Suseonline:

“These victims were children. They have all without doubt gone on to suffer a lifetime of mental health problems because supposedly trusted churchy leaders had sex with them as children.”

Do you have any evidence to support this or are you just dramatising the issue for your own personal agenda? It is not necessary to point out that child abuse has serious effects on children – everyone knows this but no one knows that everyone who has been abused is still suffering because of that abuse. If you don’t know then don’t act like you do know and that you know without doubt.

If it is just an opinion which cannot be supported by the facts then I would say it is based on a rather jaundiced view of the human spirit. I think that from what I have seen of the human spirit that human beings are capable of remarkable recoveries from all manner of childhood abuse.

Suggesting to victims that their experience must by its very nature enslave them to a lifetime of mental health problems is not very helpful or caring. Keeping others down so you can keep yourself up is not an attitude to bring to this problem in society.

Thanks for that, Yuyutsu. That last response of yours was a perfect example of the Reductio ad absurdum fallacy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum

Phantom, I am not doing research on child abuse victims just to prove an already well known point.....those victims ARE affected for the rest of their lives.
I wasn't suggesting they all do badly for the rest of their lives, but rather they will always suffer in some ways because of it.

I have worked in the health industry all my adult life and I have seen the mental health diagnoses of countless adults who were victims of child abuse, both in their own homes and in health care facilities. How about you?

Do you know something about child abuse that I don't? Please do enlighten us with your knowledge...

Suseonline:

Just because I have not had your experience working with child abuse victims does not mean I am not entitled to voice an opinion no matter how bad it may seem to some. Good opinions can come from any direction not only from those who have had experience in the field. The truth can emerge from anywhere and if that is what you truly seek you will listen to the opinion and not to the person’s credentials. If you only want the truth to come from people like yourself then you will not want to listen to opinions from anyone else. You will see them as a threat to your own ego.

Many untruths and mistakes have come from people with outstanding qualifications so it is never a guarantee that they are right.

I spoke of the human capacity to overcome terrible childhood experiences. I believe it is possible and I have seen it happen. Perhaps it would happen a lot more often if health professionals were not so dependent on creating a ‘market’ for themselves or creating a sense of dependence which appeases their own need to be ‘saviours’.

Present you argument why child abuse must without a doubt lead to a lifetime of ill-effects and stop relying on your ‘experience’ to justify your position. Appealing to authority is the last resort of those who do not have a valid argument.

Some people survive having a metal object lodged in the brain.
Here's the truth from the horses' mouth:
Many in the church did not understand just what damage was being done to the victims. We understand that better now.
He admitted that lives had been ruined as a result of the cover-ups and that they had allowed pedophile priests to prey on children.
I would have to say there is significant truth in that, Cardinal Pell said.
I don’t think many, if any, persons in the leadership of the Catholic Church knew what a horrendous widespread mess we were sitting on.

Cardinal Pell agreed that placing pedophiles above the law and moving them to other parishes resulted in more heinous crimes being committed.
There's no doubt about it that lives have been blighted.
There’s no about it that these crimes have contributed to too many suicides. ( Pell quote).

Merry Christmas Phanto.
Cheers, Suse.