Survivor to Thriver Manual Chapter 6 - Stage 3, Step 18, Self-Help

Step Eighteen Self-Help

Review the section in Chapter One, "What About Confronting My Abusers?" Although far from a complete discussion, it highlights some of the complicated issues involved in answering this question.
Write some letters to your parents/abusers in your journal and then reread them a few weeks later. This will help you to develop your sense of what you may someday want to say to them. These letters are a "working statement" of your message to your parents/abusers and may evolve over time until such time as you decide whether to confront them.
If you are having difficulty deciding whether to confront, try to answer some of the following questions in your journal. What past attempts, if any, have you made to address the abuse, and how did they turn out? What are your reasons and motivations for confronting your parents/abusers? What do you hope to get out of it? How do you want your parents/abusers to react to you? How do you imagine they will react to you? Is there a specific outcome that would make you regret your decision to confront your parents/abusers?