Obsessive Guilt Over Childhood Sexual Experimentation

Postby PurplePenguins » Sun Oct 15, 2017 12:41 am

Hey everyone. For the first time in 15 years (I'm 26 now) I'm trying to confront how I feel about the brief experimenting I did as an 11 year old to my 8-ish year old brother. I never even considered ever telling another soul until a few days ago when in a pit of anxiety and obsessive thinking, the memories hit me in a way they never have before.

I've spent my whole life ignoring the memories because I never had ill-intentions as a clueless child and always thought I'd just keep the secret forever because it was terrible and embarrassing to ever think about. So today for the first time in my life, I decided to Google it trying to convince myself I'm not a disgusting PoS, because looking back, it SEEMS gross and horrible. I've had severe anxiety/depression my whole life and this year discovered the depth of my OCD-thinking, and suddenly out of nowhere I got hit with a train of guilt and disgust at my actions that I feel like I'm in a surreal dream. Like suddenly after 15 years, it's all I can think about recently.

All I did, two different times, was convince my brother to let me try kissing him on the mouth. I was curious I guess? I didn't understand anything about sex, none of my friends ever talked about anything... I was genuinely naive and clueless, but seeing or listening to media that I shouldn't have been made me curious or something. I didn't like it, he didn't want to do it... and I never did it again. Or considered it. Or even thought about it, as a kid. I was curious. I tried. He said no after. 11 year old me accepted no as an answer after that. I think I knew I wasn't supposed to have done what I did, but again... I think it was because I didn't understand sex and it had this "forbidden" quality to it that made me afraid, like I'd be in trouble for being curious about things I wasn't supposed to know about yet.

I guess I'm terrified to find out that I'm some kind of abuser, even though those actions never followed me in the rest of my life. In fact, I was terrified of relationships and sex. My vague clueless curiosity as a kid just turned into real fear through highschool and only up until a few years ago did I ever really begin to feel comfortable with myself or relationships. I didn't know what any of it was like, so the only male friend around my age was my brother to test something out on. I keep reading how common stuff like this is, but it hasn't made me feel any better so far. I otherwise had a perfectly normal relationship with my brother, mostly that he annoyed the hell out of me until we were both adults and I was so happy to finally be able to be friends with him. We never talked about it and I've always been afraid that it scarred him or something.

On top of it all, I feel like I'm keeping some huge disgusting secret from my boyfriend. It's a committed relationship and he knows nearly everything about me, but here I am freaking out lately and I can't tell him why because I'm just imagining him being disgusted and grossed out and it ruining the way he views me.

I'm working on finding a new therapist lately, so eventually I'll try to bring it up to a professional, but until then... any thoughts on the subject would be greatly appreciated, or respected research, experiences, ect. I don't know how to convince myself that I wasn't accidentally a clueless child predator. All I wanted to know was what kissing was like, and I f**king hate myself for doing that to him and I'm scared.
PurplePenguins
New Member
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Oct 14, 2017 11:53 pm
Likes Received: 0


#1

Postby Richard@DecisionSkills » Sun Oct 15, 2017 2:19 am

No, you did not sexually abuse anyone. No you are not a predator. I would type it over again, about mental states, cognitive development, juveniles verses adults, the importance of intentionality, etc. but I'm running late to a meeting.

Read the below thread.

viewtopic.php?t=106023
Richard@DecisionSkills
MVP
MVP
 
Posts: 12131
Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2012 2:25 am
Likes Received: 1271

#2

Postby hippyhippy » Tue Oct 17, 2017 8:11 am

Have you spoken to your brother about it? I think it might help. You do not have to make a big deal about it....just say "A memory came back to me recently. I got you to kiss me when we were kids! I am sorry. ..what a terrible sibling I was!" (Laugh)

The reason I suggest this, when I was 7 my older brother did something...more serious and he was older than 11, involving me. My brother died a few years later and I have never had the chance to talk to him about it. I would love for him to be able to reassure me that he hadn't gone on to repeat his behaviour. As it is, I have been left with the not knowing.
I am not suggesting you are going to die but it might be something you can both benefit from talking about.

That all said....if your brother remembers, I think the chances are that he will remember it with no more than a feeling of discomfort. ...but you will never know until you ask!
hippyhippy
Full Member
 
Posts: 278
Joined: Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:00 pm
Likes Received: 3

#3

Postby Infinite » Wed Nov 01, 2017 3:19 pm

This is extremely a sensitive issue because you are suffering and there is another person, your brother!

The beauty (sometimes) of children sexual experimentation is that it is positive among siblings and other children and it can be a real trauma in other cases. What makes one beautiful and other trauma is one for all the researchers in the world.

In your case.
You do not need to tell your b/f. You can if you want to but this is not a requirement for a good healthy relationships. You cannot tell him every sexual act you had so this is no different.
Second, how is your brother? is he happy and healthy? do you have relationships? if yes yes, then believe the reality, your experience was not traumatic for him.
If he is not well for whatever reasons and you truly believe those incidents impacted someways, find a good therapist to guide you about how to deal with this so YOU CAN MOVE ON.

I think the fact this is on on the surface and you are thinking about it this much tells me it is impacting you in some subliminal ways and it is important either way, you find a good,safe place to digest and process.

Your boyfriend is not that place....as good as he is, this kind of information may be a burden on him too...he may not know how to deal with it.
Infinite
Junior Member
 
Posts: 53
Joined: Sun Jul 23, 2017 5:44 pm
Likes Received: 4

#4

Postby Infinite » Wed Nov 01, 2017 3:22 pm

hippyhippy wrote:Have you spoken to your brother about it? I think it might help. You do not have to make a big deal about it....just say "A memory came back to me recently. I got you to kiss me when we were kids! I am sorry. ..what a terrible sibling I was!" (Laugh)

The reason I suggest this, when I was 7 my older brother did something...more serious and he was older than 11, involving me. My brother died a few years later and I have never had the chance to talk to him about it. I would love for him to be able to reassure me that he hadn't gone on to repeat his behaviour. As it is, I have been left with the not knowing.
I am not suggesting you are going to die but it might be something you can both benefit from talking about.

That all said....if your brother remembers, I think the chances are that he will remember it with no more than a feeling of discomfort. ...but you will never know until you ask!



HippyHippy,

I see how this experience impacted you and the fact your brother hurt you is really troublesome and I hope you are at peace now but it is never safe to confront an adult about childhood sexual issue in the family. FIRST, they may not remember as you do...and you may not remember as you think....and also you may not know he was abused as well by another family member, it can open a crazy can of worms....

I do not know what would have happened if you would have confronted him but I hope now you are more at peace.
Infinite
Junior Member
 
Posts: 53
Joined: Sun Jul 23, 2017 5:44 pm
Likes Received: 4



  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to Psychology