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The Types of Armor Survivors Wear
Hiding in Plain Sight
Survivors struggle with many things. They have body issues, a hard time trusting others, and flashbacks. It is no surprise that survivors might find a place to hide in plain sight to lessen their pain.
This article will examine the armor that survivors of childhood abuse adopt to feel safe. The armor consists of stoicism, obesity, isolation, and dissociation.
Stoicism
Stoicism describes the endurance of pain or hardship without complaints or the display of emotions. Women use stoicism to hide in plain sight. However, it is also associated with survivors of childhood trauma who are men.
Indeed, society sets high bars for men to be strong and silent no matter what happens to them.
Men think that admitting they are injured is a sign of weakness. It is not, yet male survivors often hide behind stoicism because they cannot admit to themselves or others that what happened to them in childhood wasn’t their fault.
Stoicism, a lack of showing pain while enduring it, is both painful and dangerous as many men choose to die by suicide than work on their abuse issues. It is unfortunate that men find themselves backed into a corner, afraid to say anything, for fear they will be seen as weak and effeminate.
