Child Sexual Abuse

Psychological Harm

 

Child sexual abuse can result in both short-term and long-term harm, including psychopathology.  In later life Psychological, emotional, physical, and social effects include depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, eating disorders, poor self-esteem, dissociative and anxiety disorders; general psychological distress and disorders such as somatization, neurosis, chronic pain, sexualized behavior, school/learning problems; and behavior problems including substance abuse, destructive behavior, criminality in adulthood and suicide.  Click anywhere in this sentence to continue reading...

via: Wikipedia 

Child Abuse Permanently Modifies Stress Genes in Brains of Suicide Victims

The trauma of child abuse can last a lifetime, leading to a higher risk of anxiety, depression and suicide further down the line. This link seems obvious, but a group of Canadian scientists have found that it has a genetic basis.

By studying the brains of suicide victims, Patrick McGowan from the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, found that child abuse modifies a gene called NR3C1 that affects a person's ability to deal with stress. The changes it wrought were "epigenetic", meaning that the gene's DNA sequence wasn't altered but it's structure was modified to make it less active. These types of changes are very long-lasting, which strongly suggests that the trauma of child abuse could be permanently inscribed onto a person's genes.  Click anywhere in this sentence to continue reading.

Via: Not Exactly Rocket Science

Conversations with History: The Case of Trauma and Recovery, Psychological Insight and Political Understanding, with Judith Herman

Dr. Judith Lewis Herman, professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Harvard University Medical School, and a pioneer in the study of post-traumatic stress disorder and the sexual abuse of women and children, joins UC Berkeley's Harry Kreisler on this edition of Conversations with History.