Emotional trauma/sexual abuse as possible cause?

Sorry if someone has written about this before, but I've been through the whole site and I can't find anything specifically about this. I read a theory online (I can't for the life of me remember where, nor can I find it again) about how the neural pathways in the brain can be damaged by either emotional trauma or sexual abuse/rape, and this can lead to vulvodynia. The brain, for whatever reason, associates the vagina and all vaginal contact with pain, so whenever contact is made or penetration is attempted, the brain sends unnecessary pain signals to the nerves in the vulva/vaginal entrance. Do you guys think this is possible? Emotional trauma has been known to affect the body in a number of physical ways, so this is feesible. I think it makes a lot of sense, in my case certainly.

I have never experience sexual abuse of any kind, but I did experience something extremely traumatic as a child, and it deeply affected me. Think about what Freud said about the relationship between parent and child. He claimed that the parent of the opposite gender represents sex and the relationship that the child has with this parent will affect the way the child feels about sex as an adult. I was openly rejected by my father when I was ten. I was a real daddy's-girl, and wen he abandoned me I suffered CPTSD (complex post traumatic stress disorder) for years. To this day I still have panic attacks.

I recognize that I have a lot of unhealthy views about sex and men, and I know they stem from my father, so why not this? I know it's just a theory, and that no-one knows for certain, but do you guys think it's possible that in some twisted Freudian way my mind has turned my issues with my father into a sexual thing, and that because all of this happened when I was a child and my brain was still developing physically, my neural pathways could have been altered to leave me with this disorder?

I definitely believe that severe sexual trauma or abuse can cause physical reasons for pain with intercourse. In fact this is well documented in the medical literature. I do not believe it is the cause of most vulvodynia. I went to too many doctors who told me "it was all in my head" and that I was having pain as a way to avoid having intercourse with my husband. I believe that this was what the doctors personally had to believe because they did not have the self confidence or moral courage to tell a patient that they did not know the physical cause of her pain. Doctors are taught to believe they are right all the time in medical school. Very few know how to honestly tell a patient they don't know what is wrong with her.
Unfortunately, when we hear all the time that "they don't see anything wrong" or "don't know what is wrong" or that we should be put on antidepressants for pain, we begin to feel that it is our fault and we become victims again. It is so easy to let victim mentality get in the way of our recovery. I was raped at 17. I began having severe VP at 19. It took all the courage I had to finally stop being a victim and tell the doctors they were wrong. That something physically was wrong with my vulva/vagina and I was going to keep hunting until I found it. I finally found the VP Foundation and had my urine tested (24 hour test) for hyperoxaluria. I do have hyperoxaluria and a low oxalate diet has helped me recover about 80% from my pain--enough to have a high quality of life again. I personally don't believe your childhood trauma is causing your pain. Therapy and counseling could be invaluable to help you continue to heal and grow as a person and to learn to deal with chronic pain. But keep looking for a medical cause for your vulvar pain and keep your doctors accountable. It is so fabulous to finally find one who believes you are in severe pain and is willing to work with you to find healing.
Heidi
http://lowoxalatefamily.wordpress.com

I have to agree with Heidi and say I don't think it causes V. I was rejected by my father at 9 and like you I had him on a pedestal and didn't deal with it well at all and I suspect this affects my trust in men, or lack of would be precise, but I don't buy all the Freud stuff anyway if I'm honest. I don't think how my father behaved is in any way connected to anything sexual and although it could cause muscle tension from stress I don't think it's the source of mine, or your, vulvar pain. Again I think Heidi's suggestion to get some counselling for that issue is a good idea. There are lots of women out there without V who had very traumatic experiences with men and alot with V who didn't have any. I believe Dr Glazer did a study and poo pooed it as a cause, it will be somewhere on his site if you want to read it and I'm pretty sure it's mentioned in the Vulvodynia Survival Guide somewhere as not being a cause.

