I was abused as a child. Should I tell my mother?

You were failed by the adults around you, says Annalisa Barbieri, and must now put yourself first

My childhood was lonely and frightening. A female friend lived with my father, mother, brother and I when we were children. She had an affair with my father and was a bully towards me and my brother when nobody else was around. The affair was not hidden from me and left me very stressed, and feeling guilty at five years old.

Around this time she suffocated me with a pillow and later stuffed me in a pillowcase. She also tried to drown me in the bath. I can still remember pretending to be dead to stop the suffocation. For nearly two years I lived in fear and guilt. Later, the affair came out. Dad left and died soon after.

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