Incest is a form of sexual abuse which is particularly traumatic
because it breaks the trust a child has placed in someone who is
normally caring and nurturing. Incest includes:
sexual touching or non-touching,
verbal seduction or abuse,
anal or vaginal intercourse,
oral sex,
sodomy,
manual stimulation,
direct threats,
implied threats,
or other
forms of sexual abuse between people who are blood relations or related by marriage.
When any sexual activity takes place between any of the above and a child or young adult, it is incestuous.
The child's age may range from a baby, preschool, school age, teenager and older.
Some of the effects of incest include alcoholism, drug addiction, self-injury, prostitution, promiscuity and sexual dysfunction. Eating or sleeping disorders, headaches, back or stomach pains are just a few of the physical consequences that a victim of incest may suffer. Alcohol and/or drugs, food and sex, deaden painful memories of the abuse and help the victim temporarily forget the abuse.
A number of emotional problems may emerge from the abuse, including inability to trust, perfectionism, phobias, and fear of intimacy.