I'm not implying that this is a psychological disorder, I'm saying that the neural pathways in the brain are physically altered causing a physical condition, in the same way that people who experience extreme childhood abuse can grow up to develop conditions like schizophrenia. It's an actual physical change. And I'm also not saying that this is the cause of all/most vulvodynia cases. Just select cases like mine. Particularily women with provoked vulvodynia.

It's just a theory, but since posting this topic I've been reading about this kind of mind/body connection and there is a lot of research that supports this theory. Not in relation to vulvodynia specifically, but it has been shown that emotional trauma often manifests itself in physical ways, and that certain parts of the body can be affected because of this. I actually emailed a well-known sex therapist after I posted this topic, asking her the same thing. I didn't expect a reply, as she's somewhat famous in America and I didn't think she's have time to respond, but she replied to me this morning telling me that she agrees with this theory. That doesn't mean she's right of course, as no-one can know for sure, it's just interesting for me to hear all of these differing opinions, as I'm so curious about what causes this.

She told me there has been research into the theory that circumcision in infancy can lead to all sorts of sexual problems for males later in life, because of the trauma to to that area. Obviously not in all cases, but every individual is different, and everyone deals with things differently.

Anyway, thanks so much for your input. I'm not completely set on this theory, I'd like to know more about it, I just thought it would be interesting to see what other people thought.

Apologies if I misunderstood but I still don't buy it and schizophrenia is a condition people are born with but it usually becomes evident in teenage years onward or so we were told by countless drs when my sister was diagnosed with it. If you want to investigate the theory and think it may help you why not? We've all got different takes on life so whatever floats your boat.

Schizophrenia is not always something you're born with. It can be caused by excessive drug use or extreme childhood trauma. I completely respect your opinion on this matter (I'm sorry if I implied otherwise, I assure you if I did it was unintentional) and you may be right, I'm not at all claiming that this theory of mine is completely true. I'm just looking for possible causes for my own pain and I thought this made sense. I will continue to research it, but I'm still curious as to what others think. Thank you for your input.

My symptoms presented themselves after the death of my father's mother and a falling out with his new girlfriend (who decided that after two years with him, she had every right to control the proceedings after my grandmother's death). My father only supported her.

He also abandoned me at a young age- he was a prescription drug addict and after a few course in rehab, it got so bad he had to be relocated to a rehab quite far away from the family, and understandably, my mother divorced him. We struggled throughout my teenage years just to keep a roof over our heads.
I did not see him for quite a few years, and since being somewhat 'reunited', we have been on and off. I can't trust him and still feel deeply cut by his selfishness and lack of concern for his three innocent children and wife.

I find it interesting to read your initial post concerning Vulvodynia's link with emotional trauma and relationships with fathers. It seems like too much of a coincidence for me!
I have had a similar nerve syndrome before (regional pain syndrome), brought on by physical trauma, but have not ever experienced any physical trauma 'down there' from my loving and gentle boyfriend. I do attribute it to the emotional trauma I went through at the time (not to mention a lifetime of emotional abuse from my father).

Also, my surgeon and my physio both support the notion that emotional trauma can manifest itself physically- the distinction that this a neurological issue to do with unconscious pain signals and muscle tone is an important one to make- not one specialist I have seen supports the idea that this is 'all in one's head'.
I have also done a fair bit of research and I do agree that there is a link, despite the fact that no definite cause has yet been identified. We must remember that everyone is different.
I think we would all be remiss to suggest that emotional trauma has no link- as there is no concrete evidence to back such a statement. Hence why provoked vulvodynia must be treated holistically.
As I said in my previous post- I have suffered from nerve syndromes brought on by different causes- both physical and emotional. And I believe they are both as legitimate as each other.

