Dear Abby: How do I live well as an adult after a childhood of abuse?

DEAR ABBY: I’m the youngest of a family of three boys and two girls. The only person I had any connection with growing up was my sister “Sara.” We were both treated the same way by our mother. We were not wanted. And I always knew Sara was sad about something else.

Our mother’s discipline took the form of when something happened, she’d line us all up and tell us if the person who did it didn’t admit it, she was going to whip us all. Sara usually got upset, and I couldn’t take it, so I’d end up taking the beating. So while Mom screamed about why I did something, I honestly didn’t know what had been done, and she beat me until she wore herself out.