are best understood as damage to the primary state of relationship. It is the violation of this fundamental relational sense of being that can lead to painful experiences such as depression, anxiety, chaotic affective and cognitive states, dissociation, pathological narcissism, and self-other boundary problems.