Reinventing Your Life

by Jeffrey E. Young

ORIGINS OF THE MISTRUST AND ABUSE LIFETRAP 1. Someone in your family physically abused you as a child. 2. Someone in your family sexually abused you as a child, or repeatedly touched you in a sexually provocative way. 3. Someone in your family repeatedly humiliated you, teased you, or put you down (verbal abuse). 4. People in your family could not be trusted. (They betrayed confidences, exploited your weaknesses to their advantage, manipulated you, made promises they had no intention of keeping, or lied to you.) 5. Someone in your family seemed to get pleasure from seeing you suffer. 6. You were made to do things as a child by the threat of severe punishment or retaliation. 7. One of your parents repeatedly warned you not to trust people outside of the family. 8. The people in your family were against you. 9. One of your parents turned to you for physical affection as a child, in a way that was inappropriate or made you uncomfortable. 10. People used to call you names that really hurt.