Colorectal Cancer |
“Feeling like I was not in control. It reminded me of the experience of being molested as a child and not being in control of the situation.” |
32, Male |
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“I feel shame with some doctors when I have to be undressed and probed by them.” |
31, Male |
|
“The weakness. It sounds silly but I felt helpless just like when I did when it all happened.” |
284, Female |
Gynecological Cancer |
“The most difficult part of treatment was the feeling of not being in control, of being helpless in the face of something bigger and stronger than I was. I felt, once again, that I was powerless and that I wasn’t controlling my destiny, that the cancer was.” |
247, Female |
|
“The scary emotions I had during treatment reminded me of childhood abuse.” |
287, Female |
Breast Cancer |
“The most difficult part is trusting someone else on how to treat my body. After my abuse, I always made it a point that me and me alone should have the final decision on what to do with my body. Putting that trust in someone else was difficult.” |
69, Female |
|
“The lack of control you feel of your body and decisions. Cancer takes over just like sexual abuse takes over your feeling of control.” |
78, Female |
|
“I think the most difficult part was trusting my body and my health to people I didn’t know and relying on them not to hurt me. I was going into a situation that I’d never been in before, and I had to depend on strangers to help me. I couldn’t even trust people close to me not to do me physical harm.” |
105, Female |
|
“Feeling a lack of control over my body and life. A violation.” |
258, Female |
Skin Cancer |
“Feeling very vulnerable, and that I had no control over the sickness, it took me back to the vulnerable spot I was in when I was sexually abused.” |
56, Male |
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“The only correlation I can make is that I once again felt like I couldn’t control myself/my body and that it was entirely up to someone else to be in charge of my fate.” |
135, Male |