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Abuse-survivors Quote by Dee Brown

““The damage and invisible scars of emotional abuse are very difficult to heal, because memories are imprinted on our minds and hearts and it takes time to be restored. Imprints of past traumas do not mean a person cannot change their future beliefs and behaviors. as people, we do not easily forget. However, as we heal, grieve, and let go, we become clear-minded and focused to live restore and emotionally healthy.””

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More by Dee Brown

“I heard him call to the people not to be afraid, that the soldiers would not hurt them; then the troops opened fire from…

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I've tried word processors, but I think I'm too old a dog to use one.

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Treat all men alike… give them all the same law. Give them all an even chance to live and grow. You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who is born a free man should be contented when penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases. We only ask an even chance…

“I want to say that further you are not a great chief of this country. That you have no following, no power, no control." Logan continued, "You are on an Indian reservation merely at the sufferance of the government. You are fed by the government, clothed by the government, your children are educated by the government, and all you have…

The white people were as thick and numerous and aimless as grasshoppers, moving always in a hurry but never seeming to get to whatever…

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“I shall not be there. I shall rise and pass. Bury my heart at Wounded Knee. —STEPHEN VINCENT BENET”

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“It is too often the case,” Crook said, “that border newspapers … disseminate all sorts of exaggerations and falsehoods about the Indians, which are copied in papers of high character and wide circulation, in other parts of the country, while the Indians’ side of the case is rarely ever heard. In this way the people at large get false ideas…

“Before these laws could be put into effect, a new wave of white settlers swept westward and formed the territories of Wisconsin and Iowa. This made it necessary for the policy makers in Washington to shift the “permanent Indian frontier” from the Mississippi River to the 95th meridian. (This line ran from Lake of the Woods on what is now…

The librarians know the secrets, not the historians

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“mainland of America, the Wampanoags of Massasoit and King Philip had vanished, along with the Chesapeakes, the Chickahominys, and the Potomacs of the great…

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To the Indians it seemed that these Europeans hated everything in nature - the living forests and their birds and beasts, the grassy grades,…

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“Not all of Anthony’s officers, however, were eager or even willing to join Chivington’s well-planned massacre. Captain Silas Soule, Lieutenant Joseph Cramer, and Lieutenant…

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Explore all 18 Dee Brown quotes

More Abuse-survivors quotes

“no recovery from trauma is possible without attending to issues of safety, care for the self, reparative connections to other human beings, and a…

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“I'm still not sure if I was a victim or not... and if I was, who was my abuser?”

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“In spite of the horror, in spite of the tragedy, in spite of the weeks of sleepless nights, I'm finally alive. I'm not pretending. I feel real. I'm not playing charades anymore. I wouldn't go back to the way I was for anything. I'm really like a different person. I'm where I am, and I'm making the most of it.…

“Survivors of abuse show us the strength of their personal spirit every time they smile.”

Jeanne McElvaney

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“In situations of captivity the perpetrator becomes the most powerful person in the life of the victim, and the psychology of the victim is…

Judith Lewis Herman

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“The more I focus my time and energy on withstanding a real life, I am able to overcome and come out victorious.”

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“The capacity for dissociation enables the young child to exercise their innate life-sustaining need for attachment in spite of the fact that principal attachment…

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“One of the reasons a survivor finds it so difficult to see herself as a victim is that she has been blamed repeatedly for the abuse: "If you weren't such a whore, this wouldn't have to happen." Each time she is used and trashed, she becomes further convinced of her innate badness. She sees herself participating in forbidden sexual activity…

“There is a moment in our healing journey when our denial crumbles; we realize our experience and it's continued effects on us won't "just…

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“Dissociated trauma memories don't reveal themselves like ordinary memories. Like pieces of a puzzle, they escape the primitive part of our brain where the trauma has been stored without words. These starkly vivid and detailed images are defined by our five senses and emotions, but there is no 'story'. So we are left trying to comprehend the incomprehensible while trying…

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“When you accept things as they are, you allow yourself to make choices, that will help create the change you seek.”

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“There came a time in my life when I had to admit to myself that I have some very clear narcissistic tendencies. Ironically, it occurred during the writing of my book The Emotionally Abused Woman. As I listed the symptoms of narcissism, I was amazed to find that I recognized myself in the description of the disorder. It should have…

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