Viewing your relationship with the person who abused you throughout various lifetimes may offer a unique perspective and speed up your healing process. The more you can understand the spiritual significance of your suffering and how it fits into your overall life purpose, the more deeply you can heal. 4) I have found constitutional homeopathic treatment to be immensely helpful to remove the layer of grief and shame caused by the abuse as well as any physical symptoms you may be experiencing. Homeopathy can balance you on an energy level from the inside out so that you are empowered to heal much faster and can shorten the length of psychotherapy considerably. 5) I believe that forgiveness is the ultimate step in the healing process. This may take a long time, and may need to happen again and again. First, forgive yourself. Have the same compassion for yourself as you would for someone else in the same position. Release any blame and see yourself deserving of healing, fully and completely. It is very understandable that you may not now be in any space to forgive the person who has abused you...but you may be at a later time. In my counseling and hypnosis work, I guide the woman to tell her abuser, face to face, what she wishes she could have said at the time. It is as easy to call forth an individual who has died as one who is still alive. In the end it is important to realize that none of us really wants to create suffering for another. It is illness, perversion, and lack of love that allows one to abuse another. The abuser needs just as much compassion as you do. 6) Do whatever you need to free you current and future intimate relationships from the influence of the past abuse. Share openly with your sexual partner your past experiences and feelings. Allow this relationship to be different from any negative experiences of the past. Give yourself permission to attract to you the wonderful relationship which you fully deserve.

Drs. Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman is a naturopathic and homeopathic physicians and cofounders of the Northwest Center for Homeopathic Medicine in Edmonds, WA. She is coauthor of The Patient's Guide to Homeopathic Medicine and Beyond Ritalin: Homeopathic Treatment of ADD and Other Behavioral and Learning Problems. She can be reached at (206) 774-5599.