Psychological Effects of Incest

Incest has been an action practiced and talked about since the beginning of time. This
specific action was deemed normal towards the beginning of the world but as time went on, it
became an abomination and the health effects of it became prominent. As times have went on,
lots of research has been conducted on incestuous relationships and how they have psychological
effects on people. Such as in the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Deborah Lacks
suffered from molestation from an uncle and her mother and father were first cousins and people
have reached to the conclusion that may have been the reason why many health concerns arose in
her kids. Incestuous relationships prove to have negative effects and the psychological effects
prove to cause many health problems, as seen in the book.
Deborah Lacks was the last child of Henrietta Lacks, and she was the main character in
the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and she was a character who was involved in a
forceful incestuous relationship with her uncle, who committed the activity when no one else
was near. Deborah suffered from many health issues as she grew older and her incestuous
relationship had a big part in her various health issues. She suffered from depression and anxiety.
Mental illness related to the abuse also begins to surface at this time with many survivors
reporting symptoms of post traumatic stress, anxiety disorders, depression and angry outbursts.
(Morrill, 207). Ironically, Deborah had symptoms of these various issues during her adulthood
and these are symptoms that occur in adult females after incestuous relationships. Due to the
horrible experiences that people go through as children, it lowers their self esteem and causes
them to be hesitant about their surroundings and people in general, this causes anxiety.
Another character that was a direct link to an incestuous relationship was Elisa Lacks,
who the first was born of Henrietta Lacks and David Lacks. She suffered from mental illness and

was registered into an asylum which is where she passed away. It was believed that she had that
specific mental disorder due to the fact that her mom and dad were first cousins. It has been
proven that many children suffer from the incestuous relationships of their child due to the
similarity of genes. The result is that children of first cousin couples, whatever their ethnic
background, have the same six percent chance of having a baby with defects. (Reid). Despite
the beating and molesting, Deborah felt closer to Galen than she ever had to Day. (Skloot, 114).
According to this quote, it proves that throughout all the abuse, victims still feel safe with the
abuser but the long term effects of incest are what dig deeper into the persons soul and cause
problems. Incest often leads to traumatic bonding, a form of relatedness in which one person
mistreats the other person with abuse but also provides attention, some form of affection and
connection. (Kluft).
Incestuous relationships also cause drug dependence in addition to the other
psychological disorders that occur due to these situations. Due to research, people become more
dependent on drugs when they are involved in incestuous intercourse than if it was non-genital or
any sexual abuse. (Association of Childhood Sex Abuse with Drug Dependence and Psychiatric
Disorders in Adult Women). It makes sense for people to start depending on narcotics so they can
stop thinking about the bad experiences. Also according to that same graph, people that went
through incestuous abuse, developed two or more psychological disorders.
It has been said that incest is what started the growth of population in the world, since in
the beginning of time people were immediately related. But regardless of how human growth
started, as of now incest is something that should not be taken lightly or practiced due to its
negative long term effects. There is nothing worse than having to carry a memory of you being in
a forceful incestuous relationship and having to deal with the consequences personally while the

other person has no remorse. Spreading education about the dangers of incest will help stop these
relationships from occurring.

Works Cited
Effect of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Psychosexual Functioning during Adulthood. Academic
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Ramifications of Incest. Psychiatric Times, 11 Jan. 2011. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/sexual-offenses/ramifications-incest>.
Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Crown, 2010. Print.
Tragedy of the children born with birth defects because their parents were cousins. Daily Mail,
15 Feb. 2008. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article514911/Tragedy-children-born-genetic-defects-parents-cousins.html>.
Zickler, Patrick. "Childhood Sex Abuse Increases Risk for Drug Dependence in Adult Women."
Chart. National Institutes of Health. NIDA, Apr. 2002. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.
<http://archives.drugabuse.gov/NIDA_Notes/NNVol17N1/Childhood.html>.