Sexual abuse is not the only childhood adversity that may lead to later depression

BMJ 1998;316:1244 ( 18 April )

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Sexual abuse is not the only childhood adversity that may lead to later depression

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EDITOR $---$ Cheasty et al have provided further support for the association between childhood sexual abuse and adult depression.¹This adds to the growing body of research that describes the effectsof childhood maltreatment on the development of adult psychopathologyand further highlights the need for interventional psychiatry.²

Sexual abuse is often considered to be the most severe and traumatic form of maltreatment. While the authors indicate theimportance of the severity of the experience (for example, penetration),other important factors in the development of early and late psychopathologyinclude the age at which abuse is experienced and its duration.³The use of broad labels such as "sexually abused" to categorisesubjects may simplify research by defining control comparisonsbut obscures the heterogeneity and co-occurrence of other formsof adversity.⁴ Important adversities that often accompany maltreatmentinclude physical and emotional abuse, neglect, divorce, poverty,and placement in care.⁴ It is . . . [Full text of this article]

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Relation between sexual abuse in childhood and adult depression: case-control study: Marese Cheasty, Anthony W Clare, and Claire Collins
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