Impact of sexual and physical abuse on women's mental health

Abstract

The level of psychiatric symptomatology was assessed with the General Health Questionnaire and the Present State Examination in a random community sample of women. Subsequently it was ascertained which of the women had been the victims of sexual or physical abuse, in either childhood or adult life. Women with a history of being abused were significantly more likely to have raised scores on both measures of psychopathology and to be identified as psychiatric cases. 20% of women who had been exposed to sexual abuse as a child were identified as having psychiatric disorders, predominantly depressive in type, compared with 6.3% of the non-abused population. Similar increases in psychopathology were found in women who had been physically or sexually assaulted in adult life. These findings indicate that the deleterious effects of abuse can continue to contribute to psychiatric morbidity for many years.

PIP: A study conducted in New Zealand examined the relation between women's mental health and past experiences of sexual and physical abuse in a randomly selected community sample. The level of psychiatric symptomatology was assessed using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and the Present State Examination (PSE). About 13.1% of the women interviewed and 9.9% of the original random sample reported having some form of sexual abuse as a child. About 4.6% of the subjects interviewed and some 3.5% of the original sample reported experiencing sexual abuse as an adult. About 20.1% of the interviewed sample and 16.2% of the original sample identified themselves as having been physically abused as an adult. These women with histories of abuse have higher GHQ and PSE scores than the nonabused and were more likely to be identified as psychiatric cases. Psychiatric disorders were identified in 20% of women who experienced childhood sexual abuse; similar increases in psychopathology were found in women who had been abused as an adult. The results of this study indicate that the harmful effects of abuse can continue to contribute to the psychiatric morbidity of women for many years.