Hello to all, I'm new here...
I'm a 34 y/o male who was raped and abused from around the age of 12 or 13 up until I was 17ish. My abuser was my older cousin who was 3 years older than me. He has since passed on due to what I believe was an overdose. My wife recently found out about my past abuse after she found out about the things I was doing to cope with the pain. The things that I was doing was both detrimintal to me, her, and us. However, we are working through it and I thank God that she is in my life. I'm hoping to learn and grow within this site and use it as a tool for a better understanding of how to grow in a positive direction after abuse. I have done well in my everyday life moving on but still had these dark secrets hidden under the surface acting out on them on occasion. I'm taking steps to move forward past this trauma and understand the way I have been brainwashed by an abuser to think a certain ways due to my brain chemistry at the age I was abused and the ideologies I was forced to endure. I hope that we can all reflect and learn as we go! And in the end make changes for the better. Nice to meet you all!