Hi lolainslacks,

I am a victim of childhood sexual abuse. My abuser was my father. I believe that this is the direct cause of my Vulvodynia and as a psychology student I have done ALOT of research into this theory. It makes sense. At such a young age (I was 7 when he was sent to prison) that part of your body is not fully developed and is unable to deal with such activities. It would have been painful and my brain would have associated that sort of thing with pain, and now my body automaticly tenses up causing it to be more painful. most of this period of my life is repressed memories (and many memories from that age dont stay with you) so I do not know the exact nature of this abuse, however, I do know that my Vulvodynia is related to a fear or anxiety around sex as I can feel the muscles tensing, and often get an itchy burning sensation when being intimate in any way with my partner or even watching a sex scene in a movie.

Whether non-sexual trauma could cause Vulvodynia I would not be able to say. I dont mean to be rude but from what I have read on Freud and his theories, he was an absolute idiot, who based his theories on very little research, and whos theories can not be applied to all. (most psychological work comes from data from several people (100s), Freud based his on a few case studies in which he took stories of troubled relationships with parents told by people with mental disorders/ilnesses as evidence that they were directly related.) I would say that depending on what period of your life, and the nature of the trauma, it could definately have an effect on your brain activity and could cause illnesses such as schizophrenia (drugs are known to cause this by causing damage to the brain, so it is entirely possible that trauma could do the same and there is proof that there are people who suffer from it as adults who did not suffer as children.) And that this could lead to something which could cause the vulvodynia to be worse. however, I am under the impression that Vulvodynia is not a solely mental illness. Many people who have vulvodynia have psychological issues that are related to the vulvodynia (for example my fear of sexual contact), and there are many people with vulvodynia who would not be able to treat it without dealing with this trauma (e.g my sexual abuse) but that it generally has a physical aspect such as a skin senitivity, previous damage to the area, muscle spasms and over sensitive nerve endings (which could be related to a psychological issue) as a central factor.

I guess what Freud gave us was the "talking cure" on which a lot of modern very helpful therapies are based. He was one of the first Drs to listen to what women were saying.

I don't buy that sexual abuse caused my vulvodynia. I was raped as an 11 year old, my vulvodynia started nearly 35 years later after surgery. Mine is nerve related and moves around my pudendal nerve. The constant pain is the bodies response to protecting the affected area.

cassy -- Thanks for yoour input, I'm sorry to hear abuot your abuse.

I was only using Freud as an example, I don't buy most of what he claimed either. But it can't be denied that if you have a terrible relationship with the parent who represents the gender you are attractred to, it can affect the way you choose your partners and feel about relationships/sex. That's the only part of his theory I was referring to.

And again, I am NOT stating that vulvodynia is a psychological thing. Only that is originally caused by psychological pain. The physical disorder stems from the pain. Like Freud, I was using schizophrenia as an example and it probably wasn't the best choice.

If you are correct about your abuse causing your problems, it's the same idea here -- abuse (whether physical or emotional) causes damage to the mind, which affects some of your mental processes and in this case, your brain's ability to recognize/control pain. All pain is in the mind anyway. I don't mean that it's imagined, only that pain starts in the brain. It is sent from the brain to the nerve endings, it's your body's way of telling you to stop what you're doing because you're damaging yourself, or that something is wrong and needs to be fixed. So damage to the brain could cause pain in any part of the body, and emotional abuse can cause damage to the brain, as evidenced by all sorts of disorders (like schizophrenia), so it follows that vulvodynia could be caused by emotonal trauma.

I think, anyway.

That logic is a little bit backwards, pain doesn't start in the brain. When you injure any part of your body the pain generates from there but is recognised by the brain as such.

lol, I worded that appallingly, I'm sorry, you're right of course. What I meant to say was that whilst the sensation of touch itself starts at the nerve endings, the brain registers the sensation as painful. The nerve endings send a message to the brain, and the brain sends a message back telling the body how to react. So the perception of pain starts in the brain.

Sorry for being an idiot on that one, I am terrible at trying to explain anything I'm thinking, let alone anything scientific as I'm useless with that. *headdesk*