{"id":15041,"date":"2021-09-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/mind-body-sexual-assault-simone-biles-sexual-abuse\/"},"modified":"2021-09-27T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-09-27T00:00:00","slug":"mind-body-sexual-assault-simone-biles-sexual-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/mind-body-sexual-assault-simone-biles-sexual-abuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Simone Biles Opens Up About How Sexual Abuse Affected Her Mental Health: 'I Should Have Quit Way Before Tokyo'"},"content":{"rendered":"
Olympic gymnast Simone Biles has always been forthright about her mental health. In July, she caused a media circus when she withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics<\/a> team final and individual all-around competitions, later admitting that she'd quit to take care of her mental health amid the tremendous pressure to perform.<\/p>\n Now Biles—the most decorated gymnast in the world—is speaking out about her mental health journey in a New York<\/em> cover story<\/a>, revealing that she "should have quit way before Tokyo" because the trauma and media fallout surrounding Larry Nassar's sexual abuse was overwhelming to deal with.<\/p>\n "I should have quit way before Tokyo, when Larry Nassar was in the media for two years. It was too much," the 24-year-old gymnast told New York<\/em>. "But I was not going to let him take something I've worked for since I was 6 years old. I wasn't going to let him take that joy away from me. So I pushed past that for as long as my mind and my body would let me."<\/p>\n This isn't the first time she's spoken up about her mental health. In 2018, two years after news broke about other members of the US gymnastic team, Biles shared<\/a> that she too was a survivor of sexual abuse by Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics team doctor. Earlier this year, she told viewers on her Facebook docuseries Simone vs. Herself<\/a> that the abuse triggered depression. As Biles sought psychotherapy to cope with the trauma, she continued to push through training and competitions.<\/p>\n Biles isn't alone. On average, there are nearly 500,000 cases<\/a> of sexual assault each year in the United States; women and girls in particular experience assault at high rates<\/a>, as do transgender individuals<\/a>. As Biles experienced, sexual assault can significantly affect a survivor's mental health<\/a> for years to come, potentially leading to depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use disorder, disordered eating, and anxiety.<\/p>\n For many survivors of assault, the cycle doesn't stop after one incident. Studies<\/a> suggest sexual assault perpetrators often repeat their offenses, and that being assaulted once<\/a> puts a person at higher risk for being sexually assaulted again, which can create compounding trauma and mental health effects. But the likelihood of repeat trauma doesn't imply survivors of sexual assault are at all at fault in their abuse. Rather, previous experiences of abuse are simply an indicator that it may occur again, as the data shows.<\/p>\n For Biles and her teammates, lack of protection by powerful institutions may have played a role.<\/p>\n "I believe, without a doubt, that the circumstances that led to my abuse and allowed it to continue are directly the result of the fact that the organizations created by Congress to oversee and protect me as an athlete, USA Gymnastics, and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, failed to do their jobs," Biles told New York<\/em>.<\/p>\n Simone Biles Opens Up About Mental Health<\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n